Last week The Game Awards 2024 was chock-a-block with game reveals and video showcases, but for this article, I’ll be keeping to actual new announcements and reveals (rather than all those little reminder adverts that tell you about a game released last month and that you should “so totally go buy it right now”). I'll also be keeping it to games that are set to release in 2025, with one very special exception, otherwise, this article would simply go on forever.
Alrighty! Let’s get speculating!
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
They sure do love starting these shows off with some nostalgia don’t they? Last time I did one of these articles, we kicked things off with DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO and just like that game, it’s been over 10 years since the last proper Ninja Gaiden game.
Made by the team that created the excellent Blasphemous, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound looks like it’ll be another fun 2D slice-and-dice adventure through pixelated worlds. When it comes to modding though? While the previous title, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, has a small, but dedicated, community it has the benefit of being 3D and full of customisation. So for Ragebound, I don’t expect much.
Elden Ring Nightreign
SlugGirl clearly has good taste, as she named the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod one of her favourite mods of 2024, and FromSoftware must have seen the eight-million downloads on this phenomenal mod and thought they’d give it a shot as well!
Nightreign looks to be a bit of a strange return to The Lands Between however, as in the same way that Tears of the Kingdom was a redux of Hyrule, this new standalone co-op adventure seems to follow a similar design philosophy.
There’s not a huge amount of information about Elden Ring Nightreign just yet, but eagle-eyed viewers of the trailer will have seen not only new animations for existing bosses, but also returning bosses from other FromSoftware games - including Bloodborne! Based on this alone, Nightreign is set to be heaven for mod authors and based on the popularity of FromSoftware’s beloved IP across Nexus Mods, I’m certain that we’ll see just as many creative, exciting or just downright badass mods from all our favourites for this title as well!
Slay the Spire II
If it's not one card-based roguelike taking centre stage, it's another! I'm not saying that Slay the Spire II is here to purposely knock Balatro off its pedestal, but I would be surprised if it didn't. Within the modding scene, however? The first Slay the Spire has a measly eight mods on Nexus Mods. Eight! That's less cards than I had in my starting hand during my last run with Silent!
I don't foresee much better odds for Slay the Spire II, unfortunately. Maybe it'll break double digits a couple years down the line, but if it hasn't, send me a DM and I'll see if I can whip something up to help old Slay the Spire out.
Solasta II
Back in 2021, Solasta: Crown of the Magister launched, bringing us one of the biggest RPGs yet. While it performed well, it didn’t make waves, but that was in a pre-Baldur’s Gate III world. Now that we all know the difference between a druid and a D20, I can see Solasta’s sequel doing much better, especially when they've got Baldur's Gate III narrator Amelia Tyler doing voice work as well.
Heck, even if I just wanted to change the dice animation, I can see at least 100 plus mods being made for that alone! Plus, it’s being made in Unreal Engine 5, so it’ll be a great starting point for new mod authors looking to get into the scene and with the amount of people chomping at the bit for some more 5E-content-gone-digital I can’t see this as anything other than a modding success.
The Witcher IV
It's time for our very-special-exception and if I needed a can’t-miss-pick (which I don’t, because my predictions are always correct and never, ever, actually wrong. Nope.) then this would most certainly be it.
What is there to say about The Witcher IV other than I think we’re all incredibly excited for it! Ciri looked incredible in the cinematic trailer that showcased the upcoming world and atmosphere, and while we’ll all be sad to be saying goodbye to Geralt for a while, I’m sure he’ll pop up in the story somehow.
The Witcher III has been a staple member of our most popular games’ club here at Nexus Mods and that’s not likely to change for a long time. It’s been the star of interviews, mod showcase videos and more, including collaborations with CD PROJECT RED for modding contests.
And so, The Witcher IV is most certainly going to follow in its footsteps. What’s more, the very beautiful, albeit cinematic, trailer was running on a not-yet-announced Nvidia RTX GPU as well, so it’s probably worth looking at upgrades before this one launches, because if you don’t need it for the base game, you’ll most certainly need it for the 8K high-resolution re-texture mods.
Borderlands 4
Borderlands is back and this fourth numbered title brings, at least from what we saw in the trailer, everything a Borderlands game is known for: cel-shaded graphics, multicoloured loot, four unique heroes and… did I mention the loot yet?
Maybe I’m just a hater, but I can’t get on board with this one. Borderlands 2 was excellent, the Pre-Sequel a bit weird, Borderlands 3 I never cared for and the Tiny Tina spin-off, while fun, feels like the joke has been taken a bit too far now and I imagine most modders feel the same way.
Plus, we’re not forgetting about the movie.
Dying Light: The Beast
Did you know that Dying Light has more mods downloaded from Nexus Mods than NieR: Automata? Did you know that Dying Light 2 has more mods downloaded than Dark Souls Remastered?
That’s all to say that the Dying Light community here on Nexus Mods is alive and well and I expect their hype for Dying Light: The Beast is through the roof (I wouldn’t personally know, I… have never played a Dying Light game).
Regardless, in this game, you get to control a crazed half-man-half-beast experimental creation and so, I expect the created mods to be just as experimental!
The Outer Worlds 2
Outer Wilds is my favourite game of all time, and I honest- wait, what do you mean? Seriously? Again?
The Outer Worlds (this time not to be confused with another space-faring adventure game) is back and this time it comes with, to quote Obsidian themselves, “more action, more weapons, and more graphics”! They were obviously aware of the shortcomings of the first game and want to make sure the same criticism isn’t made again.
Now, it’s always surprised me that The Outer Worlds never had the largest modding scene especially when both Knights of the Old Republic and Fallout New Vegas are so popular, but it’s always a risk starting a new IP and hoping that fans latch onto it. The Outer Worlds 2 therefore has the benefit of having an established fanbase and with more people modding than ever before, there’s hope for the satirical spacefaring sequel to really make waves!
Split Fiction
It Takes Two was a cute little title that saw a quarrelling couple miniaturised, ‘Honey I Shrunk The Kids’ style, in order to solve their relationship woes. Played entirely in co-op, it was well-received by players and critics alike.
Modders, however, couldn’t care less. And with the studio returning with Split Fiction, the latest game in their ‘play it together’ style, I don’t see this one taking off with the Nexus Mods community either.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Babe, wake up! It’s time for yet another release of The Last of Us!
That’s right, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is coming to PC next year and it looks… fine? It’s fine. It’s just The Last of Us Part 2 again (again). I won’t linger on this one for long, as Sony tends to keep their games pretty heavily locked down, meaning that the main thing we’ll be seeing here on Nexus Mods is save files.
The First Berserker: Khazan
I don’t really know why, but I love it when massive MMORPGs get weird solo spin-off games. We’ve seen it with titles such as Granblue Fantasy: Relink and now, we’re going to see it with Nexon’s flagship title: Dungeon Fighter Online.
This high-octane, Unreal Engine powered, action RPG reminds me a lot of Black Myth: Wukong. I’m predicting a somewhat clichéd linear story with epic boss fights, tough-as-nails gameplay and enough anime hairstyles to fill Japan Expo.
And because it reminds me of Black Myth: Wukong, I expect plenty of mods! Especially with it being developed in such an easy engine to mess around in. I’d keep an eye out for The First Berserker: Darth Maul if I were you.
Final Fantasy VII REBIRTH
Although I loved REMAKE, REBIRTH didn’t click the same way when I first played it on PS5. Perhaps it was just because it was so much longer and I couldn’t dedicate time to it in the same way (hey, REMAKE came out during lockdown remember?).
However, this is my opportunity to give it another shot and with sparkly new graphics to boot. So, if you’re anything like me, the wait is almost over because it launches at the end of January! The trailer itself showed off some beautiful new lighting, enhanced textures, modelling and DLSS and VRR support as well. It’s all very pretty, but this isn’t Pretty or Not: It’s Mod or Not.
And if REMAKE is anything to go by, we’ll see a fairly substantial modding community: Final Fantasy is so widely beloved and features such a charming cast of characters that modders simply can’t resist changing up the game.
Mafia: The Old Country
Ayyy! I’m walkin’ here! And by here, I mean over to the Mafia: The Old Country Nexus Mods game page because there’s going to be a whole bunch of mods for this one.
The Mafia series is one that seems to just keep truckin’ on, with every game except Mafia III: Definitive Edition having over 100,000 downloads. These mods aren’t just cosmetic swaps either! Sure, there’s plenty of those (if you wanted to change a suit here or there, or remove a mustache, for example) but there’s also entire mission packs and gameplay overhauls too!
Wow, that’s a lot more modding scenes than I thought there would be - and I’m the one predicting it! 2025 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the community and I hope that even some of my ‘Not’s end up being wrong too!
While we wait for the year to wrap up, let me know your thoughts on my predictions: Do you expect there to be significant modding scenes for these titles? Are you already getting ready to make some mods for some of them? Or, are you expecting to let next year pass you by?
35 comments
i measure everything on the fun scale so as long the mod is qol, change or adding more content (no cheating please) (and not breaking the game) every game should be modded
How many of those modders can't/won't be bothered to put up their mods on Nexus? XCom2 comes to mind... "I've moved my mod to Workshop..."
In summary, F:NV and KotoR are phenomenal, standout games that critics and players have raved about for years and TOW is....... not. -_-
Also this quote confuses me:
If 'action, weapons, and graphics' are the 'issues' that Obsidian are intending to address in TOW's sequel, then no I emphatically disagree Obsidian hasn't learned anything from TOW's middling critical reception at all because none of those are the primary gripes gamers had with the first one. What most players found exhausting were the lack of true roleplay options worthy of what Obsidian has provided gamers in the past, the lackluster sci-fi setting that failed to stand out in any significant manner, and uncreative and washed out plot/companion characters.
All flaws that Starfield shares imo (and I highly doubt I am alone in this opinion) which is why the mod scenes for both TOW and Starfield both fail to stand out amongst and rub shoulders with their contemporaries.
Edit: Continue not liking Starfield, thats your prerogative, but please refrain from belittling & deriding the huge community around Starfield, there are tons of players, & modders. Besides... the game is just getting going, doesn't even have all DLC or upstream improvements yet. Nexus will be the hub for Starfield modders, the creations thing is for console players who have a terribly difficult time modding due to all the rules of xbox, let them have their thing, it only makes Nexus seem even more appealing, which creates new PC gamers all the time, because they want to get into more impactful modding.
That's not belittling, it's pointing out how the many subpar choices Bethesda make have affected the game and modding community, I don't see any reason to leave Bethesda of the hook which isn't a criticism of the work of modders who enjoy playing and creating for that game. Hell these modders are the best chance the game has of improving long term.
can't do quest and map based mods on the ue games
if luck opens a minimal of bp mods and model imports but that's it.
As for FF7 Rebirth, I don't think the game director is going to get his way when it comes to mods.
https://www.ign.com/articles/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-director-asks-fans-not-to-make-inappropriate-mods-upon-its-pc-release
Is it the best RPG I've ever played? Not by a long shot, no. Yet, circumstances aligned in such a way that I found far greater appreciation for it.
No, no really, you don't have to applaud, no really... oh please stop, that's enough, that's enough, it's so embarrassing, okay keep going then.
could also just be an undrafted stream of consciousness trying to hype stuff but having the chill dignity of a web novel fandom.