Exactly that, minus opening it in a new tab. It opened in the same tab (and maybe new tab if you middle-clicked the menu item? I don't quite remember).

Left clicking on "View Image" would open it in the current tab, Middle clicking on it would open it in a new tab. I used both options regularly.

Opened the image in the same tab so you could go back. It was just more convenient, especially when you already had a ton of tabs open.

I understand. That's for sure more convenient. I really miss one feature of Safari: When something triggers a new Tab open and you do swipe right to go back in history, it actually closes the new opened tab. That's in generally very convenient