If you're having a difficult time choosing between Far Cry 4 and Civilization V, I have some very good news; a newly minted mod is fusing the two titles into a single megagame.
The mod adds Farcry 4's small, Himalayan nation into Civilization V's massive universe, but that's only the beginning. The modder, who goes by "AquaticSasquatch" on Reddit, spent a good deal of time getting the details just right. Gamers will finally know what it feels like to smite The Kingdom of Kyrat and its nutty king, Pagan Min.
For all of you Civ 5 nerds, here's how AquaticSasquatch has adjusted the Civ 5 forumla:
Shangri-La: Receive a small boost of Gold for exploring Ancient Ruins. +1 Gold in the Capital City for each Artifact in the empire, and +4 Gold from Antiquity Sites worked by a city.Hunter: Replaces the Crossbowman. Slightly weaker than the unit it replaces, but moves through rough terrain as if it were flat, and is Invisible while in Forest or Jungle.Royal Guard: Replaces Infantry. +1 Movement when it starts its turn in Friendly territory, and can excavate Antiquity Sites like an Archaeologist.
For a game that was released six years ago, Civilization V has an extremely strong following and that's at least partially due to the mods and expansion packs. A lot of developers try to restrict the kinds of modding that can happen within the community, but Civilization is different. Oddly enough, these kinds of tweaks feel like part of the developer's master plan.
Back in 2013, Civilization mastermind Sid Meier sat down with Kotaku. The conversation meandered across topics, but one quote in particular stood out. Here it is:
I prefer games where the player can lead the game in the direction that they want, and then they kind of end up with that unique story that only they can know.
Obviously Meier isn't specifically talking about the modding community, but he definitely sees the value in letting gamers control their own experiences. And mods are the ultimate expression of this.
The Civilization franchise is approaching its 25th anniversary, and it's still going strong. Hopefully, Meier's crew will continue to find new ways to tweak the Civ formula over the next 25 years.
And if they can't, we've got mods.
If you'd like to download AquaticSasquatch's Far Cry 4 mod, check it out on Steam Workshop or CivFanatics. Just a warning, though, you'll need Civilization V's "Brave New World" DLC to get things rolling.
