Some mods are quirky, some mods are fun, and some mods, assembled by dedicated amateur programmers, wind up rivaling the video games they were built from. The following mods, transformations of AAA titles such as Left 4 Dead 2 or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, are notable for actually suring their source games in many ways, thanks to their insightful designs, attention to detail, and fun gameplay innovations.
For as long as video games have been around, programmers and gaming enthusiasts have been creating mods in order to fix bugs, correct subpar features, or add new ideas they think would be a good fit. In a way, the entire video game industry is composed of mods, with Pong, Spacewars!, and Space Invaders being emulated and enhanced by people looking to put a new spin on the games they loved.
Most of the excellent video game mods listed below are for older titles released in the early 2000s or 2010s, and there's several good reasons for this. First of all, the longer a game is out, the more dedicated modders can learn about its engine code (Valve's Source Engine and Bethesda's Creation Engine being prime examples) and how to tweak it to their own ends. Furthermore, developers are less likely file to injunctions against teams making mods for their older, less contemporary games, particularly when these mods form standalone gaming experiences.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's "The Forgotten City" Mod
Famed for being the first mod to ever win an award from the National Writer's Guild, the success and acclaim of The Forgotten City inspired its developer, Nick Pearce, to pursue a professional career in video game design and adapt his mod into an independent, standalone game. The Forgotten City mod for Skyrim takes players into an ancient city left behind by extinct dwarves and watched over by a technologically advanced surveillance system that punishes its entire population for the crimes committed by an individual, then rewinds time to before the crime happened. In a refreshing contrast to Skyrim's fighting and looting, the player must use their wits (and a bit of time travel) to uncover the identity of the murderer who keeps triggering the time shifts, employing inductive thinking and using the repetitive time loops to their advantage. The remake of The Forgotten City changes settings from the world of The Elder Scrolls to a modern-day Earth, with the underground city inhabited by a population of time-locked citizens from the Roman Empire.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's "Skywind" Mod
Skywind is nothing less than an attempt to recreate and update The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind within the game engine of Skyrim: Special Edition. It's the product of a massive, all-volunteer group of programmers, voice actors, scriptwriters, and quality testers who wanted to bring the classic Morrowind experience to a modern audience. The game footage released by the Skywind team reveals a massive, beautifully rendered, and alien landscape of mushroom towers, giant insects, and the stately infrastructure of an ancient dark elf civilization. The actual gameplay of Skywind goes a step beyond that of Morrowind by reintroducing features abandoned in Bethesda-made Elder Scrolls games, including, but not limited to, levitation magic, the use of spears, and the ability to break the game's story by killing important NPCs.
Left 4 Dead 2's "The Last Stand Update" Mod
Years after Valve released its final update for Left 4 Dead 2, a team of community developers breathed new life into this classic, zombie-horror, co-op shooter franchise with The Last Stand Update, an expansion which adds new gameplay modes, maps, weapons like pitchforks and shovels, and a brand new campaign built off a classic L4D2 survival map. It's an excellent option for friends looking to recreate the plot of a zombie movie together online.
Half-Life 2's "Black Mesa" Mod
The Half-Life, widely seen as the weakest part of the game, and made them a truly vivid, sinister environment, filled with alien vegetation and the remains of strange scientific experiments.
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 2's "Restored Content" Mod
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords has been frequently praised among fans of Star Wars as one of the best Star Wars stories out there, despite its rushed release cycle and a messy final act that Obsidian Entertainment didn't have time to polish. Thanks to a truly awkward contract with LucasArts, developers at Obsidian weren't able to release an official patch to correct the incomplete portions of their game, so a group of fans took up the challenge, eventually releasing The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod in 2009. This mod didn't just repair bugs: It also re-introduced, maps, cutscenes, missions, and dialogue which were cut from KotOR2 but still present in the game's code. The resulting game, thought not entirely complete, does justice to the fascinating philosophical conflicts explored in KotOR2, fleshing out the climax and giving each character in the Exile's party a more satisfying conclusion to their respective story arc.
