In recent years, there have been more and more popular mods (Modification/Game Mods), some of which still take it as their mission to serve the original, but some of which look very different and unique from the original, and even some that have developed into independent complete games, making it hard to believe that they were once just a mod.
The "Corona" Mod of "Red Alert 3", which officially opened its public beta on New Year's Day a few days ago, is obviously an example of a mod "save" ontology. The IP of "Red Alert" is believed to be the childhood memories of many post-80s and 90s, but with the decline of RTS game genres and the closure of Westwood Studios, the development group of "Red Alert" by EA in 2003, the name has gradually faded out of the mainstream vision. In 2017, the coronal mod production team led by the domestic player "Yi Feng" attracted widespread attention from domestic red alert enthusiasts as soon as it was unveiled, which was like a shot in the arm to re-inject vitality and vitality into this IP.
Nowadays, when a game is released on PC, it seems to have become a foreseeable thing to come with a large number of mods. Look at Claude, Alice, and Tifa, who have recently become increasingly outrageously dressed, and you can certainly understand that the power of Mod is indeed not to be underestimated. Some developers have even given players the right tools to modify their video games, and as the player community has become more sophisticated, there are countless examples of Mod extending the life of video games. Today we will talk about those serious mods that are more fun than the game itself.
>>> Armed Assault 2 – DayZ (Zombie Doom)
DayZ is now a well-known standalone title, and its open-world survival shooter gameplay has influenced many games, but at first DayZ was just a mod designed by Dean Hall for the 2009 shooter ARMA 2 and its 2010 DLC, ARMA 2: Arrow arrow whead.
In the game, we will be placed in an alternate time and space, where people have been infected by the mysterious plague into irrational zombies. Players need to collect resources in the open world, looking for food, water, weapons, medicines, etc., the weather will change randomly in the game, which will affect the player's actions, and we also need to kill or avoid zombies to survive the end of the world.
DayZ Mod tries to portray a realistic scene in the gameplay, so that the environment has a different impact on the player, while a shooter focuses on survival and the human elements of the apocalypse story. And as a massively multiplayer online game genre, it gives players the freedom to hurt or kill others without restricting how or why they do it. Developer Dean Hall once said, "DayZ is fun because it's 'anti-game.'" DayZ breaks some of the basic rules of game design, and it's not fair in multiplayer, or even designed to protect players from frustration. "At the time, the gameplay was undoubtedly very novel, and it directly led to the fact that within two months of the release of the mod, Armed Assault 2 had sold more than 300,000 copies, and many players bought the game just to play DayZ Mod.
Later in the story, we all know that Bohemia Interactive finally made DayZ an independent game in 2018, and it has sold 2 million copies in 6 months of release. Today in the Steam platform of 240870 reviews still maintain most of the praise, although the shooter game common plug-in, server stability problems still exist, but it is undeniable that after independence it is still a fairly good work, and the story of this road can also be called a classic example of mod normalization.
>>> Half-Life 2 – Stanley's Fables
The Fables of Stanley that we are familiar with is a "walking simulator" that was originally based on Half-Life 2, but in the initial version of 2011, Stanley's Fables has shown features that are different from traditional games. In the game, the player will control a "dumb" protagonist Stanley, and the unique feature is that the player's actions are narrated by a voice from another "God" perspective. As the story progresses, the choices the player makes will change the plot completely. Sometimes, the narrator will also give his own advice and try to guide the player to do something special, but we can also ignore the opinion and follow our own inner choices. The Mod version has 6 different endings, and it is the fun of the game to choose to experience different endings with your heart.
Developed and produced by Davey Wredgen, Stanley's Fable Mod was loved by the player community as soon as it went live, with more than 90,000 downloads in two weeks. In 2013, a new standalone version was released, perfecting some of the endings and the paths that triggered them, while also adding more than a dozen endings, and finally sold more than 100,000 copies in 3 days of release, and won numerous awards.
Davey Wredgen has said in an interview that most AAA games ignore the "if" option, and despite the rich content, they don't really put the choice in the hands of players. The advent of the Metal Gear Solid series, Half-Life 2, Portal, Space-Time Illusion, and Resident Evil inspired Davey Wredgen. He believes that good game works need to give players reason to stop and think about the narrative, rather than simply going through a cutscene. "Stanley's Fables uses every possible way to disturb the player's mind, catch them off guard, or pretend they already have the answer and then take it away from them," he said. ”
Davey Wredgen was only 22 years old when the Mod version was launched, but the storytelling was quite mature, and despite the strong experimental nature of Stanley's Fables, no one could deny that it was a thought-provoking game. The game's plot flow is not very long, for the sake of friends' own experience when playing, it will not be elaborated here. However, it can be said that this game breaks the limitations of traditional game narrative, it gives control to the player himself completely, and the final ending is mainly based on scrutiny, rather than trying to explain the developer's concept or criticism. What kind of story can you say that is what you want? The answer may only be found by yourself...
It is worth mentioning that "Stanley's Fables: Deluxe Edition" recently announced the postponement to the beginning of 2022 release, according to Davey Wreden described that the deluxe edition will add additional choices, hidden secrets and more interesting endings around the core of the story, hey, it has now entered 2022, and friends who have not yet experienced this game personally recommend doing "wait party" direct experience of the deluxe version.
>>> Unreal Tournament 2004 – Killing Space
The mention of the well-known mod Killspace is also a classic that I can immediately recall, originally derived from the zombie mod of Unreal Tournament 2004, the player's mission is to fight off waves of monsters and bosses, somewhat similar to the zombie mode of the Call of Duty series. Perhaps no one can refuse the combination of monsters and plasma, Mod was also sought after by a large number of players once it was launched, and finally released a separate version in 2009, and announced a sequel to "Killing Space 2" in 2016.
Killing Space Mod was able to gain its first fans, not least because of Unreal Tournament 2004 itself, which is a first-person shooter, and the original's unique fast-paced combat and arena shooter mode is already very good. It also supports a flexible modification system that allows players to create maps, modify models, add new game modes, and add various other elements to the game. Players can easily seamlessly blend custom content with the original content, resulting in a wide range of mods. The Killing Space Mod was the result of a creative competition held by developer Epic Games in 2004, but Unreal Tournament 2004 seems to have become "tears of the times"...
Back to the point, whether it is a mod or an independent work, the overall gameplay of "Killing Space" is quite simple and direct, and even we can completely ignore the plot direction. What the game shows is quite vulgar and bad-fun, but perhaps picking up a spear and slaughtering a monster is interesting enough, or perhaps the simple thrills of fighting, escaping, and winning are related to some of the primitive impulses of humans. Whatever the reason, it's hard to deny that Killing Space is fun.
>>> "Riding and Slashing" - "Han-Hungarian Total War"
If you want to find the most impressive mod, then talk about "Riding and Slashing" "Han-Hungarian Total War". This is a work developed and produced by the Shang Shi Xuan production team composed of domestic game enthusiasts in 2011, and it is a third-person action role-playing game.
The game is based on the horseback riding and slashing v1.011 version (original version), which describes the historical story of the Northern Expedition of the Xiongnu by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu ran rampant on the Asian continent, and the Han Empire was already rich and powerful after recuperation, and Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty did not want to be suppressed by the Xiongnu anymore, and a comprehensive confrontation between the Han and the Xiongnu began... The production team has said that it hopes to restore China's own national cultural heritage, so the game has always adhered to a rigorous and down-to-earth attitude, restored almost all the archaeological equipment of the Western Han Dynasty, including all the armor and weapon forms of the time, and maintained information exchange with experts in professional ancient weapons, trying to be authoritative.
Frankly speaking, this work is not outstanding in terms of technical strength, but perhaps it is a sentiment filter or perhaps I am personally obsessed with historical themes, and although the attributes of "Han-Hungarian total war" as an entertainment work are slightly inferior, the production team uses a special way to show the unique home and country feelings of Chinese. You ask me if I can cover up the disadvantages of the picture, system, operation, etc., maybe the answer I gave is also no, the good news is that the intention of the production team may sound a little lofty, but it is not preached in the game, and it is always good to inspire people to think in this day and age by throwing out stories.
Shang Shixuan's production team also set up its own independent work "Han-Hungarian Decisive Battle" on the Steam platform in 2017, which is also a historical and cultural style game that integrates elements such as role-playing, strategy, real-time strategy and action fighting. However, the game's technical prowess is still not excellent, and Steam reviews are also mixed. Here I would like to say more, of course, everyone expects to appear some "Chinese style" games with exquisite picture quality, smooth operation and special gameplay system, but at present, even if they are slightly immature, they can still make people happy, and hope that the domestic "Shang Shi Xuan production team" can persist in forging ahead.
>>> The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Forgotten City
Friends who see here must be wondering, will the mod "old roll 5" be absent? Indeed, as a mod holder who earned the nickname "Maiden Scrolls", we can see too many excellent creators and works in the player community of Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and fortunately, "Forgotten City", which was released as an independent game on July 28 last year, helped me solve the difficulty of choosing.
Forgotten City was originally a mod of the same name for Roll 5, with more than 3 million downloads in the player community, and its popularity is evident. Completed in 1,700 hours by Nick Pearce, this mod tells an unforgettable, non-linear story with different endings depending on the player's historical experiences and choices.
Due to Mod's acclaim, Nick Pearce, a former lawyer, chose to resign and, through relentless communication and efforts, eventually released it as an independent work. This Forgotten City will incorporate elements of time loops, reconstructing a 2,000-year-old Roman city. Players will travel back in time to the last days of the cursed city of Rome, where if one person commits a crime, everyone dies. By using deadly time loops, questioning the locals, exploring and solving puzzles, the fate of the city is entirely in the hands of the player.
In the process, we can hardly tell where the "side quests" for people to relax are, because the clues obtained during dialogue with different NPCs and exploring different areas are involved in the main story, and here is also a bit of an adventurous design. If players can't put themselves in the game and mix independent thinking, they will probably get bored very quickly. Fortunately, the "gentleness" of the production team is also accompanied by tarsal bones, and the game sets up a lot of two dilemmas that determine life and death, which makes it difficult not to focus on the game, and to some extent, it also resolves the above risks. It is said that all the NPC characters in Forgotten City are the customers and people who have dealt with developer Nick Pearce when he has not yet quit his job to develop the game. Well, well, after all, he was once a lawyer, and the credibility of seeing so many fly camp dogs should not be too high...
Of course, the game also has a variety of different endings, and developer Nick Pearce has also said that the originator of the time loop movie "Groundhog Day" is one of his inspirations, and he wants to tell a good story anyway. After playing "Forsaken City", I think he did it, I believe that collecting countless clues, and finally experiencing the ending of this game that lifts the clouds and sees the sunrise, you will feel the same way.
>>> the end
After talking about so many examples of making a mod fun or even remade into an indie game, we inevitably have a survivor bias. But in fact, the difficulties and obstacles on this road are also self-evident, perhaps because of these creative gamers and all kinds of strange ideas that have come together to make a mod, and now the game genre can bloom and pay tribute to them. Of course, I hope you don't underestimate your ideas and ideas, maybe the next famous mod will be from you.
Of course, there are many more such examples, and we will not forget the "DOTA" that originated from Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, the Counter-Strike (CS) and "Cry of Fear" that originated from Half-Life, the "Pander's Prophecy" from "Horseback and Slash: Warband"... I won't go into detail in this article, so what is your most memorable mod? What are your thoughts on the relationship between the mod and the game ontology? I look forward to seeing everyone's sharing in the comments section. If you think we're doing a good job, you can like and follow. Of course, comments and suggestions are also welcome, so let's see you in the next article. Meow ~ !!!