Back in the early days of gaming, anything that was released to the public was considered the final product. In recent years, however, a number of games go through constant patches after their initial release for a number of reasons: big fixes, downloadable content (DLCs), and even having a Live-Service model that attempts to keep their play base engaged with constant updates.
Before developers made these adjustments, though, some gamers took it upon themselves to do all of that. Game modding, or modification, covered bug-fixing, custom skins, visual upgrades, and new game modes. In fact. using the assets and game engine of a released game has led to some of the most popular games available today. Check out some of our picks on the most influential mods that led to the games being developed as they are today–best powered by a fiber-fast home WiFi connection.
Counter-Strike
From Counter-Strike on Steam
The tactical shooter genre has been in existence before the introduction of Counter-Strike, but the genre found mainstream appeal through this game. Originally a mod of the single player first-person-shooter Half-Life, the game was modded to a 5-v-5 team-based tactical shooter that pitted terrorists against anti-terrorists. Counter-Strike frenzy swept computer shops and home PCs across the world thanks to its polished game mechanics–and its legacy lives on today in the very popular titles Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Riot Games’ Valorant.
Defense Of The Ancients: AllStars (DotA)
The history of Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs), a genre that lists some of the biggest games today (League of Legends, DOTA2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Arena of Valor) can’t be discussed without mentioning the original mod that started it all—DotA: Allstars. This game is a mod of Blizzard’s Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, and found its inspiration from the Aeon of Strife custom map from Starcraft II. Although there have been many variations of the DotA mod, it was in DotA: Allstars that the genre truly found the MOBA formula that persists to this day.
PLAYERUNKNOWN's Battle Royale
From PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battle Royale on Steam
The battle royale genre is the latest craze to sweep the gaming world, and its origins are pretty interesting–with one mod evolving into another. The Arma 2 mod DayZ evolved to Survivor GameZ, which Brendan “PLAYERUNKNOWN” Greene further customized into his own version into what is known today as PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battle Royale. It became one of the most played games on Steam at the time, and the genre officially took off from there. Fortnite also finds its origins from this mod, as well as a slew of other Battle Royale games such as PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0.
Auto Chess
From Auto Chess on Steam
The Auto Battler genre finds its origins similar to Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. The Pokemon Defense mod allowed players to choose units from a random set before placing them on the board during the preparation phase. After that, players could no longer affect the battle against other players. Pokemon Defense didn’t find much footing until the DOTA2 mod Auto Chess gave the genre mainstream success. While Auto Chess is usually part of a separate in-game mode for more popular titles (such as League of Legends’ Teamfight Tactics or Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds), the genre also produced standalone games like DotA: Underlords.
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