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# Please Don't Make Me Do A Camera Quest
- URL: https://aftermath.site/indiana-jones-great-circle-camera/
- Published: 2024-12-16T15:08:31.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-27T17:10:22.000Z
- Author: Riley MacLeod
- Tags: Blog, Video Games, cameras, indiana jones, indiana jones and the great circle, photography, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-10-27 13:00

I’m finally playing *Indiana Jones and the Great Circle*. I’ve had a good time so far climbing all over the game’s Vatican map and getting into clumsy fistfights, but one thing that hasn’t been such a good time are the quests that involve the in-game camera, because I hate in-game cameras.

(Spoilers for the first quest and some early side missions of *Indiana Jones*.)

Early on in the game, you have to purchase a camera. You need it to move the story forward, but it’s also used in side activities: you’ll overhear some nuns wishing they had a photo of Indy’s pal Father Antonio, so you can go snap a pic and give it to them. A priest is bummed he didn’t get a photo of the Sistine Chapel, so you can take one for him. As I wandered the Vatican, I’d constantly get prompts that there was something I could take a picture of; I’d equip my camera, raise it to my face, and swing the viewfinder around until the game told me what it wanted me to snap.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/indieinpic-jpeg-w-710-1.jpg)

These kinds of tasks in games drive me nuts. I’ve always chalked this up to being primarily a PC gamer–my whole machine is basically a camera, able to take screenshots with a single button press, so in-game cameras make a simple task more clunky by throwing a bunch of interface stuff in the way. I hate having to swap things around in my inventory just to *look* at something, the task I’m already mainly engaged in through playing a first-person game. I hate trying to figure out what a game wants me to take a picture of and then trying to take whatever the game thinks is an acceptable picture of it.

*Indiana Jones*’ implementation of this task at least [guides you ](https://bsky.app/profile/lukeplunkett.com/post/3ldf5ohpbdk23?ref=aftermath.site)toward the correct framing by giving you a viewfinder to line up with, and it also gives you visual and audio prompts when there’s something photographable nearby. But last night, when I was playing through the area under the Vatican, I kept getting photo prompts as I was busy evading fascists and trying to escape the labyrinthian area; really not the time to stop for photos! (I should also mention that I’m playing on keyboard and mouse despite the game suggesting I don’t, which makes pulling things out of my inventory slightly more cumbersome than I imagine it is with a controller.) So far, most of the game's camerawork has been optional, so as long as I can deal with ignoring the little prompt, I can mostly pretend it doesn’t exist. I’m not sure how long that will last, though.

I complained about these quests on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3ldeyxhhy622r?ref=aftermath.site), where many people defended their love of in-game camera quests, or games like *Umurangi Generation* or *Pokemon Snap* that are *just* about taking pictures. I support all of this! I’m envious that you are able to find joy where I am not, through a very popular mechanic that many people seem to like. I know that my dislike of in-game camera quests is a narrow personal gripe, getting into “[hating double jump](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-double-jump/)” territory, and I appreciate hearing why other people like them because maybe, one day, I can learn to like them too. Please teach me your ways or, failing that, at least help me feel like less of a killjoy by admitting that you don't like them either.