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Feature: Force of Hobbit
Modder Superior – How to turn Medieval 2: Total War into a big fantasy fight
It's good to be king, and even better to be a sorcerer commanding a swarm of the undead. While the Total War series has grown into more fantastical settings by itself, it was the fans to first stick pointy ears on the venerable strategy game. Thanks to its robust mod support Medieval 2: Total War still has a large and active modding scene. While there…
Feature: Mor Balaten for your buck
Welcome back, Commanders. I've returned to an expanded and finalised XCOM 2 this week. Since the launch of 2017's War Of The Chosen expansion and last year's Tactical Legacy Pack, things have been quiet on the XCOM front. The game is finally stabilised, giving modders a nice static test-bed to add new weapons, aliens and features to the squad tactics sandbox. Here's a deep dive…
Feature: Is there such a thing as too much Freeman?
We've seen how much damage one theoretical physicist can do. Sven Co-op lets you unleash the vortex of chaos of a dozen Free Men (and women) upon Half-Life. Once just a mod enabling you to play the classic FPS with pals, it received Valve's blessings to go free and standalone on Steam in 2016, bundled with a free copy of the original Half-Life re-tooled for multiplayer.…
Feature: Something something, higher ground, etc.
I bounced off Star Wars: Empire At War when it was new, but the siren call of modding beckoned me back. Playing a bit like a 4X strategy game in fast-forward, there's no base building and little micromanagement to be done in Empire At War. Just assemble your fleets, kick open a hole in the enemy defences, and send down troops for a bit of…
Feature: Shuffle and deal
While I can't claim to have sunk hundreds of hours into it like Alec, I've still lost entire evenings to Slay The Spire's deck-building. If you're one of those people who regularly finishes it, it might be time to change things up a little. The game already has an active modding scene, and while it's just a small collection, here's a bundle of minor mods…
Feature: The mods are waiting for you, in the test chamber...
Half-Life 2 is nearly fifteen years old now, and despite Valve's sequel plans seemingly fizzling out, it doesn't look a day over ten thanks to the efforts of modders. Chances are that Half-Life 2 and its expansions have been gathering dust on your Steam account for years now, so here's a quick refresher -- mostly focused on the past five years -- on what's available,…
Feature: Everybody's raven about it.
Modder Superior: Mount & Blade Warband – A Clash Of Ice & Fire
And as the dust settles over King's Landing (and your TV), the Game Of Thrones concludes until George R. R. Martin finishes writing his own take on the finale. Where does that leave a fan desperate for their next hit of medieval grimness and scheming? Fan-fiction, probably. Or, thanks to the wonders of modding, interactive self-insert fan-fiction! Today I'm taking a look at two massive Game Of…
Feature: More silly hats than Royal Ascot
This week, we're breaking from delving through our back catalogues in favour of a recent game with a still-growing mod community. A Hat In Time is still one of the better 3D platformers on PC, only improved by two big chunks of DLC recently. Developers Gears For Breakfast have gone the extra mile on mod integration, with user-made worlds accessible from a special room in…
Feature: Step 1: Hire mercs. Step 2: ???. Step 3: Profit!
Jagged Alliance 2 is still one of the best turn-based squad tactics games around, its own sequels falling short of its consummate majesty. Part XCOM, part A-Team, players manage and command a ragtag band of vaguely cartoonish mercenaries on a mission to liberate an impoverished banana republic from its tyrannical queen. JA2 has also spawned an insular but extremely productive mod scene, mostly on The…
Feature: Not underground anymore, but I dig it.
Terraria may not be dominating headlines like it used to, but the mining and crafting action RPG is still popular, with tens of thousands of players at any given time, according to Steam's numbers. While there are rumblings of a major update coming soon, a shortage of official patches has allowed an easy-to-use (if unofficial) modding framework to flourish, spawning some enormous mods. Getting it…
Feature: Doom mods: The Next Generation
Here is a riddle for you. When is Doom not Doom? Why, when its open-source code has gone through countless iterations and become a modern development platform in its own right! Sometimes a Doom mod outgrows its old home and breaks away as a completely standalone game. This week I'm bringing you an all-you-can-eat buffet of free, full games (and some demos) that are the…
Feature: Won this 'Mech in a game of cards
RogueTech is the biggest, meanest and most unpredictable mod collection for BattleTech
Lovely as it was, Harebrained Schemes's BattleTech felt like it trimmed back many of the tabletop game's wilder elements. RogueTech, a messy compilation of mods organised by "LadyAlekto" and crew, reinstates these complex rules and lets you bolt just about anything onto your big stompy bots up to and including the contents of the kitchen sink. If riding a clattering, improvised pirate 'Mech into battle…
Feature: Horny on the Spanish main
Modder Superior: a swabbie’s guide to X-Com conversion mod X-PirateZ
Sin Vega first introduced me to X-PirateZ three years ago, already a sprawling X-Com: UFO Defense mod by "Dioxine" about leading a crew of sexy lady air-pirates in a post-apocalyptic world. She called it "The greatest total conversion ever made" at the time, but I wasn't so convinced. Massive as it was, I felt it was still skeletal and confusing, requiring much trial and error and…
Feature: Going legit is more trouble than it's worth
Thief: The Dark Project still stands out as one of the most compelling stealth games twenty years after release. Huge levels packed with treasure and secrets, and no radars or sensors to help -- just your senses, intuition, and maybe a badly drawn map. While later games in the series were a bit ropey, the first two Looking Glass-developed ones are still actively supported by the…
Feature: Dive, dive, dive! Hit your burners, pilot!
Modder Superior: Freespace 2 and its greatest mods deploy from fan-launcher Knossos
Freespace 2 remains one of the best space combat sims around thanks to its dedicated modding scene, mostly centred around the Hard Light Productions forums. Fans have been polishing up and fine-tuning Volition's old workhorse for nearly two decades, and have been exceptionally organised about it. Your one-stop shop for space dogfights is now Knossos, a fan-made launcher app just for Freespace 2 mods and…
Feature: Terrans for nothing and Zerg for free
Best StarCraft 2 mods: huge RTS campaigns you can play for free
StarCraft 2 remains an RTS esports favourite nine years from launch, but its mod scene never got the love or attention it deserved. Despite Blizzard's support, an in-game mod browser, powerful editor and even a short-lived premium mod program, a lot flew under the radar. While some mods and standalone missions remain popular in the StarCraft 2 Arcade, we're going to be diving deep into…
Feature: California Dreamin'
Fallout: New California is more proper, story-driven Fallout
Fallout 76 might have turned out a faintly radioactive dud, but Fallout fans after a fresh serving of post-apocalyptic roleplaying and big choices could do a lot worse than Fallout: New California. It's practically a whole new Fallout game, and free to boot. Here's how you can get it, Wot I Thunk of it, and some tips on extra mods to make this return trip…
