God Of War Ragnarök Finally Gets Its Photo Mode

The Photo Mode for God of War Ragnarök has finally arrived, which is great news for folks who haven’t played the game yet.

Prior to God of War Ragnarökk‘s release in November, many people were hoping that the Photo Mode from God of War (2018) would make a return. It’s pretty commonplace for games as visually spectacular as this one to have a Photo Mode, so why wouldn’t there be?

It was then revealed that Photo Mode for God of War Ragnarök would not be available at launch, but instead, be implemented via an update later on. This didn’t stop folks like modder Speclizer from finding the code for the unfinished Photo Mode within the game, or folks like me who wanted to take pictures of creatures. Thankfully though, we must wait no longer.

Announced via the PlayStation Blog today, the official Photo Mode for God of War Ragnarök is now available to owners of the game in its most recent update. While not as extensive as Speclizer and Lance McDonald’s ‘free camera‘, there’s still a lot of fun to be had.

According to the blog post, the following features will be available in God of War Ragnarök‘s Photo Mode.

God of War Ragnarök Photo Mode features

• Apply expressions to the following characters in a scene:
  • Kratos, Atreus, Freya, Brok, Sindri, Angrboda, Thor, and Thrúd
• Hide main or side characters in a scene
• Adjust camera controls with:
  • Field of View
  • Focal Length
  • Camera Roll
• Adjust shutter controls with:
  • Depth of Field
  • Focus Distance
  • F-Stop
• Adjust brightness and filters with:
  • Film Grain
  • Exposure
  • Filter Intensity, with finer controls for Vibrance and Saturation
• Apply vignettes, borders, and logos

Santa Monica Studio’s QA lead Tim Ward also provided tips for Photo Mode, which can be viewed below:

1. Adjust the Filter Intensity, Vibrance, and Saturation on your desired filter for a wider range of colours.
2. Be sure to add a vignette when appropriate to give your shot more depth.
3. Don’t be afraid to roll the camera a little bit, especially when shooting combat. It can make your screenshots feel more dynamic and less like the camera is always shooting from a fixed horizontal position.
4. If you like to take vertical shots, you can roll the camera 90 degrees to give yourself the much-needed headroom.
5. Remember, lighting is everything! Your screenshots will really pop if the subject of your shot is properly lit. Know where your light source is when entering Photo Mode to give your subject proper visibility.
6. Take your time looking for a shot you’re happy with. A lot of times, you can enter photo mode thinking of taking a specific shot only to find something else better during that moment. Explore with the camera and move about the scene and see what jumps out at you.

While I’ve personally already finished God of War Ragnarök, I would be keen to give the new Photo Mode a go. That is, of course, if a New Game+ mode comes in someday. I don’t know if I have another 45 hours to spare for pictures of creatures.