When Pokémon Snap came out in 1999, the idea of a game where you take photographs was something of a novelty. Then, it was a simple twist on a gaming staple: a first-person shooter that swaps guns for cameras, aimed not at enemies but cute beasties you pass during a fantastical safari.

The game’s recent sequel, New Pokémon Snap, emerges in a very different gaming landscape. Today in-game photography is a phenomenon comprising a whole genre. Busy online communities share virtual snapshots and sophisticated tools which allow players to take pictures of their gameplay. Some of these images even line the walls of real-world art galleries.

Photography has been employed in a recent string of indie games to encourage players to engage more with a game’s world. This makes environmental design, often sumptuously detailed in modern releases, the star of the show rather than mere set dressing. Nuts tasks you with photographing squirrels in a forest, Firewatch supplies players with a camera that has limited film to ensure you value each snap, while the upcoming Season gives you a camera to document a stunning landscape in the final days before an apocalypse. Last year’s Umurangi Generation was particularly thoughtful, telling rich stories through its detailed sci-fi environments, offering players complex tools to fine-tune their images and exploring issues around environmentalism and Maori culture.