I Can’t Wait for This Photography Simulator Video Game to Be Released

Photographers and gamers, would you play a wildlife photography simulator? At first glance, it seems cheesy, but when I watched the trailer for Photography Simulator, it actually looks fun and engaging. I researched the game to learn more about it and share why you might enjoy this game too.

Photography Simulator was developed by Madnetic Games and is being published with PlayWay S.A. on Steam for PC. In the game, you play as a professional wildlife and nature photographer. This is literally my actual job in a game, so my ears perked up right away. An open world map allows the player to wander through and teleport to various areas to capture images of the landscapes and wildlife that they encounter. The trailer even highlights the cool ability to switch from a traditional camera to a camera trap or even a drone to capture a bird’s eye view of the scenery. In one scene, the player switches to a drone to capture footage of a flock of mallard ducks flying over marshlands.

One aspect of the game that I find interesting is that in true sim form, the game has realistic player objectives and tasks. A few notable tasks are the ability to track wildlife by looking for tracks and scat and then to post the resulting photos to social media or even sell them as stock. The player even has a pretty sweet photo studio as a home base, fully stocked with gear and accessories.

While this game interested me as an actual professional wildlife and nature photographer, I think that it would appeal to many different genre photographers or even just gamers in general. The popularity of realistic open-world exploration, hunting and gathering-style games has exploded especially with the pandemic. On their Steam forums, the Madnetic Games Devs posted that Photography Simulator “will have a storyline and photo commissions going along. You'll be developing your photography career there. But obviously, there's always option just to free-roam out there.” It just looks like good wholesome fun either playing as a pro photographer, digitally practicing settings and learning, or just exploring a beautiful digital landscape full of wildlife.

As a PC gamer myself, the trailer for Photography Simulator pretty much sold me. The graphics are high quality, the tasks realistic and fun beyond just snapping photos, and the gameplay is more in-depth. So, all that is left is wondering when the release date is, right? Well, like many games, the developers are teasing us with no release date listed yet on the Steam page. I dug a bit into the Steam forums and found the Madnetic Games “Ask the Devs” post and saw like-minded folks all wondering when Photography Simulator is coming out. The Devs reply on September 13th, 2021 was, “at the moment, we cannot say how long it can take the final product.” Apparently, they are working on another game, WW2 Rebuilder, first, the audacity.

For now, you can add Photography Simulator to your Steam wish list to be notified of its release. I know this is one title that I am looking forward to adding to my game library.