Video gaming plays host to a loyal, passionate fan base.

Many games have gotten community-created patches and fan translations after the original publisher abandoned them.

These games' fans stick with it through thick and thin.

Collage of artwork from Pokemon Let’s Go (left), Demon’s Souls (center), and Harvest Moon (right)

One of the most compelling types of fan creation is the total conversion mod.

To celebrate the fans who made them, here are mods so great that they surpassed the original game.

This forgottenboomer shooterreceived a surprise remaster in 2022.

Split image of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, the prince from Prince of Persia and Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.

Even more surprisingly, it received a fan-made sequel on the same engine in 2021.

The remaster includes the level editor as well as the MS-DOS version of the game.

7Stone Of Balance

Dink Smallwood

Dink Smallwood is a 1997isometric RPGdeveloped by a three-person team.

Split image of key art from Stalker: Shadow Of Chornobyl and Heart Of Chornobyl.

Games like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears remain iconic in the RPG franchise.

But these 10 RPG titles could also use some love.

It lived up to expectations.

Split images from Counter-Strike, Skyrim and Chasm: The Rift.

It also has two superb soundtracks: one by prolific guitar maestro Buckethead and the other by James Paddock.

The Buckethead soundtrack of Sigil is exclusive to a standalone version sold onRomero’s official sitefor 6.66.

If not for DOTA, we might not have MOBAs.

A split image of Heavy from Team Fortress 2, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider and Kaeya from Genshin Impact.

These games paved the way to create entire genres.

Few games can claim to have made as much of an impact on multiplayer gaming as this mod.

Gabe and co. saw something in Counter-Strike that the world quickly cottoned onto: deathmatch was dead.

Gameplay of the Grim Borough mod for Chasm: The Rift.

The game offers endless possibilities for tinkering, but most mods are simply alterations of the base game.

Not so for Enderal, which is, in essence, an entirely new game within itself.

Enderal features high-quality voice acting and a story to match any WRPG being sold on Steam.

Gameplay of the Stone of Balance mod for Dink Smallwood.

Originally restricted to a German-language release, it was soon translated into English and became a fan favorite.

If only Bethesda would take the right lessons from their fans' talent for modding.

Stalker: Anomaly’s developers heard you like mods, so they put mods in your mod.

dragon quest ix party art akira toriyama

Stalker: Anomaly has more than 4000 add-ons created by other fans.

We compare Heart of Chornobyl and Shadow of Chornobyl to see which Stalker game is best.

Gameplay of the Sigil mod for Doom.

mixcollage-24-dec-2024-11-19-pm-8705.jpg

phone transparent

PC-1

PlayStation-1

Xbox-1

Placeholder Image

Gameplay of the DOTA mod for Warcraft 3.

mixcollage-07-dec-2024-03-58-am-3257.jpg

Gameplay of the Counter Strike mod for Half Life.

counter-strike-tag-page-cover-art-1.jpg

Gameplay of the Tomb Raider Biohazard mod for Tomb Raider 4.

mixcollage-19-nov-2024-01-13-am-8037.jpg

Gameplay of the Enderal mod for Skyrim.

mixcollage-08-dec-2024-02-45-pm-445.jpg

Gameplay of the Stalker: Anomaly mod for Stalker: Call of Pripyat.

mixcollage-20-nov-2024-10-32-am-6825.jpg

Triple-A Games