Mandela Invasion is a free-to-play simulation game inspired by the internet phenomenon known as the Mandela catalogue. In this horror experience from Broken Arrow Games, you find yourself lost in the middle of a room in an alternate world filled with monsters. You have limited time to secure yourself and ensure your survival.

This game uses grainy video that helps relive the analog horror series that took YouTube by storm. With its bleak approach to the puzzle-survival genre, Mandela Invasion feels like a unique cross between The Man from the Window and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.

Do everything to survive

As mentioned earlier, Mandela Invasion revolves around the Mandela catalog, a hit series of videos on the sharing platform YouTube created by Alex Kister. The videos follow an instructional format, teaching citizens of the fictional Mandela County how to survive the anomalies known as “alternates.” As homage to the source material, some instructions in the horror analog series can help players of the game.

It uses a bleak color palette, making everything feel down and unsettling right from the start. The game also uses a grainy video effect, making it absolutely in line with Mandela catalog videos that served as the inspiration for the game. As the citizen in question, it’s up to you to find objects around the house and try to survive the night.

For a quick horror fix, this game has a decent playthrough length. In getting the good ending, it can be completed in under fifteen minutes. There are also different endings, there are good endings and scenarios where the alternates find their way in and take your place. Also, the game has a number of easter eggs you can discover throughout the game—starting from the menu.

A top-tier indie horror

For fans of indie horror games, Mandela Invasion is an entry that will always be a part of the conversation. 

Inspired by an internet phenomenon

, it manages to create a new world that is 

rich in lore, immersive

, and actually really scary. It’s still limited by short playthroughs though, which is a common occurrence among indie games, but this game’s content is enough to make a lasting impact.