Garry's Mod – Half-Life 2 mod. 10 mods that became standalone video games

After the golden era of Half-Life, it was time for the grand sequel, Half-Life 2. Along with it, a new graphics engine – Source – emerged, becoming the driving force for subsequent pro, and semi-amateur games. This time, however, there was a major breakthrough in the field of creating mods. Thus far, we’ve been talking about games created in map editors; here, it was more of a big, sandbox platform, with a multitude of creators preparing their own variants of multiplayer gameplay, using objects from Half-Life 2, until this very day.

Garry's Mod was originally the idea of a mere rookie, Garry Newman, but like all games on this list it, very quickly went from a charming novelty to a profitable game with a large audience. Years before the release of Minecraft, it managed to prove the power and unprecedented versatility of grand sandbox titles.

On the one hand, players could enjoy the single-player mode, where they prepared their own designs and experiment with available assets. On the other hand, they could participate in multiplayer games in modes developed by other modders. We had modes like hide-and-seek, mafia, or even roleplaying – certainly everyone will find something for themselves.

DayZ – Arma 2 mod

The ArmA games have gathered a really loyal and creative modding community around them. The modders have been able to make most interesting use of the games' key elements, namely huge, open locations and a high degree of realism. One of such unconventional and appealing ideas seemed to be the mod of Arma 2 into a difficult survival game set in the world full of zombies. That's how DayZ was born.

It was an ingenious concept in that it didn't actually require much initial input to instantly engage players. It all revolved around the rules that already governed this fictional world, as everyone started with nothing and tried to survive. Along the way, one could meet other people, who could be very hostile. This is how the circle of false alliances and backstabbing tightened, while dumb zombies receded into the background in the face intrigue.

However, if you think DayZ was forgotten by the developers, you're sorely mistaken. It was first released in 2013 as an expansion to Arma 2, and then, the laborious development of a separate version of the game began. It would become one of the pioneers of "perpetual early access,” which only managed to launch after 5 years, in 2018. Paradoxically, however, DayZ 's glory days are long gone, as the game has been devoured by a number of more intricate online survivals it had inspired itself.

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds – Arma 3 mod

The Arma 2 and Arma 3 systems also became the nucleus of one of the leading genres involving online multiplayer competition. This is all thanks to the work of a modder Brendan Greene, known by the nickname PlayerUnknown, and his team. He presented the idea of battle royale to the entire world, showcasing this very unusual multiplayer mode consisting in fights of a certain number of players without respawns, in an open location, using the weapons found there.

To say that Green has created a gaming version of battle royale is like saying nothing at all. This man is not only responsible for such mods for the aforementioned installments of the Arma series, but also helped Daybreak Game Company to include this gameplay mode in H1Z1. After some time, however, he decided to create something made entirely by himself, and so Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, or simply PUBG, was born.

Despite a few technical shortcomings, this game quickly reached the top of the popularity charts – the world went almost crazy about it. By the time of Fortnite, its position on the market was unwavering, however – there's no denying it – the Epic Games' gem turned out to be a serious competitor in the rather hermetic battle royale segment. However, even though PUBG has had a few crises along the way, it has come out of each one unscathed and is still standing strong today.