Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

Psychonauts 2: How to unlock Photo Mode

By

Psychonauts 2 has quickly become one of the most popular releases of the year and — like any good game launched in 2021 — it features a robust Photo Mode. It’s not readily available to new players, but with a bit of digging, you’ll be taking professional photos before you know it.

If you’re looking to get starting with Psychonauts 2‘s Photo Mode, you’ll need to be prepared to put in a few hours of game time. Here’s how to unlock Photo Mode and how to take full advantage of its powerful features.

Further reading

Recommended Videos

What is Photo Mode?

Raz posing for Otto Shot camera.

Photo Mode in Psychonauts 2 is practically the same as Photo Modes in other games. Once unlocked, it’ll grant you access to a variety of filters and ways to modify the look of your game before snapping a screenshot. It’s a great way to take pictures of Psychonauts 2‘s gorgeous — and often psychedelic — graphics and is without a doubt a perfect fit for the game.

Related

Best of all, it lets you pause the action, remove UI elements, and take your time to pull off the perfect shot in the heat of battle. Unlike many games, however, Psychonauts 2 doesn’t give you Photo Mode right away. Instead, you need to work for it.

How to unlock Photo Mode in Psychonauts 2

Raz entering Otto's Lab in Psychonauts 2.

Before gaining access to Photo Mode, you’ll need to progress through a good chunk of the main story. Eventually, you’ll be allowed to leave the Motherlobe and head out into the Quarry. Depending on how fast you play — and how many side quests and collectibles you’re distracted by — this will likely take a few hours.

With the Quarry unlocked, head to Otto’s Research Facility. If you’re looking out at the lake in front of you, this will be located to your right. You’ll also find it listed on your map of the Quarry if you need to reach it from a different starting location.

To get there from the Motherlobe, simply walk towards the edge of the platform in front of you. This will trigger a series of floating discs to appear and form a tidy walkway to Otto’s lair.

After entering the building, go talk with Otto who should be located behind the counter at the front of the room. Ask if you can borrow any of his gadgets, and he’ll give you both the Thought Tuner and the Otto-Shot – the latter of which gives you the ability to use Photo Mode and capture screenshots.

How Photo Mode works and how to upgrade it

Filter screen in the Otto Matic in Psychonauts 2.

With Photo Mode unlocked, hold down the D-Pad on Xbox or V key on PC to use it. From here, you’ll be able to tweak the screenshot in the following ways:

  • Pose Raz
  • Adjust position
  • Rotate camera
  • Zoom in or out

However, unlocking Photo Mode doesn’t give you full access to everything it has to offer. For that, you’ll need to visit the Otto-Matic. This is where you’ll find Filters on sale, each one available for 75 psitanium. These radically change how the world appears through the lens and are available in several flavors:

  • Achromatizer
  • Classif-eyed
  • Hot Dog Spectralizer
  • Psitonium
  • Psychodelica

Once these have been purchased, you’ll be able to cycle through them at will when using the Otto-Shot. Each one is more unique than the last, so it’s definitely worth saving up a bit of psitanium to collect them all.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2: release date speculation, trailers, gameplay, and more
Senua stares at a burning tree in Hellblade 2.

Given how impressive Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was, it seemed inevitable that there would be a sequel. The game, despite being made independently by Ninja Theory, blew even the highest-budget games on the market out of the water in terms of graphical fidelity and storytelling. Microsoft must have realized this potential as well and outright purchased the studio to not only provide a bigger budget to the team for the eventual sequel, but also tosecure it as a console exclusive for its then-unreleased Xbox Series X and S systems.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was one of the earliest games shown off for the Xbox Series X and S, and was even initially thought to be one of the system's launch titles. That didn't come to pass, but the team has taken that extra time to craft this sequel into something that looks to be even more impressive than the original. Between the first Game Awards event where the game was announced and the latest footage we've seen, we have a very solid understanding of the important details surrounding this sequel. We have all the information you need to know about Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.
Release date

Read more
Counter-Strike 2 limited test: how to play, game modes, and more
Soldiers in Counter-Strike 2 key art.

After a few weeks of leaks and rumors, Valve has finally announced that Counter-Strike 2 will be launching this summer as a free update to CS:GO.

Valve is describing Counter-Strike 2 as an  “overhaul to every system, every piece of content, and every part of the C-S experience” and “the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike’s history," promising years of support for the game. It sounds a lot similar to how Blizzard handled the jump to Overwatch 2.

Read more
Warzone 2.0 Season 2: release date, Ashika Island map, and Resurgence mode
Characters from Warzone 2.0 posing for Season 2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be entering its second season, and while Activision hasn't officially unveiled all of the contents of the update, the company did make a few announcements to stir up excitement. Much like you'd expect with live-service games, Call of Duty is built on a seasonal system, wherein the game gets major content drops with each update.

Season 2 is gearing up for launch after a short delay, and for many fans, it's a make-or-break scenario, because reception to Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 has been middling thus far.

Read more