The spaces and places that video games create are often designed with a particular interaction or way to progress through them. However, because games are open to the player, how you play, the direction you move and what you do in the game is up to you. This means that you can often put video games to unusual uses. Photography is one aspect of this as Paul Buttle recently highlight on Twitter. All modern video game consoles enable you to capture an image of the screen. At a rudimentary level this allows you to take pictures of your adventures. Beyond this, many games offer a Photo mode that allows you to freeze the action and take control of the camera -- even letting you control effects, depth of field and shutter speed in some cases.This means you can take really beautiful and engaging pictures in the games you play. Some families have tasked their expert players with capturing a certain type of photograph as they play:
This list includes 36 games from the last 24 years, with 487 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to practice photography.
We have other educational lists of games:
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Rating: PEGI 16+, ESRB TEEN
Release Date: 12/11/2020
Platforms: PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative and Open World
Developer: @InsomniacGames
Players: This is a single player game
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an action-adventure game based on the Marvel Comics superhero Miles Morales. It is similar to the first Marvel's Spider-Man game in mechanics although Miles Morales extends this...
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Rating: PEGI 18+, ESRB MATURE 17+
Release Date: 10/11/2020
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Open World and Role-Playing
Developer: @Ubisoft
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the twelfth game in the Assassins Creed Series, an open world action-adventure that takes place over several main story quests as well as many optional side missions.
Super Mario Odyssey
Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB EVERYONE 10+
Release Date: 27/10/2017
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Genres: Action, Adventure, Open World and Platform
Developer: @Nintendo
Players: You can play with 2 players in the same room
Mario has stared in running and jumping Super Mario games on Nintendo hardware since the Nintendo Entertainment System in the 80's. The formula remains unchanged. Explore a level, jump on enemies, collect coins and get to the flag at the end to inch...
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Rating: PEGI 12+, ESRB EVERYONE 10+
Release Date: 21/01/1999, updated in 2018
Platforms: GameCube, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Wii U
Genres: Action and Fighting
Players: You can play with 8 players in the same room and up to 8 players online
Super Smash Bros. in its various versions offers real-time brawling battles. The tens of characters are drawn from other video games and each has bespoke moves to learn and perfect.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
Expected Rating: PEGI 3+, ESRB EVERYONE
Release Date: 11/12/2020
Platforms: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and iOS Apple Arcade
Genres: Adventure, Narrative and Simulation
Developer: @UsTwo
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is an adventure game where you play as a young girl who starts a wildlife conservation club. When Alba visits her grandparents on a Mediterranean island, she is excited for a summer of exploring with her friend Ines. But when...
The Last Of Us Part II
Release Date: 19/06/2020
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Role-Playing, Shooting and Simulation
Developer: @Naughty_Dog
The Last of Us Part II is an action-adventure game set five years after The Last of Us. You control two characters in a post-apocalyptic United States. Ellie is out for revenge after suffering a tragedy, and Abby is a...
The Last Of Us Left Behind
Release Date: 14/02/2014
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative and Shooting
The Last of Us is a survival adventure game where you play Joel, a father figure, looking to protect a girl in his care, Ellie. The game creates a fimlic and emotional experience that extends beyond the usual zombie shooting to offer an interactive...
Seasons
Rating: PEGI 3+, ESRB EVERYONE
Release Date: Coming soon
Platforms: PC and PlayStation 5
Genres: Adventure and Narrative
Developer: @ScavStudio
Seasons is a narrative adventure where you take a bicycle road trip game. You play as a young woman leaving a secluded community, exploring the world for the first time. Collect artefacts and memories as you explore because soon, a mysterious cataclysm...
Red Dead Redemption 2
Release Date: 18/05/2010, updated in 2019
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Genres: Action, Fighting, Open World and Shooting
Developer: @RockstarGames
Players: You can play this with 32 players online
Red Dead Redemption is a series of open world adventures with a wild west theme. The rich world offers many things to do along with a main story line. It's this living breathing world that attracts players, both in its diversity and beauty.
Firewatch
Rating: PEGI 16+, ESRB MATURE 17+
Release Date: 20/09/2016
Platforms: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Genres: Adventure, Narrative and Open World
Developer: @Camposanto
Firewatch is an explorative adventure where you play a fire lookout in America’s Shoshone National Forest. It has a relational and conspiracy undertone similar to the podcast/radio drama and Netflix show [link to...
Umurangi Generation
Expected Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB EVERYONE 10+
Release Date: 19/05/2020
Platforms: Nintendo Switch and PC
Genres: Adventure, Creative, Narrative, Puzzle and Simulation
Developer: @Veselekov
Umurangi Generation is an adventure you play by exploring a city and taking photographs. Unlike other games where the photography is secondary, this is the main way you progress. As you do, you discover a story about ecology, friendship and the...
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Release Date: 15/01/2019
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Developer: @Respawn
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a fighting-adventure game set five years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and 14 years before Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Young Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis is hunted through the galaxy by the...
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Release Date: 07/09/2018
Developer: @Insomniacgames
Marvel's Spider-Man is a series of superhero adventures where you swing through an open-world city fighting crime and advancing a film-like story. There are also many side quests and missions you can take along the way.
The Last Of Us
Release Date: 14/06/2013
Platforms: PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4
You play a father, Joel, whose daughter was killed during the early stages of a deadly fungal outbreak. It’s now 20 years later, and he has clearly suffered from the loss. When Joel is given charge of a girl, Ellie, about the same age his daughter...
Ghost of Tsushima
Release Date: 17/07/2020
Genres: Action, Adventure and Open World
Developer: @SuckerPunchProd
Players: This is a single player game. You can play with up to 4 players online
Ghost of Tsushima is a stealth and action adventure set in 13th century Japan, where you play as a clan leader and samurai warrior trying to protect your people and the Tsushima Island against Mongol invaders.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Release Date: 19/11/2016, updated in 2017
Players: You can play this with 10 players online
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is an action-adventure game set several years after the events of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. You play Nathan Drake, a happily married former treasure hunter coaxed out of retirement by his brother. This leads into...
No Man's Sky
Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB TEEN
Release Date: 10/08/2016, updated in 2018
Genres: Open World and Simulation
Developer: @HelloGames
Players: This is a single player game. You can play with up to 32 players online
This game invites you to take your spaceship to explore and colonise a universe rich with diverse planets, creatures and fauna. Facing so vast a space is daunting at first, but a rhythm of survival, combat and trading draw you into a space drama of your...
Journey
Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB EVERYONE
Release Date: 14/03/2012, updated in 2019
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and iOS
Genres: Adventure
Developer: @ThatGameCompany
Players: This is a single player game. You can play with up to 2 players online
This is an adventure in a desert. Exploring the eerie sand-scape, you discover a world abandoned by the race that created it. The sense of space and scale evokes feelings of aloneness and being lost. But then the game pairs you with other players, one...
Forza Horizon 4
Release Date: 25/09/2018
Platforms: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Genres: Open World and Racing
Developer: @WeArePlayground
Players: This is a single player game. You can play with up to 72 players online
Forza Horizon 4 is a thrilling racing game where you race all manner of vehicles across a wide range of landscapes. This fourth iteration is set in the United Kingdom, with Edinburgh’s narrow streets, the Lake District’s hills and rainfall and the...
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Release Date: 23/08/2017
Genres: Action, Adventure, Narrative, Puzzle and Shooting
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is an action-adventure game where you Chloe Frazer, and seek the Tusk of Ganesh in the Western Ghats mountain ranges of India in the midst of a civil war. It's the first Uncharted game not to feature protagonist Nathan Drake.
Nuts
Release Date: 20/01/2021
Platforms: PC and iOS Apple Arcade
Genres: Adventure, Narrative, Puzzle and Simulation
Developer: @JoonTurbo
Nuts is an adventure game where you play a rookie field researcher. You use your camera, caravan, GPS and map to investigate the depths of the enigmatic Melmoth Forest. As you study the local squirrel population you uncover a strange mystery.
Journey to the Savage Planet
Rating: PEGI 12+, ESRB TEEN
Release Date: 28/10/2020
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Genres: Action, Adventure, Open World, Platform and Shooting
Developer: @Typhoon_MTL
Players: You can play this with 2 players online
Journey to the Savage Planet is an adventure-shooting game played from a first-person perspective. You explore a planet to catalogue various alien flora and fauna and collect the resources you need to craft items and upgrades like jetpacks and grappling...
Control
Release Date: 28/08/2019
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Genres: Action, Narrative and Shooting
Developer: @RemedyGames
This game is an outlandish paranormal fantasy where you are swept into a role as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Control agency of the ‘paranatural’. With impressive cinematic visuals and storytelling, your interactions involve exploring,...
Grand Theft Auto V
Release Date: 01/01/1997, updated in 2019
Platforms: Android, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Open World, Role-Playing and Shooting
Players: You can play this with 30 players online
Grand Theft Auto is a series of action-adventure game where you travel around one large location taking part in different criminal activities: pulling off heists, with lots of shooting and stealing and driving a variety of cars and other vehicles.
Forza Motorsport 7
Release Date: 03/10/2017
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Genres: Racing
Developer: @Turn10Studios
Players: You can play with 2 players in the same room and up to 24 players online
Forza Motorsport 7 immerses players in the exhilarating thrill of competitive racing. From mastering the new motorsport-inspired campaign to collecting a wide range of cars to experiencing the excitement of driving at the limit, this is Forza reimagined.
Tomb Raider
Release Date: 09/11/2015, updated in 2019
Platforms: GameCube, Mac, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Tomb Raider is a longstanding series that has been rebooted in recent years. This means it not only gets a fresh coat of paint like a re-release but is built from the ground up. All the games feature Lara Croft as the titular hero. She shoots, runs,...
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Release Date: 08/08/2017, updated in 2018
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting and Narrative
Developer: @NinjaTheory
This is a dark fantasy adventure, drawing on Norse and Celtic mythology, where you play a young female Pict warrior, Senua. You explore and fight your way to Helheim to rescue the soul of her dead lover. As you play, though, you hear multiple voices in...
God of War
Release Date: 20/04/2018
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Role-Playing and Shooting
Developer: @SonySantaMonica
You play super-strong Norse fantasy hero Kratos as he takes his son Atreus on a brutal quest in the wake of his mother’s death. The exploration, puzzle solving, climbing and fighting gameplay intertwines with a mythological family drama played out in...
Flower
Release Date: 12/02/2009
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and iOS
Genres: Open World, Racing and Simulation
Control the breeze blowing across fields of grass and blow petals into other flowers to make them bloom. Flower is simple and single-purpose in evoking the feeling of the wind. What starts as an awkward struggle to control the breeze soon turns into a...
Dordogne
Platforms: PC
Genres: Creative, Narrative and Puzzle
Developer: @Cedric_Babouche
Dordogne is a narrative adventure where you play as Mimi, a 32-year-old woman who returns to the house of her recently deceased grandmother. You explore the house and area to find letters and puzzles that bring back memories of the past.
HoloVista
Expected Rating: PEGI 12+, ESRB TEEN
Release Date: 11/09/2020
Platforms: iOS
Developer: @AconiteCo
In Holovista is an adventure game you play by taking and sharing photographs. You play as Carmen an up-and-coming architect tasked to live in and take photographs at mysterious mansion and share your thoughts via in-game social media. Your task is...
The Good Life
Expected Rating: PEGI 12+, ESRB EVERYONE 10+
Developer: @Swery65
The Good Life is a narrative adventure, where you experience a slower pace of life in an English town. Although, before long you are drawn into an intriguing web of murder, bodily transformations and photographic tasks. It's an absurdist exploration of...
Horizon Zero Dawn
Release Date: 01/03/2017
Platforms: PC and PlayStation 4
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Open World and Shooting
Developer: @Guerrilla
Horizon Zero Dawn, and the follow-up game Horizon Forbidden West, has a post-apocalyptic feel familiar from movies like Planet of the Apes. It plunges you into an overgrown landscape with now-crumbling remnants of modern life where animalistic machines...
Beyond Blue
Release Date: 22/04/2020
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and iOS Apple Arcade
Genres: Adventure, Narrative, Open World and Simulation
Developer: @ELineMedia
Beyond Blue is an underwater exploration game where you play Mirai, a deep-sea explorer and scientist. You see, hear, and interact with the ocean and the creatures in it as you discover an untouched world.
Gran Turismo
Release Date: 01/01/1997, updated in 2017
Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Portable
Genres: Racing, Simulation and Sports
Developer: @TheGranTurismo
Players: You can play with 2 players in the same room and up to 16 players online
Gran Turismo is a driving simulator that focuses on a photo-realistic driving experience. Players race real-world cars where bodywork and interiors are perfectly modelled. Whether hatchbacks or super cars, this game lets you step into the world of the...
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
Release Date: 12/08/2015, updated in 2016
Platforms: Mac, PC and PlayStation 4
Developer: @ChineseRoom
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture lands you in a fictional deserted English village in 1984. As you walk the streets of another era you discover bright human forms who re-enact events like a radio play. Through their eyes, you see a web of fear,...
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