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Mandela Catalogue Games: Spot the Alternates

The Mandela Catalogue is an analog horror web series, not a game, but its Alternates, beings that copy people, have inspired several free fan games. These are the ones based on it, and the games that share its fear: deciding whether the face in front of you is really human.

The games

  1. Alternate Watch screenshot: a black-and-white security camera view of a kitchen at 00:02 AM, threat level vague PsychologicalAlternate WatchThe fullest Mandela Catalogue fan game: watch a home's cameras until 6 am and report every Alternate that gets in.
  2. Maple County screenshot: a VHS screen reading Make your selection over two black-and-white photos of a smiling man and a smiling woman ShortMaple CountyA police training tape from the series' world, made by Thorne Baker, that makes you pick the human from the Alternate.
  3. Assessment Examination cover: a noisy black-and-white face with huge black eyes and a gaping mouth above the title PsychologicalAssessment ExaminationA job exam for the Authenticity Assessment Department, marking faces as trust or threat on a flickering screen.
  4. That's not my Neighbor key art: two grey clawed hands with red nails pressed against the doorman's window, smeared with blood PsychologicalThat's not my NeighborCheck every visitor's face and papers at a 1955 apartment door to catch the doppelgangers.
  5. No, I'm not a Human key art: four uncanny drawn faces lit in green, a grinning shirtless man, a woman in a scarf, an old man and a woman with a bob, against apartment blocks at night PsychologicalNo, I'm not a HumanStrangers knock at night asking for shelter, and some only look human: check them for the signs before they stay.
  6. GATE 37 title screen: the title over a snowy forest whose trees are covered in eyes, seen from the guard post window Multiple endingsGATE 37A free browser visual novel about guarding a gate for seven nights and deciding who is human enough to let through.
  7. Who's at the door? key art: a pale, wide-eyed doll-like face seen through a green door peephole against black PsychologicalWho's at the door?A door-check game where the doubt is your own mind: tell real visitors from hallucinations before you open up.
  8. Night-vision camera view of a kitchen and dining area with the anomaly report menu open, listing rooms and an abyss presence type PsychologicalI'm on Observation DutyThe camera-watching game Alternate Watch is modelled on: report every change in the house before morning.
  9. Doppelpartment screenshot: a soldier in a gas mask lit green in the dark, with the line There's a soldier outside PsychologicalDoppelpartmentManage an apartment block for a week and find the tenants who have been replaced by doppelgangers.
  10. Shift At Midnight key art: a grinning, wide-eyed monster with clawed hands leans over a gas station till, holding up an ID card that reads Real Human Co-opShift At MidnightCheck every gas station customer's ID and decide who is human, alone or in co-op; miss one and it returns as a monster.
  11. They Looked Like Us screenshot: a dim hallway lit by one ceiling lamp, with checked curtains at the end and a counter reading lights 4 of 8, curtains 5 of 8 PS1They Looked Like UsA free six-minute skinwalker game: an emergency broadcast orders lights off and curtains shut before the things that look like us arrive.
  12. Directive 8020 key art: an astronaut with a bloodied face inside a cracked helmet, beside a red-lit wrecked corridor Co-opDirective 8020A crashed colony crew hunted by an alien that copies its prey, where you never know who is still human.

Three free games are built on the series itself, and Wikipedia's article on The Mandela Catalogue names all three. Maple County was made in 2021 by Thorne Baker, who later acted in the series and wrote and composed for it. It is a police training tape on VHS: you are shown faces and must choose who is a person and who is an Alternate. Assessment Examination is a job questionnaire for the Authenticity Assessment Department, answered on a flickering black-and-white screen, where you mark faces as trust or threat until the exam shows what it was testing for. Both take minutes rather than hours.

Alternate Watch is the longest of the three and the most like a game. It borrows the rules of I'm on Observation Duty: you watch a family home through black-and-white security cameras from midnight until 6 am and report every anomaly, from objects that move to mimics, distorted impersonators, a shadow figure with white eyes and a whispering cloaked Preacher. If you enjoy it, I'm on Observation Duty itself is the series that started the camera-watching formula.

Outside the fan games, the same fear has become a genre of its own. That's not my Neighbor puts you behind a doorman's window in 1955, comparing each visitor's face and papers against the records to catch the doppelgangers. No, I'm not a Human keeps you in a locked house at night as strangers beg for shelter, and you check them for the signs the TV warns about before deciding who stays. Who's at the door? turns the doubt on yourself: a patient with psychosis, trapped in a small house for eight days, must tell real visitors from hallucinations before opening the door. GATE 37 is a short free visual novel played in the browser, about guarding a gate for seven nights and choosing which strange visitors are human enough to pass.

More doppelganger games have followed. Doppelpartment, a free pixel-art game made in RPG Maker, makes you the manager of an apartment block for a week after a soldier warns that some tenants have been replaced: you collect rent, knock on doors and report the copies, with plenty of body horror. Shift at Midnight puts the check behind a gas station counter, alone or with up to two friends, where you compare each customer's ID to a database and decide whether to let them go or shoot them; miss one and it comes back as a monster. They Looked Like Us is a free six-minute game about skinwalkers in which an emergency broadcast tells you to turn off every light and close every curtain before they find you. And Directive 8020, from The Dark Pictures series, takes the idea into space: a crashed colony crew hunted by an alien that perfectly imitates its prey, never sure who is still human.

Start with Maple County or Assessment Examination for ten minutes of the series' own style, play Alternate Watch for a full night shift, and move on to That's not my Neighbor, No, I'm not a Human or Doppelpartment when you want a longer game built on the same doubt, or Shift at Midnight to share it with friends.

Questions

Is there an official Mandela Catalogue game?

No. The Mandela Catalogue is a web series. The games here are free fan games based on it, or other games with the same doppelganger idea.

What is the best Mandela Catalogue fan game?

Alternate Watch is the fullest: a night of watching security cameras and reporting Alternates. Maple County and Assessment Examination are shorter and closer to the series' tape style.

Who made Maple County?

Thorne Baker, in 2021, before he went on to act, write and compose for The Mandela Catalogue.

Are these games free?

Maple County, Assessment Examination, Alternate Watch, GATE 37, Doppelpartment and They Looked Like Us are free. That's not my Neighbor, No, I'm not a Human, Shift at Midnight and Directive 8020 are paid.

Are there Mandela Catalogue-style games to play with friends?

Shift at Midnight is played by one to three people: you run a gas station together and decide which customers are doppelgangers.

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