In a day and age where everything’s a rush, Seclusa offers a serene escape to the wild plains of East Africa… Minus the walking, bugs, and potential wild animal attacks! The cosy photography simulator allows you to get up close and snappy-happy with your favourite African animals.
Point And Click… With A Camera
In Seclusa, your job is to photograph East African wildlife in seven different locations, including classic safari staples like the waterhole and the savannah. There’s no pressure to do anything by a certain time, but you’ll have a handy list of objectives to tick off at your leisure, alongside daily tasks to potter through.
Movement in Seclusa is point-and-click rather than free-roaming. You access different points of interest via a menu, then click on animals or vantage points to shift perspectives and frame the perfect shot. The animals move around realistically, doing their thing. It’s almost as if you’re not there, but rather, a fly on the wall. With a camera.
Sometimes you have to bide your time to get that perfect shot of a leopard drinking water. Much like real-life photography, patience is necessary. Or move to a different location to find another subject. You’re also limited in how many photos you can store, which I loved, as it forces you to be intentional with your shots, or risk clogging up your imaginary SD card.
Camera functionality is impressively deep. You can tweak zoom, focus, exposure, contrast, and more — with additional upgrades available for those who want finer control. Amateur and professional photographers alike will appreciate how much there is to play with. But perhaps the best thing Seclusa offers is the ability to get as close as you like to a lion without worrying about becoming lunch! Always a bonus.
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Visually, Seclusa is stunning, exactly what you’d want from a photography game. The wildlife and environments render beautifully, and playing on the Steam Deck ran smoothly overall. I occasionally encountered some minor blurriness in menu text, but nothing that detracted from the experience.
Lots To Do, Plenty Of Time
If you’re a taskmaster like me, you’ll thrive here. There are just enough objectives to keep you engaged without feeling overwhelmed. Some are simple — like petting the lodge cat, Paka — while others require more time and patience, such as capturing a specific photograph or completing an in-game jigsaw puzzle.
Completing objectives earns you in-game credits, which unlock upgrades and collectible cards, which then feed into even more objectives. It’s delightfully cyclical. Back at the lodge you can water the plants, decorate, adjust the lighting, work on your puzzle, or even take a nap to advance time. You can spend credits to manually control the weather and time of day, perfect for lining up that golden-hour masterpiece.
There’s also a jobs board you can submit photos to for extra credits. Interestingly, once submitted, those photos disappear from your library, so choose wisely! Jobs refresh every few minutes, but you can manually refresh if nothing matches what’s currently in your gallery. More jobs unlock as you progress.
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I Bless The Rains Down In Africa
Seclusa delivers precisely what it promises, a zen photography simulator set in a secluded East African safari lodge. There’s no time pressure, no fail states, no urgency… It’s almost meditative.
The game borders on idle at times, you can step away and return to find a new animal wandering into view, perhaps the very one you’ve been waiting for. Spending time in Seclusa feels intimate, like you’re sharing a quiet moment with the savannah. It’s the kind of game you revisit when you need a quiet escape into the wild. I almost felt like David Attenborough… Minus the narration.
Seclusa is out now on PC via Steam.
Quest Daily scores Seclusa:
9/10
A copy of Seclusa was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
