Binary Voids

A flat screen on the wall that makes you forget
that there is a wall and a world behind it.
An electronic surface as a window into another world,
fed by abstract, binary data streams.

Me #

Hi! I am Carsten, a professional “real world” photographer from germany. You can find my stuff at carsten-nichte.de external link - feel free to contact me . I am pleased :-)

Project #

Yes, i do virtual Photography too. I love it. My Project Binary Voids is about foreign Virtual Worlds. Its Virtual (Street | Travel | Portrait) Photography - in short: in game photography - but its not limited to that. I explore the virtual spaces with the means of traditional photography, let myself drift and look around as open minded as I can. From what I find and discover, I weave the different worlds together to tell new stories .

What I find particularly exciting are the places where the seemingly perfect, clean, virtual world has its breaks and cracks, where materiality and boundaries become visible.

I collect a few thoughts and further information about virtual photography in general in my notebook:

If you like, follow my ingame photography on

Page #

The Games Section shows an preselected but uncurated index of all the photographs from the series. They provide essentially the foundation from which I develop new stories .

Book #

I am preparing a physical book at the moment. Binary Voids - Volume Zero external link . Klick to flip throught the pages for a preview:

Games #

Some more numbers…

Photomode #

When it comes to photo mode, I’m not very demanding. My guiding principle is I use what I get, but I do value these basic features:

I have only one strict rule: Don´t touch cinematic Cutcenes. They offer too little freedom for own ideas.

Where to start? #

// My 2 Cents

Don’t get too attached to rules. That restricts you far too much. Capture what you notice. Photography is an exercise in perception and a way - or artform - of expressing yourself. Have fun - that’s the most important thing. It’s better to see afterwards what worked and what didn’t. This is how you learn from your own pictures, and develop your own and individual point of view.

Index #

Each of the virtual worlds has its own special features: A Plague Tale, Alan Wake, Atomic Heart, Battlefield, Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Days Gone, Death Stranding, Deliver Us The Moon, Fallout, Far Cry, Ghost of Tsushima, Ghostwire Tokyo, Grand Theft Auto, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Hell Is Us, Hellblade, Horizon Forbidden West, InFamous - Second Son, Kena - Bridge Of Spirits, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Mad Max, Mass Effect, Metro Exodus, No Mans Sky, Prey, Red Dead Redemption, Returnal, Shadow Of The Colossus, Sifu, Silent Hill 2, Spiderman 2, Star Wars Outlaws, Starfield, Stray, Sword Of The Sea, Tchia, The Invincible, The Last of Us, The Witcher, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Warhammer 40.000, Watch Dogs, Wreckfest.

1. A Plague Tale #

You are traveling in the late Middle Ages and living through a rather emotional drama with Amicia and Hugo. There is no open world here, but a stringently told story. The photo mode offers a free camera in cut-scenes. I've never seen that in this form before, and it's exemplary. Maybe the other developers will copy this.

2. Alan Wake #

Atmospheric horror with the titular writer. Horror isn't really my thing, but it's about books and head stuff, so I'll do it. Unfortunately, there's no photo mode here either, which means you can concentrate fully on the story and take screenshots in the classic way. Update: There is now a photo mode!

3. Atomic Heart #

Atomic Heart is set in an alternate 1950s Soviet Union filled with advanced robotics and biotechnology. You control special agent P-3 as he investigates a massive facility overrun by malfunctioning machines, mutants, and experimental horrors. There is a lot of action, puzzle-solving, and a realy surreal narrative.

  • Travel time: 13 hours and 9 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Mundfish
  • Publisher: Focus Entertainment
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★☆(4 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 32 virtual Photographs

4. Battlefield #

The Battlefield series takes us to the battlefields of the world. Basically, the past 13 parts have covered every possible and impossible military conflict in the world. There is always a campaign that serves as a tutorial for the actual main feature: the online mode. All of this always has the bitter aftertaste of glorifying war, trivializing war itself, and justifying violations of international law, etc. – but let's be naive for a moment: The world would be a better place if these completely senseless battles were only fought on a virtual battlefield instead of in the real world. I would be very much in favor of that. Unfortunately, war and violence are still part of this world, and this is naturally reflected in the virtual world as well. In this series, I primarily used the square as the image format in order to create the impression of a low-quality bodycam with a lot of noise, while at the same time achieving a claustrophobic feeling by restricting the field of view.

5. Control #

Here, everything is essentially limited to the interior of a single, rather dull administrative building in which a surreal story unfolds. You can exert some influence and “reshape” the world. Alan Wake and Control are thematically linked.

  • Travel time: 1 day, 4 hours and 51 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Remedy Entertainment
  • Publisher: 505 Games
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★☆(4 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 68 virtual Photographs

6. Cyberpunk 2077 #

We accompany the protagonist V through the megalopolis Night City. Enables almost classic street photography in a rather dystopian virtual city of the future. Great photomode.

  • Travel time: 5 days, 2 hours and 59 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: CD Project Red
  • Publisher: CD Projekt
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 230 virtual Photographs

7. Days Gone #

Two years after a global pandemic, you steer biker Deacon St. John on a motorcycle through a post-apocalyptic northern USA, modeled on Oregon, and have to deal with infected hordes, looters, wild animals and members of rival factions. The landscape is the real star here.

8. Death Stranding #

As the rather bulky character Sam Porter Bridges, the player moves in Part one through a surreal post-apocalyptic USA, and Mexico and Australia in Part 2 in his job as a parcel carrier. The title is often referred to as a walking simulator and delivering parcels sounds dull at first, but Kojima always knows how to surprise. Quite unconventional, and therefore considered very good. I wouldn't be surprised if this stuff gets a movie adaptation.

9. Deliver Us The Moon #

To be an astronaut on the moon, but without photomode.

10. Fallout #

Fallout is an outdated computer game series, which has now even been given a very good TV series spin-off. There's another post-apocalypse - as the title subtly suggests. But this one is interesting in that it develops out of an alternative atomic scenario from the 1950s and is set in a post-nuclear future. Not all titles in the series have a photo mode.

  • Travel time: 12 hours and 56 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Bethesda
  • Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★☆☆(3 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 4 virtual Photographs

11. Far Cry #

A fictional location with a Cuban flair, which is of course full of clichés and photographic opportunities. As it is a first-person shooter, it is of course also full of violence.

  • Travel time: 14 hours and 13 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Ubisoft
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★☆(4 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 14 virtual Photographs

12. Ghost of Tsushima #

Here, in the year 1274, you roam the Japanese island of Tsushima as a samurai warrior. A little masterpiece in almost every respect. There is more atmospherically chic foliage flying around than there are leaves on the trees. Actually, the trees should be bare after 5 minutes. The sequel, Ghost of Yotei, follows in the same vein, perfecting and polishing everything a little. The story unfolds approximately 329 years after the events of Ghost of Tsushima, relocating the action to the northern island of Hokkaidō - then known as Ezo. There, we follow Atsu on her quest for revenge. I love it.

13. Ghostwire Tokyo #

Japan - is a kind of place of longing for me that I would love to visit in real life. Ghostwire Tokyo offers me the opportunity to explore at least a virtual version of Tokyo.

14. Grand Theft Auto #

In Part 5 you are an aspiring gangster in the fictional city of Los Santos, which is based on Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the photo mode is rather inaccessible and impractical.

  • Travel time: 4 hours and 42 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Rockstar Games
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Rating Photomode: ★★☆☆☆(2 out of 5)
  • Status: pile of shame
  • Visit Gallery - 1 virtual Photographs

15. Guardians Of The Galaxy #

I really liked the movies because they brought a breath of fresh air to the sci-fi movie genre. Reason enough to travel to this world.

16. Hell Is Us #

Hell is Us takes us to the fictional, war-torn country of Hadea, where you play as soldier Rémi, searching for answers about your past amid civil war and supernatural disasters. The game combines intense close combat with exploration and numerous puzzles in a semi-open world, using a unique system without maps or quest markers to encourage intuitive discovery. You ultimately unravel a dark story about human violence and its consequences. The game has a rather gloomy atmosphere inspired by the conflicts of the 1990s and science fiction horror.

  • Travel time: 18 hours and 7 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Rogue Factor
  • Publisher: Nacon
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★☆(4 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 60 virtual Photographs

17. Hellblade #

This takes place in the head of a woman with paranoid schizophrenia, symbolized and represented by Nordic mythology. I keep these works in black and white throughout.

  • Travel time: 1 day, 14 hours and 13 minutes
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Ninja Theory
  • Publisher: Ninja Theory
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 125 virtual Photographs

18. Horizon Forbidden West #

There is a huge, futuristic open world to discover here. Photomode available.

19. InFamous - Second Son #

Here you can steer the main character Delsin Rowe through Seattle and do superhero things. Whether you become a good guy or a bad guy depends entirely on your own decisions. The good news: there is a photomode. The bad news is that it is extremely idiosyncratic and makes it really difficult to get a shot in which the protagonist is not the center of attention.

20. Kena - Bridge Of Spirits #

Kena stands out from the other titles I have photographed in so far. Visually, it is a beautiful animated film. It's about the souls of the deceased who Kena helps to find peace. There's corruption, lots of woody monsters, and there's the cuddly Rott who support you and who we can accessorize with hats, and there's some really good photomode!

  • Travel time: 17 hours
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Ember Lab
  • Publisher: Ember Lab
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 18 virtual Photographs

21. Kingdom Come: Deliverance #

The year is 1403, and we are traveling as Henry of Skalitz in the Kingdom of Bohemia, seeking revenge for the murder of our parents and, incidentally, getting involved in the civil war between King Wenceslaus IV and the invader Sigismund of Luxembourg. The game still has a few annoying flaws at the moment, but its rough edges make for a great medieval experience. You really feel like you've been transported back to that time. The codex provides a lot of background information. This isn't a game you can just quickly play through; instead, you should travel and experience it at a slower pace, as was customary at the time. Yes, there was a photo mode, but it was, at best - how shall I put it... medieval - which is good enough to take photos. After the update i call it great :-)

  • Travel time: 2 days and 1 hour
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Warhorse Studios
  • Publisher: Deep Silver
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 124 virtual Photographs

22. Mad Max #

The game to the movie, if you will. As is so often the case, there is a post-apocalypse. Anyone who knows the movies knows the ingredients: A desert, a lone warrior, lots of rusty metal, even more nasty characters, but enough gasoline for groovy chases, all spiced up with a rather bulky photomode.

23. Mass Effect #

This is simply a science fiction classic. That's why it belongs on this list.

  • Travel time: 6 hours and 53 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Bioware
  • Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★☆☆(3 out of 5)
  • Status: pile of shame
  • Visit Gallery - 10 virtual Photographs

24. Metro Exodus #

First-person shooter from Ukrainian developer studio, set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic Metro 2033 universe by Russian author Dmitry Alexeyevich Glukhovsky. The photo mode goes like this: After the apocalypse, you just have to improvise - good luck with that.

  • Travel time: 4 hours and 36 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: 4A Games
  • Publisher: Deep Silver
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★☆☆(3 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 27 virtual Photographs

25. No Mans Sky #

A whole universe of generatively created worlds that only emerge and manifest themselves when they are discovered for the first time. Here, the numerous players / inhabitants also become active / creative themselves and help to shape this world. For me, this is almost literally travel photography. My VP journey began with this game.

  • Travel time: 4 days, 9 hours and 2 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Hello Games
  • Publisher: Hello Games
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 116 virtual Photographs

26. Prey #

Plays on a space station with nasty aliens. There is no photo mode.

27. Red Dead Redemption #

Hi, I'm Arthur Morgan. The year is 1899 and I'm out in the Wild, Wild West with the Van der Linde Gang, to survive! Atmospherical, extremely slowpaced storytelling masterpiece. Photo mode available, but – as usual with Rockstar Games – not really good: Where the hell is the 90 Degree rotation? In RDR Online, you have to earn a decent camera by spending far too much in-game currency. It's almost like real life, and it's not really fun. But why am I complaining? Taking photos in the Wild West wasn't easy either.

  • Travel time: 1 day, 11 hours and 21 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Rockstar Games
  • Publisher: Rockstar Games
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★☆(4 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 131 virtual Photographs

28. Returnal #

The protagonist is stuck in an endless loop on an alien world. First-class audio-visually, but rougelike - which means you have to fight hard for the photos and be very frustration-tolerant.

29. Shadow Of The Colossus #

This is a timeless masterpiece by Fumito Ueda and his team from 2005, which will hopefully get a refresh in every generation. A photo mode is available, but with a clumsy camera that is difficult to position. However, this applies to the controls as a whole: there is still room for improvement. Photos are still taken, of course.

30. Sifu #

Sifu is a classic Beat Em Up, the story is as thin as in the usual kung fu movies, but that doesn't matter, because the fighting system is very challenging and lives up to its name. There are beautiful backdrops and a stylish photomode. As an old WingTsun-Fighter, I naturally have to try it.

  • Travel time: 8 hours
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Slocap
  • Publisher: Sloclap
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 87 virtual Photographs

31. Silent Hill 2 #

This is the 2024 remake of the 2001 classic, so it's high time I caught up with it - horror, but I have to get through it. Unfortunately, there's no camera here, which makes it difficult to frame your pictures. Bloober team please submit urgently!

  • Travel time: 5 hours
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Bloober Team
  • Publisher: Konami
  • Rating Photomode: ★☆☆☆☆(1 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 29 virtual Photographs

32. Spiderman 2 #

Welcome to virtual New York City. Imagine you live in the same city as Spiderman. How would you as a normal person perceive life in this city? Time for virtual street photography.

33. Star Wars Outlaws #

Action adventure with lots of sneaky interludes. Does everything well that Disney fails to do. There's a really good Star Wars feeling here. A bit repetitive, but still quite solid. Photomode available.

  • Travel time: 21 hours and 28 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Massive Entertainment
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★☆(4 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 32 virtual Photographs

34. Starfield #

A role-playing game that - similar to No Mans Sky - is set in a fictional future and lets the player travel through a whole bunch of solar systems. Starfield is a little out of date in terms of its overall presentation. It tells beautiful stories, but is, for example, the “king of loading screens” - which has become very distracting in terms of immersion. Other studios manage this much better. Nevertheless: I like the theme, I like taking photos here.

  • Travel time: 4 days, 9 hours and 49 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Bethesda
  • Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 45 virtual Photographs

35. Stray #

For a change, you are a cat in a cyberpunk underground city inhabited by robots. Surprisingly, the title is always at its strongest when you get to do classic cat things. The game doesn't have a photo mode, so you have to take screenshots. I like it ...

36. Sword Of The Sea #

Surfing chillingly over sand dunes on a mixture of a surfboard and a sword, transforming dead deserts into living seas—I've always wanted to do that. No lengthy explanations are needed; everything is very intuitive and designed for discovery. I'm sure I don't need to mention that the photo mode is great. Love it!

  • Travel time: 5 hours
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Giant Squid
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 59 virtual Photographs

37. Tchia #

The game Tchia is also a very special one, in short: it's just love. Firstly, the beautifully designed world inspired by New Caledonia and its culture, and then the photo mode. Sure, you can take normal screenshots, but it's much more exciting to use the analog camera that you get later in the game - in chapter 4, “Get to know Louise”.

  • Travel time: 10 hours
  • Platform: PlayStation 5
  • Developer: Awaceb
  • Publisher: Kepler Interactive
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 37 virtual Photographs

38. The Invincible #

It's more of a book in the form of a game than a normal game with lots of action. There's tons of dialogue, great atmospheric graphics, and it has a slow, almost sedate pace. It feels like one of the classic Stanislaw Lem movies. If you like that sort of thing, you'll love this game.

39. The Last of Us #

Postapocalypse, zombies - who doesn't know it - but The Last of Us is a great movie in terms of storytelling and visuals. The transition between cutscenes and gameplay is perfect. It's basically an interactive movie.

40. The Witcher #

Set in a medieval setting. Normally I can't do much with that. That's why I find what I find here particularly exciting.

  • Travel time: 4 days, 9 hours and 47 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: CD Project Red
  • Publisher: CD Projekt
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: finished
  • Visit Gallery - 97 virtual Photographs

41. Tomb Raider #

More precisely, the fifth installment in the series: Rise of the Tomb Raider. Unfortunately there is no photo mode here, but there is plenty of eye candy. Games about Lara Croft are real classics.

  • Travel time: 1 hour
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Crystal Dynamics
  • Publisher: Eidos Interactive
  • Rating Photomode: ★☆☆☆☆(1 out of 5)
  • Status: pile of shame
  • Visit Gallery - 1 virtual Photographs

42. Uncharted #

Once around the world in “Indiana Jones” or Tomb Raider action-adventure style. Uncharted is a classic of the genre, and Naughty Dog is simply good at storytelling.

43. Warhammer 40.000 #

In the grim darkness of the distant future, there is only war. We find ourselves in the extremely dystopian, somewhat retrofuturistic science fantasy universe of Warhammer 40k, where, in the 41st millennium, we defend the autocratic Imperium of Mankind against the threat of insectoid Tyranids and other fiends as Space Marines with superhuman abilities. Talking is not theire strength.

44. Watch Dogs #

The plot unfolds in a dystopian London not too far in the future. This is also a great place for street photography.

  • Travel time: 17 hours and 34 minutes
  • Platform: Xbox Series X
  • Developer: Ubisoft
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Rating Photomode: ★★★★★(5 out of 5)
  • Status: work in progress
  • Visit Gallery - 23 virtual Photographs

45. Wreckfest #

A classic car racing game. The nice thing about it is that you can destroy `Germany's favorite child` without hesitation. The photo mode only works in replay mode, which is logical and also good so as not to interfere with the race. However, it could be much better.

Virtual Photography Artists #

Experimental Media-Art #

Forerunners #

Virtual Photographers #

My Instagram external link features a lot of great photographers :-)

Articles #

Tools #

Groups / Streams #

Instagram #

Flickr #

Reddit #

Misc #