Since the games first became available to the players, the more resourceful ones of the bunch started tinkering with them. They introduced changes big and small, impacting both the gameplay and the presentation of given titles. With time, these mods started to become commonplace in the gamer community.
As far as the games are concerned, there are two types – the ones that are moddable from the get-go, either through their intrinsic features or backdoors purposefully left unclosed, and those which require a little bit more intervention into the code. Either way, player-created mods exist and influence the game in various ways – improving the graphics, changing the gameplay features, adding and removing characters, or replacing them with different ones. The variety of mods is only restricted by the modder’s imagination.
Our list will present ten of the best games, that are particularly fun to tinker with. These games include both indie titles and triple-A releases, hammering in the point that no game is safe from a modder’s intervention.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
| Release year | 2011 |
| Developer/Publisher | Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks |
First on our list – the ever-beloved Skyrim. The adventures of the Dragonborn in the northern reaches of Tamriel have become a huge critical and commercial success.
That doesn’t mean the game had nothing to be improved or tinkered with. Thanks to the Creation Kit included with the game, modders could tamper with nearly every piece of data, from textures to interfaces and more, creating fantastic modification to an otherwise excellent game.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
| Release year | 2015 |
| Developer/Publisher | CD Projekt Red, CD Projekt |
Wild Hunt was the culmination of the ambitious endeavor to bring the fantastical world of Andrzej Sapkowski’s series to the virtual world. And what a massive success it turned out to be.
Stellar reviews and awards made this title one of the best games of the last decade. It goes without saying that modders didn’t leave Geralt’s world untouched. The most popular mods allow giving the player a chance to try out new looks for the monster-slaying protagonist, improve the graphics and rendering of the character faces, as well as faithfully recreate the bloodfest that was the original novel series with Ultra Gore modifications.
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Minecraft
| Release year | 2011 |
| Developer/Publisher | Mojang |
Minecraft took the world by storm with its gameplay mechanics, allowing the player to create expensive constructions in a sandbox environment. Such a creatively rich setting is a natural habitat of modders who quickly began to add new features, such as new biomes and items, inventory upgrades, performance enhancers, etc.
source: https://www.minecraftmods.com/lotsomobs/
The mods also include a variety of changes to the gameplay mechanics, player interface, and more. With so many modifications available, the player will have a great time expanding their Minecraft experience even further. Minecraft is easily one the best moddable games of all time because of that that.
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Mount & Blade: Warband
| Release year | 2010 |
| Developer/Publisher | TaleWorlds Entertainment, Paradox Interactive |
Warband – a standalone expansion to a popular action-RPG series Mount & Blade – allows the player to experience the life in a land based on Medieval Europe, torn by conflicts between various nations.
To make the day-to-day knightly activities a little more interesting – because how many times can you attend a feast organized by the same ruler – the modder community came up with a variety of improvements.
The mods add new scenarios, introduce new characters and units as well as completely overhaul the gameplay mechanics. Thanks to them, the player can experience the game in new ways – as a Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones RP, a Dragon Ball game and many more.
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Civilization V
| Release year | 2010 |
| Developer/Publisher | Firaxis Games, 2K Games |
Civilization V gives the player a chance to lead a budding nation from ancient times to modernity, developing such aspects as politics, economy, and relations with other nations. Of course, looking after an entire civilization might be an arduous task, which is why modders have come up with several solutions to make things easier.
There’s no shame in cheating a little when the fate of your nation is at stake. Thanks to mods, you will be able to expand their diplomatic strengths, make aerial combat faster, follow the information about the in-game situation easier and more. Considering that it takes a while to finish the game, it might be wise to make the task a little bit less confusing.
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XCOM 2
| Release year | 2016 |
| Developer/Publisher | Firaxis Games, 2K Games |
XCOM 2 tells the story of an alien invasion of Earth. The player controls the commander of human resistance who dispatches units of human soldiers into battle with alien occupants. The mods add a few neat enhancers, making the game a little more interesting. For example, Stop Wasting My Time mod cuts down all unnecessary slows in the gameplay, making it more streamlined.
All Soldiers Gain XP does exactly what the title suggests. The player can no longer worry about losing experienced units and being left with weak grunts – now every soldier under the player’s command will gain XP no matter if they are used in battle. These and many more modifications make for an even better XCOM 2 experience, turning XCOM 2 into one of the best moddable games on Steam.
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Garry’s Mod
| Release year | 2006 |
| Developer/Publisher | Facepunch Studios, Valve |
A game that has the word “mod” in its title has to offer some unique tinkering experience, right? Based on Valve’s Source engine, the favorite tool of modders, Garry’s Mod allows the player to create their sandbox world, filled with NPCs and props and lets them do as they please with it.
Various scripts using different programming languages can be added to make the game more interactive, as well as creating machinimas – animations based on the game’s engine. All in all, Garry’s Mod is a true modding wonderland of limitless possibilities.
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Fallout 4
| Release year | 2015 |
| Developer/Publisher | Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks |
War never changes – and neither does the modders affinity for the Fallout series. The fourth title of the main line is once again set in a post-apocalyptic, nuclear wasteland, where the key phrase is “survival of the fittest”.
Luckily for you, there are plenty of mods that will help the player endure in the harsh environment. Aside from usual texture modifications, graphics enhancements, etc., the Fallout IV mods provide the player with additional weapons and armor, craftable ammo and settlement upgrades. With these, no wasteland bandit will be a threat anymore.
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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
| Release year | 2002 |
| Developer/Publisher | Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks |
Another member of The Elder Scrolls family on our list. The third installment of the series introduced a new region – the titular Morrowind. The open-world environment of the game invited the player with its beauty, but after almost 20 years since its release, the game could use some lifting.
That’s where the modders come in, introducing graphics enhancers and UI alterations to polish the venerable action-RPG game to modern standards…or at least somewhere around them. Other mods include better attack accuracy, visible gore and additional elements of the environment. While it still might not be enough to match more contemporary installments, it is more than enough to submerge the player in nostalgia without having them grimace at ugly textures and poor animations.
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Half-Life
| Release year | 1998 |
| Developer/Publisher | Valve, Sierra Studios |
Last but most definitely not the least, the title which has forever changed the modding scene. Half-Life, released in 1998, was a revolution not only due to its innovative gameplay mechanics.
Thanks to the Worldcraft level-design tool many homegrown developers could try their hand at creating well-polished video games. Two of such developers were Minh “Gooseman” Le and Jess Cliffe, the pair behind the title that would change the world of online gaming forever – Counter-Strike.
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