Editorials
Limited Resources: Six Underrated ‘Resident Evil’ Clones That Time Forgot
Genericization is what happens when a trademarked brand name becomes so ubiquitous that folks start using the name as an umbrella term for all similar products within its niche. From “Aspirin” to “Ziploc” bags, this process is usually only achieved once a company has completely cornered a market, with some brand names often outlasting the companies that created them.
In the world of videogames, we see this a lot in terms of defining new genres. While the industry tends to eventually settle on a brand-neutral standard, many critics initially resort to comparing games to the most popular example of their genre, coining terms like “Souls-like” and “Doom-clone” to describe gameplay. And long before “Survival Horror” had been popularized as a genre descriptor, most gamers referred to resource-management-oriented horror titles as “Resident Evil Clones.”
Survival Horror games would eventually escape the confines of the Spencer Mansion, but many of those original “Clones” were incredibly fun to play despite their derivative design. That’s why it’s a shame that so many of them were forgotten in the ever-expanding sea of new releases. With that in mind, we’ve decided to shine a light on six underrated Resident Evil Clones that time forgot, in an effort to rescue them from obscurity.
While we’ll only be featuring lesser-known titles on this list (that means no Dino Crisis or Silent Hill), don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite Resident Evil Clones if you think we missed an important one.
Now, onto the list…
6. Extermination (2001)
While we’d see an officially licensed (and surprisingly fun) The Thing game a year later, Deep Space’s Extermination was the closest you could get to a John Carpenter-inspired Survival Horror experience back in 2001. Taking place in the (then) near-future of 2005, the game puts players in the shoes of Sgt. Dennis Riley, an isolated Marine investigating a distress call from an Antarctic research facility. Naturally, a sci-fi horror experience ensues as mutated creatures attempt to kill and infect our protagonist.
While the game’s highly customizable main weapon and chilling atmosphere are cool enough, the real anxiety-inducing highlight of Extermination is its infection system, with Riley constantly being on the verge of turning into one of the monsters that pursue him.
Curiously, the game was localized separately in Europe and North America, which led to some significant differences in dialogue and character design between both versions (though I’m partial to the less Hollywood-y PAL region take on the game).
5. The X-Files: Resist or Serve (2004)
Advertised as a collection of “lost” episodes from the show’s seventh season and written by television maestro Thomas Schnauz – while also featuring voice acting from the original cast – Resist or Serve was a surprisingly high-profile release despite its licensed origins. Featuring a trio of cases introduced by the classic X-Files intro sequence, this decidedly retro experience is a nostalgic treat for Survival Horror fans.
Sure, the fixed camera angles and limited resources were already dated back in 2004, but these slightly frustrating elements have since become part of the game’s period-accurate charms. After all, nothing says “90s” like having Agent Fox Mulder run away from a zombie because you used up all of your pistol ammo a couple of rooms ago.
Just make sure you play this one on a CRT television to get the full experience.
4. Nocturne (1999)
If you’re struggling with supernatural horrors during the Prohibition Era, who you gonna call? Spookhouse, that’s who! A secretive government organization set up by Teddy Roosevelt, Spookhouse is Nocturne’s equivalent to Hellboy’s BRPD, sending out agents to deal with paranormal threats that regular authorities aren’t equipped to handle.
While the game suffers from some janky combat mechanics and uneven difficulty as you take control of “The Stranger” on a series of eerie missions, the story and atmosphere make this strange little title a supernatural journey worth taking. You’ve certainly seen werewolves and zombies in other games, but definitely not while you’re in the middle of sabotaging an Al Capone operation.
And if you enjoy this one, I’d recommend seeking out the game’s pseudo-sequel in the form of the Blair Witch tie-in game BW Volume I: Rustin Parr, which sees Spookhouse agent Doc Holliday investigating a series of child murders in 1940s Burkittsville.
3. Deep Fear (1998)
This may be the most illusive game on this list, but the Sega Saturn’s Deep Fear remains one of the most intense survival experiences that the genre has to offer. Trapping players in an underwater research facility, the game follows ex-Navy SEAL John Mayor as he attempts to unravel the secrets of the facility while defending himself from mutated creatures and attempting not to die from asphyxiation.
Instead of bullets and ink ribbons, the real limited resource here is air, with Mayor being forced to constantly manage oxygen levels as he progresses through the game in a nerve-inducing mechanic that I’d love to see recreated in a modern horror title.
2. Cold Fear (2005)
Often referred to by its online nickname “Resident Evil 4 except it’s on a boat this time,” Darkwork’s Cold Fear is a thoroughly entertaining third-person-shooter that expertly recaptures the RE4 magic better than any of Capcom’s official sequels. Following Coast Guard Tom Hansen as he rushes to the aid of a Russian whaling vessel and finds the ship infested with zombies, the game sees players solving puzzles and shooting familiar parasites out of undead foes.
It may not be most original setup, but Cold Fear has a lot more up its sleeve than you might initially notice, featuring innovative character animations and a kick-ass soundtrack – all combined with a gameplay loop that smooths out a lot of Resident Evil’s excesses. Plus, the game is readily available on Steam for a reasonable price.
1. Obscure (2005)
Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty is one of my favorite High School flicks, so it’s no surprise that Hydravision Entertainment’s Obscure takes the number one spot here, with the game basically serving as an unlicensed riff on the 1998 movie. Taking place in the conveniently maze-like Leafmore High, the game sees a group of five teenagers attempt to unravel the mystery behind a series of plant-like monster attacks once they become trapped within the school overnight.
While the main gameplay loop doesn’t really improve on the Resident Evil formula, it’s the couch co-op and permadeath elements that make Obscure stand out from other RE clones. The unique setting and killer 2000s soundtrack also make it a compelling time capsule for a simpler time in the horror genre.
And if you like this one, the college-set sequel is also quite fun, though it streamlines much of the experience into a more action-packed title.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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