The production, which has made one of the biggest comeback stories in the gaming world, pushes the visual limits in an unconventional way with a new Cyberpunk 2077 VHS themed mode released recently. The game, which left behind the painful process of its first release and turned into a magnificent technical laboratory, was generally known for pursuing realism at 8K resolution with monster hardware such as RTX 5090. However, this new ReShade mode, called “TapePunk”, actually manages to make the atmosphere much more believable by “distorting” the visual with a paradoxical approach.
A Nostalgic Break in the Race for Realism The modern acting world is trying to close the gap between it and “real life” with more polygons and sharper textures every day. But when you watch hyper-detailed videos of Night City, you always get the feeling that something is “missing”. Although this situation is often explained by the “Uncanny Valley” phenomenon, it actually has a much simpler reason: Our eyes are used to passing everything they see on the screen through a cinematic filter.
For example, a huge-budget movie watched at 60 frames per second (fps) may resemble a low-budget soap opera. At this point, the TapePunk mode deliberately reduces the image quality, giving the player the feeling of being in a movie frame. TapePunk: The Magic of Old Tapes in the City of the Future This Cyberpunk 2077 VHS-inspired mod offers nostalgic camera presets using both custom and built-in shaders. The mode includes quite impressive options such as “old security camera” (CCTV) and “found VHS tapes”.
Clearly a labor of love, these presets envelop the Night City in that hazy and grainy atmosphere of 1980s science fiction movies. Although conceptually the existence of VHS tapes in 2077 is debatable, imagining this image as a cyber-implant malfunction in the character’s eye or a body camera recording enhances the atmosphere. A Visual Experiment: Driving and Hacking Experience The most impressive moments of the mode usually occur in scenes where you are a little far away from the action.
When your character hacks a security camera and watches the city from behind that lens, or you drive your vehicle from a third-person perspective, the image suddenly becomes real. Watching a Porsche 911 speeding down the highway with this mode feels like watching a real driving record straight out of an old news bulletin. Maybe finishing the entire game this way may not be suitable for every player, but for Photo Mode enthusiasts, this mode offers an invaluable tool.
For those who want to get away from the “realism arms race” for a moment and look at a fictional world from a different lens, TapePunk should definitely be tried.
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