While you wait for Bannerlord, here's a mod that recreates Mount & Blade in Crusader Kings 2
Plus a mod that cranks Fallout 4's gore up to 11, and a custom campaign for Gordon Freeman.
This week on the Mod Roundup, two games get mashed together, blood and gore gets taken to a new level, and Gordon Freeman once again battles the Combine in an alternate timeline.
First, we've got a mod that completely recreates the continent of Calradia from the Mount & Blade series in Crusader Kings 2. Next, a mod that takes the already brutally bloody Fallout 4 and makes it even more gruesomely gory. And finally, a mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two presents you with a meaty new singleplayer campaign.
Here are the most promising mods we've seen this week.
The Legend of Zendar, for Crusader Kings 2
Steam Workshop link (Part 1)
Steam Workshop link (Part 2)
"Conan, what is best in life?" We already know the barbarian's top three, which involve crushing enemies, watching them flee, and hearing the general unhappiness of their women, but I think Conan's fourth best thing would probably be when a modder takes one game and crams it into another. Modder CradonWar has done this by taking the continent of Calradia from the Mount & Blade series and recreating it inside Crusader Kings 2. That includes over 700 of M&B's provinces and 22 kingdoms, plus 6 factions and 30 cultures. While you're waiting for Bannerlord to arrive, this might just be the ticket.
Gore Overhaul, for Fallout 4
Fallout 4 is already pretty disgusting, what with limbs flying everywhere, heads exploding, and buckets of blood spilling out of dismembered torsos. But, as Florence and the Machine would be quick to point out, too much is never enough. Modder Nero1n has cranked up the level of gross-out to new levels, as you can see in the video above made by mod enthusiast Tyrannicon. With new flesh retextures, brain and skull shaders, and neck gore, plus optional bruises and blade wounds, combat has never been so satisfyingly gory.
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Mega City One, for Half-Life 2: Episode Two
We covered it a few days ago, but it's worth repeating because Mega City One is a lengthy (about three hours) single-player custom campaign for Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Plus, when will you be able to step back into Gordon Freeman's boots again? Maybe never. The mod, which takes place in an alternate timeline where you lead rebels against the Combine in hopes of recovering a Xen artifact, is inspired by the film Dredd, as well as games like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil, which are certainly great examples to draw from.
Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.