Editorials
5 Cancelled Horror Games We Wish Were Made
Much like the movie industry, the video game world is fraught with risks, perils, and possible heartbreak. As much as we wish that what we get excited about will eventually fall into our hands, circumstances arise that preclude such a joyous occasion. Instead, we are left feeling cheated and empty, forever wondering what might have been.
Honestly, there aren’t many feelings that I hate worse than being shown something incredible and then it being taken away by people who are just as heartbroken as I am by the depressing development. Everyone involved wanted everyone else to see a finished product, something that people could love, hate, critique, whatever… Eventually, some would reminisce and feel nostalgia while others would trade it in and forget it ever existed. That’s the great thing about releasing a title! People form their own opinions, their own memories, and it will live on through those who refuse to let it die. Why do you think games like The 7th Guest or Phantasmagoria are spoken of with such passion? It’s because we love what we had and what we can recall.
Unfortunately, the below titles never gave us those opportunities. For one reason or another, they were never finished. So today I’m going to take a look at a few of those games that got our hopes up and then dashed them away ever so cruelly.
Demonik
Featured in the 2006 comedy Grandma’s Boy, Demonik wasn’t a fake game made for the film. Rather, it was a real title developed by Terminal Reality that was supposed to come out for the Xbox 360. Wanna hear the most interesting (and relevant) part about the game? It was written by none other than Clive Barker!
The story followed people who felt like they had been wronged by some circumstance. Instead of being normal human beings and getting over it, they summon a demon to do their dark bidding. Therefore, you, the player, would control the “bad guy” of the game. An interesting premise that is almost certainly inspired by Pumpkinhead, it seemed like it would be a great horror/action game.
After the majesty of Undying and before the disappointing Jericho, Demonik was supposed to be Barker’s second entry in the video game world. Alas, the game was dismissed by publisher Majesco and Alex’s grandmother probably never got to beat the story while JP is almost certainly still fired and speaking like a glitchy robot.
Another sad bit of news that comes from CliveBarker.info states, “Clive has confirmed that the movie and other options are unlikely now to be fulfilled…” It seems that Barker, as he likes to set up, arranged for Demonik to live outside of the video game world and enter into movies and other mediums.
Sadness
What made this game stand out was not only that it was going to be on the Nintendo Wii – which is a notoriously “family friendly” console – but that it was far more focused on psychological horror over violence. Sure, it looked like there was going to be some slashing and murder but the black-and-white presentation and the promise of a seemingly fully interactive world appealed to a great many. Additionally, there were rumored to be up to 10 different endings, which would’ve made it a highly replayable game.
In the game, “Players followed Maria Lengyel, a Victorian era aristocrat of Polish-Hungarian descent who has to protect her son Alexander after their train to Lviv derails in the countryside. Alexander, who is struck blind by the accident, begins to exhibit strange behavior that progressively worsens. The game’s scenarios and enemies, such as those based on the werewolf and the likho, are inspired by Slavic mythology. [Source]”
Sadness was announced before the Wii even had its proper name, back when it was still referred to as the Nintendo Revolution. The below trailer essentially was a proof of concept for not only the game but for the console as well, the woman showing off the controller/nunchuck combination’s uses. While the Wii went on to become a major success, news of Sadness faded away and it became almost a mockery. Sites and industry folk felt cheated – rightfully so, I might add – by not being able to see or play the game in any form, even a proof of concept demo.
It came out that developers Niblis and Frontline Studios split ways due to “artistic differences” and soon afterwards Niblis essentially ceased production on the game entirely. In mid-2014, indie developers Randy Freer and Jeremy Kleve, of HullBreach Studios and Cthulhi Games respectively, claimed to have obtained the rights to the game and that they would be releasing it for the Wii U. Alas, the very day next that information was proven wrong when Freer and Kleve stated that they had failed to obtain the rights to the game.
I guess the title is a perfect representation of how many people feel about the history of this game.
InSANE
The first game on our list to include the participation of Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy), InSANE was going to be a Lovecraft-ian action/adventure that supposedly had environments, “…that players have never been through before,” per former THQ frontman Danny Bilson.
Bilson also told VG24/7, “As much as I can tell you about it is that it was an action adventure game with really great environments, story and characters, and it was period and very Lovecraftian. I don’t wanna spoil it, in the hope that Guillermo wants to go further with it.”
The reason this game hasn’t emerged from The Nameless City (HA! Lovecraft jokes galore!) is because THQ collapsed back in 2012 and InSANE has been on the shelf ever since. Supposedly del Toro owns the rights to the game, so it might see a resurrection in the future. However, I wouldn’t hold out much hope.
Resident Evil 3.5 “Hook Man”
While Resident Evil 4 is considered to be a masterpiece in the Capcom franchise, it wasn’t always designed the way it was released.
While the game always had the intention of going through 3D environments instead of pre-rendered backgrounds, there were plenty of elements that were originally conceived that ultimately didn’t work out. In the below video, which is a demo of the game in its second potential incarnation, Leon would travel though a European castle that was owned by Spencer (of Resident Evil 1 fame), fight Wesker and his team, and ultimately get infected with the “Progenitor” virus. This disease was going to be found on an ancient corpse, which would’ve given the mythology some history and depth.
Where it went different from what we ultimately got was that the game would’ve introduced hallucination elements, such as dolls coming to life and attacking Leon. There would also be ghosts and specters, including the above named “Hook Man“. Shinji Mikami himself supposedly felt that this version was so scary that he warned people not to pee their pants when watching the demo video.
The game was cancelled for a very simple reason: money. It was deemed that the goals of the developers would cost too much to put into place and therefore the entire idea was scrapped and everything began anew. Still, you can see many elements in the video that made it to the final version, including the perspective, the red laser dot sighting, Leon being infected, and the suits of knight armor suddenly attacking Leon, as well as more.
Silent Hills
You all knew this was going to be here, right? While time has rendered the pain of this cancellation into a dull ache, it’s a disappointment that will never leave my heart. The second game on this list that would’ve bore the name of Guillermo del Toro, Silent Hills revitalized interest in a series that was slowly fading away. In fact, the response upon the reveal that P.T. was really Silent Hills was nothing short of explosive. Never before had the franchise received that much attention and interest.
Alas, a falling out between Hideo Kojima and Konami rendered this project dead in the water and all we’re left with are YouTube videos of P.T. being played and memories of sweeter, more hopeful times.
Honorable Mention: The City of Metronome
Okay, so this game isn’t exactly horror but it’s so weird and so cool that I can’t leave it off the list, especially because I’ve been wanting to play it since I first heard of it over a decade ago.
The City of Metronome, which was announced at E3 2005, thrusts players into a bizarre and incredibly surreal world where sound is the weapon of choice. By recording and playing back certain tones and sounds, the player would be able to continue their journeys. It was a fascinating concept and one that appealed to me greatly, especially since the game’s world looked like a cross between The City of Lost Children, ReCycle, and American McGee’s Alice.
Since its announcement nothing has progressed with the game, even though Tarsier Studios made a deal with Sony several years ago that many thought included The City of Metronome. Unfortunately, it seems that this wasn’t the case. The company themselves write, “…alas, Lady Publisher is a fickle mistress, and The City of Metronome continues to be our ‘little game that could’.”
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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