Back again with another Staff Picks, the regular feature where we spotlight some of the amazing work that is found on Nexus Mods. These mods may be old or new, popular or unknown, serious or silly - anything goes!
For the first time, Dark0ne has submitted a pick, and I have to say it's a real gem. Can definitely see this one being add to my 'necessary mods for Fallout 4' list.
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 and who knows, maybe we'll even learn a little about each other along the way. ;)
Dark0ne
Mod: Push Away Companions
Game: Fallout 4
Author: cdante
Personally I think the way NPC followers are done in most games is just plain crap. They're wooden, dull, mostly useless and more often than not get in the way rather than help. Fallout 4 is no exception, so I was happy to spend the points on the "Lone Wanderer" perk in my first play through and simply go without the hassle of having one of these walking liabilities follow me everywhere I go.
"Push Away Companions" by CDante does exactly what you'd expect it to. Perhaps even more than you'd expect it to considering your companions get more "hurled" than they do pushed. The pushing animation adds a fun, practically comical take on the concept which is particularly nice for someone like me, who'd be more than happy to give "helpful" pushes to followers when walking over bridges and other high locations. You know, to get your own back on the fact they'd stood in front of your mini-nuke launcher in the last fight, or heck, just for the pure sadistic fun of it.
This mod provides a nice twist on an otherwise game-breaking vanilla companion issue for me.
BlindJudge
Mod: Banished PLUS
Game: Banished
Author: Zenchina
There is something I enjoy about games where you create, expand and provide upkeep to villages, maybe it's because I hold little-pixelated villager lives in my hand, or it could be because I just like to create beautiful looking scenes - who knows?
What I do know is that I love this time-sink of a game. The premise is simple, you've been banished and have moved to regions unknown, now you need to create a community and keep them alive, it's like a survival game and a strategy game had a love child.
The visuals are brilliant and give life to the homesteads that you create, subtle details like chimney smoke, seasons and weather increase the immersion and make the game a joy to play.
This mod can make things a little easier through changes like storage barns and yards having more capacity, more locations to build and increased yield from fishing and hunting. It also adds the ability to build half into mountains which may not be to everyone's taste, but like all mods, they're subjective. For me, it aids in being able to play a far more relaxed game just to chill out with.
SirSalami
Mod: Dwemer Hacker (Skyrim)
Mod: Dwemer Hacker (Skyrim Special Edition)
Game: Skyrim
Game: Skyrim Special Edition
Author: Lofgren
The Dwemer are an ancient race shrouded in mechanical secrecy, but with enough skill, this mod will allow you to unlock some of those mysteries, quite literally. Rather than being a strictly passive skill, Dwemer Hacker allows your lock-picking skill to become an active part of your arsenal. By successfully lock-picking an unsuspecting Dwemer Construct, you are given access to its control gem which, upon removal, will handily dispatch it. A perfect addition to any clever characters who may prefer brains over brawn.
This is a new mod from a long-time contributor, Lofgren. Self-described as a "simple" mod, I find it to be quite intuitive and well implemented nonetheless. Providing more varied opportunities to interact with the game world is something I always enjoy seeing in a mod, and this certainly is no exception. It's available for both Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition.
TerrorFox1234
Mod: More Items
Game: Delver
Author: TeslaCuil
I just recently picked this game up and started playing it as I was doing a bit of research into new games with modding support. It’s a fun little dungeon diver, and while I normally stay away from Early Access, I see a lot of potential in this game.
Being that the game is still in Early Access, it is still a pretty bare bones game. Picking up the same items over and over gets a bit... dull. I’m sure the developer will be adding more content over time, but in the meantime, TeslaCuil has got the ball rolling with More Items!
Right now the mod simply adds a handful of new weapons, a few new armors, a couple of new rings and an amulet which is enough to add some nice variety to looting and exploring. I look forward to watching the mod grow with the game.
(Guest submission)Vikhenzo
Mod: Rise of the White Wolf Enhanced Edition
Game: The Witcher
Author: rustine
After finishing the awesome game that is The Witcher 3, I just wanted more and more content from its universe. Starting with the original Witcher game, I was promptly stopped by how much it has aged. Even though we all know graphics aren’t everything, it certainly took away from the experience, especially after playing The Witcher 3 which itself was a graphical masterpiece. But this mod, while not perfect, makes the gameplay experience in general much more bearable. While it doesn’t fix the dreaded combat system, it’s still a major upgrade.
Sprucing up the textures, completely remaking the UI and retouching some cutscenes isn’t even everything. If anyone has wanted to start the story of the White Wolf from the beginning, this might just be your chance.
btw: The combat gets better in the second game!
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, send the name of the mod, your site username and a brief (less than 200 words) description of why you like it to [email protected], and we’ll consider adding it to the list.
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Thanks, and have fun modding!
20 comments
Comments locked
A moderator has closed this comment topic for the time beingAnd I'm one of the crazy people who prefer The Witcher 1 to the newer Witcher games. I even love the dated grafics, for me it's beautiful. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The glitch consists of the farmers no longer being able to access their fields. They stand stranded at the side of their field, acting as if tending to the crops, but no yield is being registered since the farmers aren't on the field...
It's a real pity as this mod has so many other nice things in it...
Looks like I'm going to get immersed again into the sounds of bleating sheep, trees come crusing down and the clink-cloink of metal hitting stone.
Cheers
There's not a lot of mods, so I downloaded 'em all.
This one (Banished Plus) has a farmers glitch, sadly, where, after a while, farmers for some reason can no longer access their fields and get stuck by the side, so that the fields aren't tended to and as a result of course you have no crops.You can assign those farmers to newly made fields, but the area of the old field cannot be used to add something else and the space is wasted...
I want it... No... i NEED it!
Made me laugh so hard seeing Preston being shoved over the edge... lol
mods like this one picked in the article really makes me want to go back and continue Geralt's story with better UI and game mechanics even though I already liked the game in the first place.
The Witcher combat is serviceable by the end, but my god is it dull to start with. The story is actually pretty good but I would never, ever play it again even if you paid me.
In Witcher 2, contrary to what's said in the post, I found it unbearable. (I started that game three times and never got far.)
In Witcher 3, it became good again.
Great article though! Spotlights on these lesser known, but still well made mods are always interesting
Happy you're enjoying these pieces. Thanks!