Lushfoil Photography Sim Lets Players Become Virtual Photographers on a Worldwide Journey

At Summer Game Fest, Restart checked out three titles in Annapurna Interactive’s lineup: Flock, Bounty Star, and Lushfoil Photography Sim. As the name suggests, the latter is a photography simulation experience that allows players to travel to a variety of worldwide locations and practice their skills with virtual photography.

Lushfoil allows players to freely explore a series of beautiful destinations across Italy, Australia, and other locales that have been created in Unreal Engine 5. Players can experiment with a variety of DSLR camera lenses and settings, with the game providing a brief introduction to the camera’s controls, as well as descriptions of more complex concepts such as aperture and shutter speed.

It’s important to note that Lushfoil isn’t an educational game. Players can view the camera control tutorials at any time, but the game won’t hold their hand to teach them how to master each setting. Instead, players can freely toy with the camera’s tools at their own pace to discover how each one affects their photos.

Adding more traditional “gameplay” elements to the experience, players can discover hidden items and additional camera tools, such as a first-person drone and a paddle board that allows them to row out onto the water to take closer pictures of porpoising dolphins.

A red torii gate in a forest in the Lushfoil Photography Sim video game — ©Matt Newell / Annapurna Interactive

In addition, a photo board featuring a collage of images can be photographed in each environment. The game will ask players to recreate the photos seen on the board by traveling to the pictured areas and capturing their own shots. Doing so will give them access to new areas and items.

With such little traditional gameplay – the experience is more about the freedom of exploration and experimenting with the digital camera tools – Lushfoil Photography Sim won’t appeal to everyone, but it looks to offer an engaging experience for photography enthusiasts.