As games become increasingly beautiful, players are exploring a desire to capture them in their own unique way. For years, developers have been working to integrate more immersive and innovativephoto modefeatures into their games, allowing players to get creative and express their love for a title, character, or world.
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However, not every game features a photo mode - it’s an obvious fact, but not every gameneedsa photo mode. Those that feature them tend to be open-world, epic titles, boasting gorgeous lighting, intense visual effects, masterfully-created characters, or stunning environments. With an advanced photo mode, players can study these environments on a much deeper level, coming to appreciate the time, effort, and love poured into creating them.
9The Last Of Us Part 2
Released in 2020,The Last of Us Part 2was an improvement on the first game in many ways. For fans of the more artistic side of the post-apocalyptic environments present in the game, a wonderful photo mode was added, serving as an evolution to the mode featured in 2014’sThe Last of Us Remasteredon PS4.
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With this in-depth, immersive photo mode, players could frametheir dark, gritty adventuresperfectly, applying filters and tweaking the lighting as they saw fit. There were many features that could have been added to this photo mode, but the base cinematic nature of the title meant that much of the work was done by the environment itself - players were just capturing those moments as and when needed.
8Ghost Of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima’s photo mode was nothing short of awe-inspiring. It was a groundbreaking, artistic platform that enabled players to interact with the game world like never before. With this mode, players could pour their creativity into each snapshot image, applying a wide range of features and filters that turned a simple scene into something worthy of a still from a traditional Japanese samurai movie.
It starts with basic filters and camera effects, but before long, players are tweaking dynamic, animated overlays that impact the world around Jin Sakai, the protagonist. They can send a cloud of embers to fill the screen, or envelop the character in a swarm of butterflies. There are options to change the time of day, the lighting, and even control the wind - it’san experience all in itself.
7Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Spider-Manlaunched in 2018, bringing with it an advanced photo mode that kept comic book fans occupied for hours. However, whenSpider-Man: Miles Moraleswas released in 2020, it introduced an upgraded, evolved version of that photo mode that was simply stunning.
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With this photo mode, players could manipulate light and color on a deeper level than ever before. They could set up and tweak different lighting sources, fully customizing a scene and changing the tone of a still in a matter of minutes. It was the perfect way to secure gorgeous snapshots of a world that, on the surface,already looked absolutely flawless.
6No Man’s Sky
At launch,No Man’s Skywas something of a trainwreck, and that’s something that the developer eventually owned. However, once thingsbegan picking up for the developer,No Man’s Skybegan to recover, and before long, it was living out a rags to riches story.
In 2017, a year after the game was released, the Path Finder update launched, bringing with it an advanced photo mode menu. This feature was an instant hit with fans, and players began deploying the photo modeeverywhere -in the depths of space, on alien planets, and in space stations. It was a brilliant implementation, withNo Man’s Skyfans now able to control the time of day, lighting, and many filters and overlays - even if they were playing in multiplayer.
5Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077had its fair share of difficulties at launch, that was for certain. However, if there’s one thing that CD Projekt Red did well with theCyberpunkrelease, it was the integration of an innovative and immersive photo mode. It was a grating experience for fans that had picked the game up on day one, but at least there was a fantastic photo modeto use when exploring Night City.
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At the top of the table in theCyberpunk 2077photo mode feature sat the wide array of poses available for use. These poses referenced pop culture and memes, making them an instant hit among internet-savvy players. Today, theCyberpunk 2077digital photography community is alive and well, and a string of visual mods has further supplemented the fantastic photo mode offering.
4God Of War (2018)
God of Warwas released in 2018, and it was a beautiful, harrowing journey from start to finish. As one of the highest-rated games in the series,God of Warwowed fans around the world with its storytelling, its visuals, and its immersive photo mode.
Fans ofthe hack-and-slash adventurecould now snap Kratos, and his son Atreus, in a variety of scenes, positions, and styles. At the press of a button, photo mode could be deployed, effortlessly capturing the muscled, raging protagonist in action. As an added bonus, players could manipulate the poses and facial expressions of either character, a feature that included giving the surly, all-business Kratos a beaming, toothy smile.
3Horizon: Forbidden West
Horizon: Forbidden West’s photo mode didn’t change that much from the first title in the series, but it didn’t really need to. As one of the best photo modes in gaming,Horizon: Zero Dawnset the standard for digital photography, fusing together a flawless, perfectly-created world with the ability to capture that world as the player saw fit.
InForbidden West, players can put the photo mode to use at any given moment, posing Aloy and manipulating the time of day to suit their style. As photo mode features go, it was a relatively simple offering, but the world ofForbidden West(and the characters) was masterfully made and simply beautiful to behold.
Red Dead Redemption 2, which launched in 2018, was originally left without any kind of photo mode. However, when the PC version launched in 2019, it brought with it a glorious photo mode that players had long been waiting for, and not long after, this photo mode was added to console platforms, too.
It quickly became regarded as one of the best photo modes in gaming, giving players the ability to perfectly framea gorgeous, wild world. In fact, in 2022,RDR2’s photo mode became an award-winning feature when it was used towin a photo mode contest at the London Games Festival.
1InFamous: Second Son
InFamous: Second Sonis thought by many to have introduced the modern photo mode to gaming. It was released back in 2014, serving as one of the best early exclusives on the PS4 platform, and it brought with it a concept that, up until that point, hadn’t really been seen in modern gaming.
WithInFamous: Second Son, players could enter a photo mode that they could manipulate, moving the camera around and tweaking certain effects, before exporting those images. While screenshot and screen-recording technology had existed for a while, the ability to go into a game, freeze time, and manipulate the camera as the player saw fit was a relatively new concept - and it was a huge win for the developers.
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