From Skyrim and Fallout to Cyberpunk 2077 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as well as upcoming releases like Starfield, we here at Gfinity cover an awful lot of news about mods, with all of those we feature hopefully offering something that’ll make your latest playthrough a bit more interesting.
This month has certainly delivered a strong selection of works, with everything from rowdy brawls to classic Fallout-inspired creatures, and even the chance to turn Tears of the Kingdom into a retro DS game having possibly arrived in your load order.
With this in mind, we’ve decided to highlight five of the best mods that we’ve featured over the course of June. So, here we go…
5. Skyrim’s Dragonborn gets driven mad by cursed swords
First off is a mod from Collygon, which is a must-have for those who loved the Oblivion quest involving one of Clavicus Vile’s powerful Daedric artefacts, Umbra. While none of the blades included in ‘A Cursed Sword Experience’ are direct doubles of that infamous weapon, they all share its appetite for feeding off of its surroundings.
The mod’s trio of swords, dubbed Blodvitr, Daem, and Heindel all come with unique appearances, themes, and powers, the latter of which can be upgraded by using them to murder NPCs or harvest souls. The catch is that the swords come with mechanics that force you to commit a certain amount of these acts or risk having your character be afflicted with weakening debuffs.
So, if you decide to give the mod a try, be ready to have to make some morally dubious choices.
4. Fallout 4 gains a bunch of Pride month-themed goodies
Modder Elianora is well-known in the Bethesda game modding community for making some of the best player homes out there, as they did to help raise money for charity recently. That said, they’re certainly no one trick pony, as ‘Pride Mod 2023 - Trans Solidarity edition’ proves.
Created with some help from modders CaptainUltima and NaiRae, this work brings a bunch of Trans-inclusive clothing, paints, and settlement objects to The Commonwealth in order to help you celebrate Pride month. Trust me, it’s worth picking up just for the cuddly shark, even if you don’t fancy the killer Trans rights Power Armour paint.
3. Zelda players get their first taste of randomised Tears of the Kingdom
Okay, so this one’s kind of cheating, since it’s only out in early access right now, but given that when complete it’ll offer you the chance to completely randomise your Tears of the Kingdom experience, I think you can forgive me.
Assuming it eventually lives up to its predecessor for Breath of the Wild, ‘TOTK Randomizer by Waikuteru’ will keep you entertained for hours on end with randomised enemy spawns, item drops, and environmental changes, in addition to some extra features voted for by its community. Just make sure you don't make Link’s life so wacky he can no longer save Hyrule.
2. Skyrim’s Dragonborn gains some Dragon Priest-inspired perks
While you can probably recite some sections of it word-for-word if you’re a veteran Elder Scrolls player, Skyrim’s main quest remains a pretty beloved aspect of the game, even if it does pale in comparison to some of the narratives that’ve been told in more recent titles. Thankfully, mods like DeltaRider’s ‘The Dragon Cult - Priesthood’ keep arriving and offering cool ways to freshen up your quest to deal with Alduin.
Introducing a brand new perk tree, which allows you to add a range of abilities inspired by Dragon Priests to your arsenal. In order to earn these perks, you need to join the Dragon Cult and slay foes while wearing one of the game’s vanilla Dragon Priest masks, making the mod great for lore-loving roleplayers.
With that, we’re down to just our victor. So, without further ado, here’s 2023’s best mod of the month:
1. Fallout 4’s Sole Survivor takes a trip to Hyrule
While sometimes they can be a bit simplistic and feel slightly jarring, if done right, mods that serve as crossovers between two or more beloved game series can be really cool. SunnyDelight’s ‘The Master Sword and Sacred Grove’ is just that, bringing a taste of The Legend of Zelda to The Commonwealth in order to celebrate Tears of the Kingdom’s release.
As you might have gleaned from its title, the mod’s main course is a quest to retrieve the Master Sword Link wields from specially made Sacred Grove, which is full of collectable items and interesting secrets. With an optional plugin, you can also create a settlement with this area, giving you a very unique place to chill out when you tire of the radiation or Preston Garvey’s nagging.
So, that’s your winner for this month! Regardless of whether you agree with these selections, make sure to follow us for in-depth coverage of loads more great mods over the course of June. You can also check out our mods of the month for March, April and May.