Mike Richards

@slideshowdreams.itch.io

684 Followers 499 Following

<GONE ROGUE/FISHING> I try to make games. Sometimes I do. ADHD-fueled He/Him https://slideshowdreams.itch.io/ https://backloggd.com/u/SlideshowDreams/ https://letterboxd.com/SlideshowDreams/

The Sinking City Remastered (2025). The main character pilots a small boat through a flooded, decaying city street towards a small shabby wooden pier. It's a dark, foggy, rainy night. The water is full of debris. Overgrown plants and coral like growths climb up the sides of buildings.
Steam Curator Most Popular page, showing PC Gamer and 728,516 followers and Sweet Baby Inc Detected at 481,752 followers
The start screen intro for Baroque (Sega Saturn, 1998). A heavy electronic industrial track plays in the background. Prerendered footage of the central location in the game, the strange structure known as the Nerve Tower, is mixed with abstract imagery of a man and woman passionately embracing and the opening credits. An explosion as the base of the tower destroys the surrounding buildings, leaving behind a devastated wasteland. Text asks "what must we do to heal our sins?" In first person we see someone encounter and kill a bizarre creature, stepping on a feather it leaves behind, before looking up at the still standing Nerve Tower as the title appears.
The book box from the Myst 25th anniversary set, open to the first "page", where a small rectangular screen shows a flyby of Myst island
The 25th Anniversary Myst set A box modeled on the original Myst linking book and the complete series in themed disk sleeves: Myst, Riven, Exile, Revelation, End of Ages, Uru, and realMyst
Two hotdogs on slices of oat bread instead of buns
An edited screenshot from the intro sequence to the Riven remake. A man, Atrus, sits in a dimly lit stone room at a desk with an old-fashioned lamp, a large open book, and an a few strange metal instruments. He's holding a smaller open book, and a PSVR2 headset has been crudely edited on his head.
The main menu for Industria 2. A desolate, rocky beach covered in thick blue fog. Waves lap against the shore and an old buoy sits in the sand.
Best of 1998 votes: Game of the Year: Half-Life Gameplay: Thief: The Dark Project Narrative: Metal Gear Solid Art Direction: Resident Evil 2 Soundtrack: Half-Life Multiplayer: Half-Life
Two books sitting on a black table: Godhusk and Vermis: Old Curses and Buried Horrors Forsaken Edition
A back alley in Resident Evil 9 on a cold, rainy, gray day. We're looking up at the buildings tightly packed together. A dense maze of fire escapes, wires, and the tops of chain link fences.
Original picture: Picture of a large and bizarrely featureless white upstairs landing area with three black doors. Everything is monochrome apart from a green seat in the middle, one of those weird circular sofas where you sit facing out from a central column The UI from William Shatner's TekWar (1995) has been crudely edited over it.
Screenshot from Chernobyl (2019): Dyatlov in the main control room saying "I need water in my reactor core"
Close up of the model stand without the dagger, which includes a long, jagged, irregular recess in the base behind the nameplate that echoes the Star Fissure from the games
A closeup of the Lego model of a Rivenese Moiety dagger
Screenshot from the SeverLink store page on Steam. A close up of the main character holding a device that looks a lot like a PSP, displaying in-game info
Your results: 1. Metroid Prime 2. Half-Life 2 3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 4. Mass Effect 5. Resident Evil 4 6. Wolfenstein: The New Order 7. Dark Souls 8. Bloodborne 9. Deus Ex 10. Dishonored 11. Disco Elysium 12. Fallout: New Vegas 13. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 14. Final Fantasy VII 15. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 16. Baldur's Gate 3 17. Dragon Age: Origins 18. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 19. Grand Theft Auto IV 20. Clar Obscur: Expedition 33 21. Super Mario 64 22. Pentiment 23. Papers, Please 24. Hades 25. Red Dead: Redemption II 26. Stardew Valley 27. Final Fantasy X 28. It Takes Two 29. Final Fantasy VIII 30. Inscryption 31. Balatro
The cover art for Riven: The Sequel to Myst (1997) Under an overcast sky, a very large tree with a door at the base stands in the middle of a lake surrounded by high cliff walls. Instead of normal leaves and branches, the top of the tree is a massive sphere that looks like gray terracotta or maybe a wasps nest. The sphere is covered in windows and the warm glow of firelight can be seen within.
My hand holding a Sour Patch Kids box that's easily over a foot long. The label indicates it's actually a package of ten normal sized boxes inside
Screenshot from Dispatch episode 4: Invisigal and Robert are sitting next to each other in a movie theater, both leaning in and smiling as Robert offers her a bag of Sour Patch Kids to which she replies "I fuckin love Sour Patch Kids."
A pie chart showing the release years of games I've played this year, divided into three almost perfectly equal sections. Red: games released in 2025. 18 played. 33.3% Purple: games released 1-8 years ago. 17 played. 31.5% Yellow: games released 8+ years ago. 19 played. 35.2%
Three items from iam8bit's Remedy 30th anniversary collection. Two VHS tapes, one for Threshold Kids from Control, and one for Night Springs from Alan Wake, sit on top of Max Payne's pixelated shirt
My Backloggd profile: Favorite Games - Alan Wake 2, Silent Hill 2, Riven, Black Mesa, Bleak Faith: Forsaken 275 Total Games Played - 50 Played in 2025 Recently Played - Enter the Matrix, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Horses, Dead Letter Dept., Proximate
Edited still from the Spongebob Squarepants episode "Artist Unknown" Squidward excitedly holds up a painting he made: the famous Bold and Brash. The painting has been poorly replaced with an image of an old Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro controller, whose long, shapely grips mirror the original portrait
Metroid Prime 4 mission complete stats screen: Scans Collected - 96% Items Discovered - 100% Time Played - 16:33
Box art for Condemned: Criminal Origins (Xbox 360, 2005)
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond title screen on a TV
There's probably no way to discuss Horses purely as a game without discussing the absurd situation surrounding it. On the one hand this is a shame, because it deserves to be celebrated on its own triumphs without being eternally shackled to a ludicrous controversy that should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. But on the other hand, it's depressingly fitting that a game about abuses of power, about violent control and the hypocrisy of those who seek to suppress "dangerous ideas" and "deviant lifestyles", would find itself banned from multiple storefronts in a nonsensical panic over its perceived content. This year has seen a renewed push from payment processors and platforms to silence the "deviants". Games have been delisted or hidden. Creators, many of them marginalized already, have had their livelihoods threatened. Horses isn't unique in this regard. But it has become something of a centerpiece in the conversation. A singular high-profile demonstration of just how petty and destructive and inconsistent these monopolistic corporations will be in their puritanical crusade to control what art we're allowed to engage with. And in that regard, they may have accidentally elevated Horses to one of, if not the most important game of the year.
Excerpt from article, a quote from the developers: "Around the same time, we were informed that Horses had been banned and would not release on Steam, which completely erased our ability to find an external supporting publisher or partner to fund the rest of the game, as no one in the industry considers an indie game that cannot be released on Steam to be viable. After two years of seeking these funds through traditional venues while trying to get the game unbanned, we had to seek private funding from friends to complete development, which puts us in a completely unsustainable financial situation unless the game somehow recoups its development costs." The section "no one in the industry considers an indie game that cannot be released on Steam to be viable" is highlighted in the screenshot.
My Backloggd profile: Favorite Games - Alan Wake 2, Silent Hill 2, Riven, Black Mesa, Bleak Faith: Forsaken 267 Total Games Played - 43 Played in 2025 Recently Played - Metroid Prime 3, Fatal Frame 4, Hypogea, Fatal Frame 3, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), mission complete stats screen Text reads: MISSION FINAL Percentage Complete 100% Total Time 12:21 Hyper Mode Difficulty Unlocked Press A to Continue
Clip from The Simpsons. A mustached man in a green jacket is conducting market research with a group of kids. He says, skeptically, "You want a realistic, down to earth show... that's completely off the wall and swarming with magic robots?" The kids all nod in agreement. Milhouse holds up his hand and excitedly says "And also, you should win things by watching!"
A screenshot from Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse We're looking over the shoulder of the main character as she stands holding a flashlight and looking down a small dark hallway. In the middle of the hallway, with plenty of clearance on either side, is a bright red wheelchair, a bit old but otherwise looking in good condition A text prompt in game reads: "The corridor is blocked by a red wheelchair."
Playstation headphones with an obvious cracked in the headband causing it to angle outward
My Backloggd profile: Favorite Games - Alan Wake 2, Silent Hill 2, Riven, Black Mesa, Bleak Faith: Forsaken 264 Total Games Played - 40 Played in 2025 Recently Played - Fatal Frame 3, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Without a Dawn, Cronos: The New Dawn, and Devotion
Short clip from The Matrix Reloaded (2003) Councilor Hamann talks to Neo, saying "I have absolutely no idea how you are able to do some of the things you do."
Needless to say, nothing remains He was a big king, nevertheless Callin' it colossal, baby I'm a Wreck Stand in the desert, baby you're a Wreck Readin' the pedestal, these words appear Sneer on my face, feelin' despair Someone made big Works, don't know who he was Lookin' at you half sunk, boundless and bare Ooh-ooh-ooh Two vast and trunkless legs The hand the mocked and the heart fed The passions well read Then you're left in the dust In an antique land You're Ozymandias In the lone and level sands Oh, you'll be left in the dust In an antique land You're Ozymandias You're Ozymandias
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes final results screen. Reads: "Mission Final Percentage complete 80% Total Time 15:58"
A grainy, eerie black and white photo from Alan Wake 2. The contrast and focus is deliberately exaggerated for surreal effect, so the details are difficult to discern. But on examination, and from in-game context, you can see it's a rocky outcrop overlooking a foggy lake surrounded by mountains on all sides.
The title screen for AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) Green text that reads "AM2R: RETURN OF SAMUS" hangs over a mysterious planet in space
My Bluesky feed. Above the OP is a post with two pictures of cats from Spooky Scary Arsenal Bat, marked #Caturday In the first picture, a gray cat looks like they are whispering into the ear of an orange cat, whose eyes are very wide and looks surprised. In the second, the orange cat has turned to the gray cat with a very "wtf" vibe
Frank Reynolds from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, driving and wearing a suit, looking back over his shoulder. A Metroid larva is crudely edited into outstretched hand, and he says "Can I offer you a nice Metroid in this trying time?"
A screenshot from the trailer for the upcoming Avatar fighting game. Aang and Zuko are fighting in the Northern Air Temple stage. Zuko is hitting Aang with a fire attack sending Aang into a "smear frame", a distorted single frame of animation used to express fast motion and impact.
Tweet from Moses Norton, the Well-Red Mage "WE DID IT. WE BEAT CANCEL CULTURE. You had my back and Bitmap has my back. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. Buy the book the mob tried to cancel today!"
Quentin Trembley from Gravity Falls, holding a sign that reads "No Pants" as he passes the Depantsipation Proclamation.
The Alan Wake 2 Oh Deer Diner thermos, with the cup full of coffee
A close up of an older man in a gray suit who looks like a business executive, looking at the camera
The Alan Wake 2 Oh Deer Dinner thermos sitting next to its box
A note bad sits on a cluttered table. A large spiral has been drawn on it, densely looping in and in. A small text box points to a seemingly random location on the spiral part way in. "YOU ARE HERE"
Hardcover editions of Vermis 1 and 2 by Plastiboo
A panel from Tsutomu Nihei's sci-fi horror manga BLAME! In a gray, sketched style with small hints of color, the silhouette of a man walks across a misshapen metal bridge over a narrow but vast chasm. Along either side buildings stretch off into the distance, dotted with unlit windows. Other bridges crossing the gap can be seen in the distance.
The cover of From Myst to Riven (1997) There were five varient covers of the book, showing a different image from the game. This one shows the Great Golden Dome on Temple Island, as seen from the elevated bridge leading from Crater Island.
Clip from The Simpsons. Several characters are trapped at the bottom of a large hole. Otto: How are we gonna get out of here? Homer: We're dig our way out! Sounds of digging. Chief Wiggum: No, dig *up* stupid.
The Firmament game box, patterned in red leather with the game's steampunk looking logo. A metal badge shaped like the logo sits on top. Next to it is a plush modeled after the Adjunct from the game, a small metal sphere with a large central camera lens.
The intro title card for Deus Ex (2000)
Regina George from Means Girls with a caption saying "Stop trying to make Cuomo happen. It's not happening"
Panel from the comic Watchmen. Dr. Manhattan, a blue naked muscular man, sits alone on the desolate surface of Mars.
Returnal Steam page. Play time: 21.8 hours Recent Achievements: White Shadow Finish Act 3 6.5% of players have this achievement Sins of the Mother Complete all House sequences 7.2% of players have this achievement Last Drive Finish Act 2 25.9% of players have this achievement Inner Darkness Defeat Ophion 26.0% of players have this achievement Silence the Song Defeat Hyperion 33.3% of players have this achievement
My Backloggd profile: Favorite Games - Alan Wake 2, Silent Hill 2, Black Mesa, Riven, Bleak Faith: Forsaken 240 Total Games Played - 20 Played in 2025 Recently Played - Resident Evil 4 (2005), Resident Evil 7, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Captain Blood, Fatal Frame