Some mods might only change the aesthetics, but a few might improve aspects of the gameplay. A number of mods were created to add quality of life to the title, that the creators think should have been in the base game when others have created massive expansions. So what games are currently available with the best mods?
Updated June 11, 2022 by Ritwik Mitra: The sheer brilliance of mods can’t be stated enough. These fan-made content packs, tweaks, upgrades, patches, and everything else along the same lines have gone a long way in adding a ton of replayability to great titles while keeping them relevant as well. Most games have a slew of mods that impact the experience in many unique and memorable ways, and the best of the bunch are mentioned below.
20 Final Fantasy 9 – Moguri Mod
Final Fantasy 9 is easily one of the greatest games in the series. It’s a tale that harkens back to the classic era of Final Fantasy games, with a charming cast of characters and excellent writing driving this game and its events forward.
With the Moguri Mod, Final Fantasy 9 can now be visually enriched and enhanced to make it more playable on modern systems. This mod makes several small yet notable changes that make it crystal clear that the people behind this mod’s development knew exactly what they were doing!
19 RimWorld – Vanilla Expanded
RimWorld is easily one of the greatest simulator games around. Controlling a colony and helping its members enjoy a good life while their brilliant procedural stories play out is a blast every single time.
The vanilla experience of RimWorld is pretty fun as is, but the quality of this playthrough becomes infinitely better with the advent of mods. One such mod pack that is almost critical to a player’s RimWorld playthrough is the Vanilla Expanded collection of mods that improve the scope and fidelity of the gameplay without taking away from the base game experience.
18 Max Payne – Kung Fu 3.0
The original Max Payne is one of the most enjoyable narrative action games ever made. Controlling this grizzled cop in this quest for revenge is a blast that pays off every single time.
With the Kung Fu 3.0 mod, Max Payne can essentially turn into an action fest like The Matrix as players pull off amazing moves, with the mod adding melee combat as well. Running up and over walls to shoot enemies is always entertaining, with the fluidity of the animations being pretty impressive given the obvious limitations this mod had to deal with.
17 RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 – OpenRCT2
The RollerCoaster Tycoon series used to be one of the greatest amusement park simulators, before the latest release tarnished its legacy for good. As a result, most people opt to experience the good old days of RollerCoaster Tycoon by playing the second game in the series, which is easily the best 2D park simulator around.
With OpenRCT2, various tweaks and fixes are made to improve the engine of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, make it more playable on modern systems, and even change the gameplay without making too many major tweaks too! It’s the definitive way to enjoy the golden age of the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.
16 Crusader Kings 2 – A Game Of Thrones
Crusader Kings 3 might be all the rage right now, but there’s still a long time to go before the modding community of this game reaches the heights of its predecessor. After all, the mods for Crusader Kings 2 were so amazing that many considered them to be crucial to enjoying the overall experience.
The total conversion mod, A Game of Thrones, is easily one of the best mods for this game by a country mile. The sheer attention to detail in this mod combined with its endless replayability makes for a great time that fans won’t get tired of anytime soon.
15 Portal 2 – Portal Stories: Mel
Portal 2 is one of the greatest games of all time, and it also features a great modding community that has created some amazing levels and experiences of their own as well.
Out of all the community mods that have released for this game, Portal Stories: Mel is perhaps the best of the lot. Featuring full voice acting and some challenging-yet-fun puzzles, this free community expansion mod is the best thing that people can try out after finishing Portal 2.
14 Half-Life 2 – NeoTokyo
A tactical multiplayer mod for Half-Life 2 that ends up being wildly enjoyable in every way, shape, and form, NeoTokyo is an excellent mod that is quite a blast to play through for several reasons.
The multiplayer face-offs that occur in this mod are quite intense and entertaining, with the cyberpunk setting and backstory of the game also being quite amazing in its own right. Recently, a demo for a single-player campaign set in the NeoTokyo universe has been released.
13 Knights Of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords – The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod (TSLRCM)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was a great title, and fans couldn’t wait to play the sequel in the series that would allow for fans to play out another chapter in the series. However, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords ended up being somewhat of a disappointment, in no small part due to the fact that Obsidian Entertainment wasn’t able to integrate everything it wanted into the overall experience.
Thankfully, TSLRCM integrates most of this cut content into the overall game while polishing the experience as well. It’s a must-have for anyone who wants to enjoy KOTOR II without any compromises.
12 Doom 3 – The Dark Mod
Thief is one of the most beloved stealth titles around, and players decided to use the engine of Doom 3 to create a mod that would celebrate this title in the best way possible.
The Dark Mod is an excellent stealth video game, which uses the id Tech 4 engine to craft an experience that serves as a great homage to the Thief series while simultaneously being a great experience in its own right.
11 The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings – Farewell Of The White Wolf
The Witcher 2 is a great game, and people who want to experience more of Geralt’s stories in the same engine can download the Farewell of the White Wolf mod. This fan expansion serves as an epilogue to The Witcher series, with the story focusing on Geralt’s marriage to Yennefer.
While this mod lacks voice acting, people who can overlook this one particular gripe can install the Farewell of the White Wolf mod to enjoy another well-made chapter in the life of Geralt of Rivia.
10 Garry’s Mod – Prop Hunt
Garry’s Mod is a game that is not a game. Only playing the base title, the player has no objectives; however, it does provide a world that can be freely manipulated. The game applies a platform that gamers can create their own user-created content, which means they can play a game within a game. And there are thousands of mods created for Garry’s Mod.
One of the best mods out there is called Prop hunt. Prop Hunt is a modified version of hide and seek, where the hiders or Props disguise themselves as objects around the map and attempt to blend in with the environment. And the seekers have to find the props and kill them within the time limit. It’s extremely entertaining.
9 Stardew Valley – Stardew Valley Expanded
Stardew Valley is an incredible achievement, all made by one person, Eric Barone, and he’s still updating the game with plenty of content. As well as that, he knows mods are an important thing to the gaming industry, so Eric goes out of his way to help them out.
The base game has an abundance of content already, but those who have sunk thousands of hours into this farming sim might want something new and different. Stardew Valley Expanded is a mod created by FlashShifter, which adds new locations, characters, a new village, plus loads more additions. So for those after something new, mods are the way forward.
8 Dark Souls 3 – Item Randomizer/Irregulator/StraySouls
Ah Dark Souls 3, a notoriously hard game by FromSoftware, many players have raged eternally over attempting to beat this game. But is there any way to make it even harder for yourself? There are three ways, in fact, and when combined, altogether will create an entirely different run through entirely but keeping the vanilla game the same.
First is an Item Randomizer mod, that every item in the game is randomized. Second is the Irregulator that changes the stats of all equipment in the game, but also the moveset of said weapons – a club could have the attacks of a rapier. And lastly, StraySouls can randomize enemy placement and the amount that appears, so that the first enemy in the game could be end game one.
7 GTA 5 – Roleplay Servers
GTA has been out since 2013, and it’s still one of the most popular games played at present, especially since GTA Online is continuously updating with a plethora of new content. But for those who want a unique experience, why not try one of the many GTA Roleplay servers, known as FiveM.
These servers host a heavily modded version of GTA, where role-playing is necessary to play. You become that character, you have to voice that character, and traffic laws are a thing that needs to be obeyed, and as there are role-playing police on every server, and jail time is also a real thing. It’s a very immersive experience.
6 The Witcher 3 – Enhanced Edition/Ghost Mode
Ever wanted to replay the Witcher 3, but because you’ve completed it before, why bother? Well, how about an overhaul of the game? Two mods do this exceptionally well, Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition and Ghost mode.
Enhanced Edition is an overhaul mod that focuses on immersion; not only does it change combat, but it changes most things from alchemy, the level system, to how the loot works. It changes a lot of stuff utterly different from the vanilla game. Ghost Mode is an overhaul that tweaks the vanilla game, so it keeps as close to the base game as it can, but providing enough changes to make it a new experience.
5 Deus Ex – The Nameless Mod
The original Deus Ex is nearing its 20th anniversary of release, as it released in June 2000. Deus Ex is a first-person action game cyberpunk game that really boosted that niche genre, and now everyone is eagerly awaiting Cyberpunk 2077. Now to fill that cyberpunk itch, why not play a Deus Ex mod call the Nameless Mod.
The Nameless Mod is a total conversion mod released in 2009, and it’s still being updated today. It adds a new story, new items, weapons, enemies, and it’s not set in the Deus Ex universe. This mod is created around humor, so take everything lighthearted.
4 Fallout New Vegas – New California
Fallout New Vegas is one of the best Fallout games released, and there are a plethora of mods to make it different from the base game. But what about a new campaign? Well, it’s possible with Fallout: New California, though it had a different name before the beta release, Project Brazil.
Fallout: New Californa was released in October 2018, but it’s still currently in beta, but it is getting updated, as the one update happened Sept 2019. It adds a whole new place to explore, new missions, new enemies, the entire works. But what’s special about this mod is that it’s possible to play as the Courier, but only when the Californa mod is finished, but twenty years have passed since you were last in New Vegas.
3 Skyrim – Enderal: Forgotten Stories
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the biggest game that has been modded. According to NexusMods, the original version of Skyrim has a whopping 62.6k mods created for it. These mods can change every aspect of the game, from graphics to the creatures inhabiting the land, to weapons and magic. Some add new quests and even massive expansions.
One of the biggest and best is called Enderal: Forgotten Stories, which is a total conversion mod. It is set in its own world, offers its own story, and completely overhauls the skills systems and gameplay mechanics. And it’s completely free and available on Steam, and only the base game is required.
2 Final Fantasy 7 – New Threat/Randomizer
The new Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming in April, but what about scratching that itch with a fresh take on the original? There is a mod called New Threat created by SegaChief, which adds an array of stuff to the Final Fantasy that everyone knows and loves – New bosses, new conversations, two types of difficulty, plus tons more. This mod uses what you know about the original title and uses it against you. It indeed is an outstanding mod.
Or how about a randomizer? Randomizers have gotten massive over the last few years. Some change the contents of the chests, and a few can change the enemies that appear, plus more. Well, SegaChief has made a Final Fantasy 7Randomizer, and it looks fantastic. One of the best features of it is enemy model swapping; Cloud and company are going to get into some hilarious battles.
1 Doom – Brutal Doom
Everyone knows Doom. It released back in 1993, and revolutionized the first-person shooter genre, and brought to the world Doomguy. The game was gory in a way, but it was remarkably tame, however, now there is a mod where it ramps up the violence by a thousand, and it’s called Brutal Doom.
The best way to describe everything this mod does in two words is extremely intense. It adds placement damage, complete dismemberment, blood galore, executions. It overhauls the weapons completely, so there’s no longer a progressive weapon system that the original had, every gun is brutally powerful, but each one has drawbacks. The Doom that everyone knows and loves has been remade into a fresh new look painted with blood. This mod always works with Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and Final Doom, so a perfect excuse to play these games again and cause destruction.
More: Mods That Make Skyrim Feel Like A Completely Different Game
