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As CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 continues to be mired in lawsuits and new issues with the game, I have continued my journey through Night City undeterred. Playing as the mercenary V I have tackled the plethora of side jobs the game has, while leveling up and raising V’s street cred. An open world game as big as Cyberpunk 2077 is you’re bound to get lost in it, and spend more time doing other things instead of really playing the game. Cyberpunk 2077’s photo mode has served as the biggest distraction of all but one I come back to every time I play.

In my first impressions post for the game I mentioned very briefly how I discovered the joys of photo mode. Since then I’ve taken the time to dive in and explore all of its capabilities. When you enter photo mode you’re able to adjust the camera angles, lighting, filters, and frames, which are all basic stuff in a game that has a photo mode. Cyberpunk 2077 expands on the basics by giving players several different poses and facial expressions for V, changing the background, or adding a ton of different stickers as if it were one of those customizable photo booths you and a bunch of friends may have joked around in at an arcade or carnival. Photo mode can be launched at any time, even in the midst of a gun fight, to get the coolest action shots of your V pumping lead into a cyberpsycho or taking on one of the many gangs in Night City.

I’m not one to usually spend a lot of time on a game’s photo mode or capturing screenshots on my Xbox One. Most of the time I want to focus on playing a game without stopping to take a screen capture. The only time I ever used my Xbox One’s screen capture was when I played Final Fantasy XV to keep some really stunning memories with the game and Mass Effect Andromeda for the purposes of this blog. Playing with Cyberpunk 2077’s photo mode has renewed my interest in screen capture for really one reason only—to have a visual record of my V’s many outfits.

The game provides plenty of opportunities to obtain clothes either by looting or buying new threads at clothing stores scattered around Night City. As someone who appreciates style, or living out my fantasies of wearing clothes I probably wouldn’t wear in real life through video games, Cyberpunk 2077 has allowed me to go nuts with V’s style. The amount of time I have spent doing side missions has increased V’s bank account substantially, making it easy to splurge on the best clothes (and armor stats) for V to strut around in. After I dress up my V in the latest clothes from my inventory I immediately start scouting the best spot to take a photo of her.

Every new outfit my V dons is almost always the perfect excuse to launch photo mode to turn Night City into my very own fashion magazine photo shoot. I’m pretty sure I wasted some of those 20+ hours in the game scouting for areas to take the perfect shot of V. Once I find the place, the next few minutes is spent on trying to move V around until the background I want to capture for the picture is highlighted just right.

I can honestly say I could spend hours swapping V’s outfits and taking pictures of them until I’ve used about every pose and facial expression the game’s photo mode has. For the anime fan there’s even a Sailor Moon pose option! I have yet to capture my V in that pose, but it’ll happen as soon as I find the right location and lighting to do it in.

Have a look at some of the shots I have taken of my V so far:

Have you tried Cyberpunk 2077’s photo mode?