Created an account just to comment on this because this game had a huge potential. Love the atmosphere. 10/10 just for the atmosphere alone, but the jumpscares REALLY dragged the game down and it become 4/10 instead. And it seems you're trying WAY too hard to scare the player with the jumpscares and how the alternates trying to physically invade the player's home.
If we look at the lore behind Mandela Catalogue, the alternates actually didn't goes on its way to physically harm its victim, it prefer to pressure its victim through psychological torture rather than physically.
So yeah, I think the problem lies in the idea rather than the execution. Because you clearly know what you're doing with the atmosphere, but you don't know how to scare the player effectively.
If I could give a suggestion, you should try to look at how Evan Royalty did his movies in YouTube. He know exactly how to build tension with the atmosphere alone and how he exploit those tension with the feeling of lurking terror in the background without having to rely on a cheap jumpscare, effectively creating a great horror material.
First of all, I have already created horror games, such as Don't Be Afraid and Don't Be Afraid The First Toy. Secondly - I know the Lore of The Mandela Catalogue and I am well aware that Alternates do not hurt people, but torture them psychologically. In the game, only one Alternate is killing us, because that was supposed to be the FNAF style of play. The rest of Alternates just appear on the screen (Intruder makes you fall asleep and kill yourself while you sleep). I don't like cheap jumpscare and wanted to avoid it, but in this case I had no choice (because of FNAF style gameplay). The more so that the game was created in a short time (2 months) and I wanted to make it before The Mandela Catalog Vol 2 appeared. You can check my Backrooms game prototype called "Here in the Backrooms" (it's available for free on Itch.io, you Can find it on my profile), which does not have any Jumpscares, but I can see it on YouTube gameplays that people are afraid of the monster there only because they hear its footsteps. The presence of the monster and the ubiquitous silence cause anxiety. I am currently working on a game based on my Backrooms prototype, which will have its own story, characters and opponents. There will be no jumpscares there (if jumpscares will appear, they will appear in unexpected moments) and, like in Mandela Invasion and my Backrooms prototype, the atmosphere will be the most important. In the future, I will also create a second part of Mandela Invasion, in which I want to focus on ensuring that Alternates do not kill the player. It will probably be based on The Mandela Catalog Vol 2 (as a member of the Bythorne Paranormal Society we will be checking if Alternate has appeared at the home of the reporting person). I will focus more on the atmosphere there and there will probably be something like "Sanity Level". It will be Point & Click again, but without the FNAF gameplay style.
I've played your Backroom, and I definitely love it. That's why I said you're definitely know what you're doing. It's just the idea that is lacking.
I think FNAF style like this could also work without jumpscare by utilizing tension alone. You're actually on the right track with what you're doing with the Gabriel in the attic, I don't really consider that as a jumpscare, haha. It's a shame that I can't say the same with the rest of the encounters.
I'm really positive you can make something great. Really looking forward to your next stuff :)
You know, Mandela Invasion is my first point & click game and my first game in FNAF style. It was actually an experiment to see what I could accomplish and how the players would react. I wasn't very happy with the fact that my previous games had a lot of jumpscares. I wanted to scare players with atmosphere in those games, but unfortunately it wasn't up to me to add a lot of jumpscare. I try to learn something new with each new game and thanks to that my games evolve - they keep getting better. At least I think so, judging by the amount of positive reviews and YouTube videos.