Lushfoil Photography Sim – A Stunning Exploration Of Our Beautiful Planet Through Your Camera Lens!

Lushfoil Photography Sim lets you explore breath-takin, lifelike worlds while mastering your photography skills. Relax, create, and capture stunning landscapes in this beautiful, immersive experience.

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• Game: Lushfoil Photography Sim

• Studio: Matt Newell (Solo Developer)

• Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

• Platforms: Steam

• Play Time: 3+ Hours

• Price: $13.99

• Genre: Realistic, Exploration, Nature, Immersive Sim

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Game Lobby Review of Lushfoil Photography Sim — a realistic exploration sim where you explore and take in the detailed landscapes, capturing them with your camera. Let’s go hiking and experience this beautiful world together in my review.

Also, all the photos in this post were taken by me aside from the 2 GIFs. What do you think? Let me know in the comments. :)

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Storytelling One Frame Per Second

Matt Newell, the solo developer behind Lushfoil Photography Sim and published by Annapurna Interactive, brought to life one of the best experiences in a sim. When you think of simulation games, Truck Driving or Power Washing might be your go-to, and they are just not appealing to me. It feels like working while playing, and I'll keep that to work. What Matt was able to capture here is nature, high-quality graphical output, and learning how to use cameras in a relaxing and fun way.

This is where I typically go into the story of the game, but since it has no story per se, let’s jump into the gameplay.

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Pull The Trigger

It all starts with an image being selected, and then this zoom and sort of pop-in view of a forest path you start to explore. I recorded footage of the game in the already picked quality, and later on, I upgraded the visuals, where it dropped the frame rates quite a bit but looked stunning. I recommend IMMEDIATELY adjusting the visual settings to get the best look and feel for your device. Matt also added a very helpful Steam Deck setting to easily get set up for handheld PC gamers.

Okay, now back to the gameplay.

You walk down a trail and find a DSLR, where you are given a short tutorial on how to raise the camera up, adjust the focus, choose portrait or landscape, and get the basics of taking a photo with a DSLR — which is a Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera. They typically have a handful of features and settings for you to adjust and capture the world how you want. In Lushfoil, you get all those settings and more.

As you continue on your path and begin to take photos, you happen upon a paper airplane, which is part of the gamification of Lushfoil, or at least the start. The main part is that you are shown a board with photos you need to recreate. Each setting has them, and after completing them, you are given a new path that's unlocked to finish a few more photos and complete the whole area. You can discover a flashlight to assist in the night setting and exploration. You are even given a digital camera to see how things would look in the early 2000s or a film camera to give you a vibe all its own.

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Visuals

Okay, let's talk about the visuals. Lushfoil is running in Unreal Engine 5, and it shows in the quality and lighting of the game's visuals. Like I mentioned earlier, adjusting the right settings is the difference between an okay and a jaw-dropping visual experience.

I played for a bit, and after adjusting the settings, I felt like I was playing the best visual demo for a new console. The details in the environments — from the greenery of the forests and moss on rocks of Iceland, to sandy beaches — all felt as real as you can get.

In sim games, it’s more focused on the act itself versus the visuals getting as close to reality as possible, but what Matt has done here is check both of those boxes. It feels real, and you’re given the tools and instructions to improve as a photographer with each new beautiful real-life place you explore.

The lush forests and neatly designed Japanese setting at times feel like they’re just missing people to really make it realistic, but once you get to Iceland that all goes away.

If you are a fan of the channel, you know I am a Death Stranding fanboy — speaking of which, Part 2 is coming out in 2 MONTHS!? Anyone else excited for it? Let me know in the comments.

Okay, so the reason why I even bring it up is that it’s heavily designed on landscapes of Iceland, and the second you unlock this place in Lushfoil it felt like I was playing a first-person version of Death Stranding from the viewpoint of Norman Reedus. The dark sandy areas make the moss-covered rocks pop from the settings. Fog fills certain areas that obstruct you from the right path, making you take a step back to see where you are going.

I have never been to Iceland, and it’s on my bucket list for this exact reason. It’s gorgeous and feels like we are just reaching areas outside of what our typical everyday looks like. It’s why the forest setting or even beach felt so relaxing to explore.

Hop on a surfboard and push your way out to get a better shot with no obstructions. No people you need to Photoshop out of the photos later — just you, your camera, and a beautiful world.

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Relaxing Tones

The soundtrack moves and sways in and out with relaxing tones, setting the mood and vibe of Lushfoil. I found out too late that the songs are licensed, so I am unable to use them in the video, but a setting can be changed to just play unlicensed music.

I found an answer in the Steam community on why a soundtrack wasn’t released.

Quote:

“because all the tracks are licensed, I don't have the rights to re-release the songs unfortunately. the artists themselves might be willing to release it if there's enough demand, it might be worth asking them?”
– Matt Newell

Looks like on Matt’s SoundCloud account you can find a full playlist of songs. You can’t post a SoundCloud playlist but here is the first song on the playlist. If you want to hear the whole thing head here: Lushfoil Photography Sim Soundtrack

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A Must Play!

Being solo in some environments can feel lonesome. Hiking solo, even in the real world, you will come across other hikers. Though the solitude is nice to have once in a while, I could have done with a few people around. But that's not what this game is about. It’s about taking a step into the world of an avid hiker who appreciates a tranquil and gorgeous landscape. Matt is sharing a bit of his world with all of us and taking us on a trip we will never forget.

Lushfoil Photography Sim is easily one of the best games of 2025 and a must-play for me. A breath-taking meditative escape complimented by a chill soundtrack, and revolving around capturing small moments to stay with you forever.

Had a tough day at work, just put the kids to bed, maybe just saw episode 2 of The Last of Us Season 2 and need a relaxing setting? Turn on Lushfoil Photography Sim and immerse yourself in a new place to capture.

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