Firstly, a big "Happy New Year" to you all! We hope that you all enjoyed the festive period and are now relaxed, ready and rejuvenated to begin 2017 with some incredible mods.
Today we bring you a few mods that we have tried out over the Christmas break. I have been playing a mix of games, but returned once again to the wasteland in Fallout 4, SirSalami managed to nab himself a bargain with Mass Effect 2 and Terrorfox1234 has been annoying enemies in Skyrim and running away. Today's guest pick is from our community member arecaidianfox and is a great alternative to 'Fast Travel' within Skyrim.
We love to hear your selections, so if you have a mod you would like to submit to the community (not your own), please check out this new and handy form. Please fill out the form completely and ensure that you add some details about the mod and why you have chosen it.
Just remember that other mods on the site may do roughly the same thing, so keep your eyes peeled and understand that these are just our personal picks. That said, hopefully, you'll find something you may not have seen before. Who knows, maybe we'll even learn a little about each other along the way.
SirSalami
Mod: ME2Controller
Game: Mass Effect 2
Author: Dybukk
I thoroughly enjoyed the original Mass Effect but for whatever reason, I had never got around to playing its sequels. Thanks to
Having played the original on console, I knew I'd be in for a cinematic adventure that'd probably be best experienced on a large screen. For me, that means sitting on the couch and grabbing a gamepad. Inexplicably however and much to my dismay, the PC version does not officially support any console controllers or gamepads.
Thankfully though, by repurposing existing assets and systems present in the console version, this mod has recreated the gamepad experience perfectly allowing every aspect of the game to be accessed from the controller seamlessly. Something that should've been included in the original PC port, but I am none-the-less thankful for this quick and elegant solution.
TerrorFox1234
Mod: Follow Me and Swim After Me
Game: Skyrim Special Edition
Author: tonycubed2
I tend to be drawn to simple mods that change something small, yet make a world of difference. I love mods that feel like they should have been in the game to start, and once you get used to them you almost forget that it’s a feature added by a mod. I’m partially drawn to these types of mods for the obvious QoL factor, but also because they are generally free from compatibility issues as they don’t touch massive amounts of records and assets.
Follow Me and Swim After Me is a perfect example of this. It allows hostile enemies to follow you through doors (this includes following you out of a dungeon), as well as allowing them to pursue you across water. It’s as simple as that, yet the effect it has on gameplay is noticeable. No longer can you swim across the stream, or use the dungeon entrance as a buffer against a tough bandit. Once you’ve gone and pissed them off, you better fight or keep running.
BlindJudge
Mod: Deadlier Deathclaws
Game: Fallout 4
Author: MPankey
It was a bit of a 'love it or hate it' moment at the beginning of Fallout 4 when meeting your first Deathclaw within an hour of beginning the game. Yes, they are pretty spectacular and a highlight of the Wasteland, but seriously Bethesda, that early in the story! Not only do you meet the Deathclaw while you are such a low level, but you also manage to take it down relatively quickly.
The mod I am choosing to begin my staff pick of the New Year is 'Deadlier Deathclaws' by 'MPankey'. To me, it helps restore balance by once again making Deathclaws the creature you want to avoid rather than hunt. Their stats are boosted to make them stronger, harder and more resilient. 19 new varieties of Deathclaw are added into the game with 'Legendary' and 'Ambush' versions pushing this number higher still. There is now even a Chameleon Deathclaw with the ability to turn invisible; now that is a predator to be wary of.
If you want a real challenge, take a journey to the Western hills of the glowing sea and find 'The Devil's Den.' This new area is a cavern full to the brim with Deathclaws! This mod really does give these creatures the ferocity and stature that they deserve.
(Guest submission)arecaidianfox
Mod: Skyrim Wayshrines - Immersive Fast Travel - SWIFT
Game: Skyrim
Author: Pharros
This mod is wonderful. A way to fast travel without 'Fast Travel', in an immersive way, if I dare to use such a played out description. The mod adds several 'Wayshrines' in various locations throughout the game. All of these Wayshrines are connected, and you can instantly teleport between them. This mechanic does two major things:
Firstly, it reintroduces fast travelling to the game in a more organic way. No longer do you just open up a map and point and click. Now you have to journey to find these 'Wayshrines' to use them. Leading wonderfully into my second point that discovery and exploration no longer take a back seat to Fast Travel.
This mod is highly configurable via the MCM. Meaning that if you don't want to discover all the Wayshrines to unlock them, you can do that. If you don't want to deal with the mod's Soul Energy and Soul Karma system (used as a "currency" to unlock Wayshrines and pay for using the network) then just toggle it in the menu.
I love this mod as SWIFT solves a major dilemma for me. We go through all this trouble of modding Skyrim, making it look wonderful, beautiful, fantastic and awe-inspiring, a surreal yet completely engrossing experience that has collectively captured our imaginations for the last five years. Then we just Fast Travel past all of it.
SWIFT gives everyone that nice middle ground. For those of you who play hardcore realism with no 'Fast Travel', maybe this will be a good way to have more convenience within your game, without breaking the spirit of your experience. For those of you who just Fast Travel everywhere, maybe this mod will give you a better, more integrated way to fast travel, and allow you to see all that work you as a modder and mod authors put into your game. For those like myself, maybe it will do for you what it did for me, and give a clumsy game mechanic a fresh spin, and allow you to play in a happy medium between those two styles. SWIFT does all of this in a way that feels natural within the game, and I love it for that.
Every week, we feature a few mods that have caught our staff’s attention, as well as some that were submitted by you, the Nexus Mods community. If there is a mod you’d like to see on this list, then please check out this quick and handy form.
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Thanks, and have fun modding!
13 comments
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A moderator has closed this comment topic for the time beingThanks to the Nexus team again for giving users the opportunity to submit mod descriptions to „STAFF PICKS“ as well
is a fantastic idea. Love it.