PC gaming has a long history of modding behind it. Classic games like Doom and Quake were released alongside level editors that enabled anyone to make more maps, mods, and full-length campaigns. Back when those were released, the best graphics cards were all VGA, but the ease of picking up the modding tools created a whole new wave of developers.

Modding has gone from strength to strength, with the teams behind several popular mods eventually being offered staff positions at the companies that originally made the game. We wouldn't have Counter-Strike, Left for Dead, DOTA 2, or even PUBG: Battlegrounds without the thriving PC modding scene, and this is only a small representation of the scene.

This list of fantastic mods to reinvigorate older titles ranges from adding tons of content to overhauling the game, but they're all free to existing owners of the original game. And that's as it should be.

12 Enderal

Time for a total conversion of Skyrim with a gigantic storyline to explore

There are thousands of mods for Bethesda's RPGs, partly because the company supports a full suite of modding tools for each one. But there aren't many mods that bring the same scope as the original game, and Enderal: Forgotten Stories is one of those exceptions. It's not fair to call it a mod, because there's a feature-level game built on the Skyrim engine, with its own maps, towns, people, and a revamped skill system with new classes and special abilities. The only requirement is needing a copy of TES V: Skyrim Special Edition in your Steam account, and then you can dive into the world of Enderal with all it entails. It's well worth the journey.

11 Quake Arcane Dimensions

Blast your way through over 30 levels of new monsters in the Quake II engine

So much of the PC modding community cut its teeth on Quake in the mid-90s, including myself, so it's awesome to see that it's still going nearly 30 years later. The campaign for this venerable game is fantastic but quite short by modern standards, but that's where the modding scene comes in. Arcane Dimensions is massive, with each of the 30+ levels easily the size of a Quake episode, with new monsters, secrets, and tons of beautifully rendered environments. The level design is modern, with levels that open up as you progress, plenty of things you can see but can't quite reach, boss fights, and hidden rocket launchers.

10 Quake 2 RTX

Quake never looked this good and this glowing

Quake II continued the series and brought more mods to the world, but the 1997 classic got a ray traced version in 2019, and it's every bit what you'd expect. While it didn't really add quality of life improvements, every texture, weapon model, lighting and effect were all overhauled, and it's fantastic. The version on Steam comes with the first three levels that were in the original shareware version, so you can enjoy it without owning the original game. Or if you already have the game, the RTX version lets you play every level in glorious remastered and ray-traced splendor.

9 Portal with RTX

The cake might be a lie, but the glistening ray traced goodness is not

Nvidia created RTX Remix to remaster older games with RTX technologies, and the first game to use it was Portal with RTX. This fully ray traced redo of one of the best puzzle games ever created is worth playing through, regardless of how many times you've played the original. Enjoy fully path traced lighting, overhauled textures, and a remaster that's faithful to the original. Your portals never looked so good.

8 Minecraft RTX

Perhaps the most transformative update for the classic game yet

Minecraft has a gigantic modding scene, with shaders, new functions, maps, and more, easily accessible and able to be thrown into the base game with a few clicks. But a few years ago, ray tracing was added to the game and it's the biggest overhaul that the blocky aesthetic has ever received.

You'll need the Bedrock edition of Minecraft to use ray tracing, and possibly to download a ray tracing-enabled texture pack from the Marketplace, but then you can switch the toggle in Settings and enjoy your creations like never before. It's best with an Nvidia graphics card for RTX, but other GPU owners can use the other ray tracing slider for similar effects.

7 ENBSeries

Make a huge range of games even better with a few clicks

While many mods add things to the game world, ENBSeries is a post-processing suite that hooks into the game's shader engine, enabling effects that weren't possible on its own. Think of it as a beautification filter for Snapchat, but for your favorite games, and you're not far off. But it also enables better memory management for 32-bit games that surpass the inherent limits in 32-bit programs, and plenty of ENB presets that fix game bugs, and plenty of visual effects that make your game look amazing.

6 Skyrim Quest Mods

Even if you don't want to touch the visuals, adding more content is always a good thing

Skryim has a huge range of quest mods to add more content to the existing world, which is one of the main things modders have been doing for decades. You can easily add these to your game without running the risk of issues, and the quality of the storylines is often surprisingly good. If adding more storylines isn't enough, you can add mods to increase your immersion level while you wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 to finally become more than just a title.

5 Skyblivion

TES IV: Oblivion but remade in the Skyrim engine for peak Cyrodil adventuring

Some mods seek to recreate earlier classics in a more modern engine, and Skyblivion is one of the best. It aims to bring the world of TES IV: Oblivion into the game engine of Skyrim Special Edition, and at last check they were on track for a full release later in 2025. That does unfortunately mean you won't be able to play this mod just yet, but keep it in view because when it releases it'll be something very, very special.

4 Skywind

Morrowind never looked as good as this modding group has made it

In the same vein, Skywind is TES III: Morrowind but lovingly recreated in the Skyrim: Special Edition engine. As with Skyblivion, the mod isn't ready for release, but once the labor of love is finished, the island of Vvardenfell will be a wonder to behold. The events of this game are 200 years before those of Skyrim, and it's one of the most immersive RPG experiences of all time. Bethesda put all their chips in the basket when creating Morrowind, and it shows in the sheer quality of the quests, player agency, and the spectacular environments you explore.

3 Fallout: London

Always remember - mind the gap!

Okay, enough about mods that are in the process of being completed. Fallout: London takes Fallout 4 international, with a DLC-sized game that takes place in London, marking the first time any Fallout content has been outside the continental USA. The even cooler thing is that this mod got a full release through GOG, which means you don't have to worry about the source of your mod files.

Jump into a huge storyline with revolutionaries, aristocrats, and even the Knights of the Round Table, and see how well London fared after the day the bombs fell. The world map is nearly as big as Boston's in Fallout 4 so you'll have tons to do, and the atmosphere is both classic Fallout but with a London vibe.