Starfield is, at this time, basically only in the earliest period of its post-release ARPG genre romp. Whether you like it or not, it's a simple statement of fact that the game will - like any other Bethesda flagship RPG - only truly come alive after its modding scene comes into its own. This, in turn, won't happen until Bethesda officially releases the Starfield Creation Kit: an awesomely comprehensive set of modding tools that will allow developers to go mad.

To get a sense of why Creation Kit is important, check out these articles from 2Game's archives:

• The Best Mods for Skyrim Special Edition
• The Awesome History of Bethesda Game Modding

Keeping that in mind, you might imagine that Starfield's modding scene is currently quite dire. Modding tools are, after all, the be-all-end-all of a good modding community, no? Thing is, though, that modders are intimately familiar with Bethesda's game structure and development from Elder Scrolls and Fallout offerings, allowing them to get an early start with some relatively simple offerings in Starfield, too.

That's what today's article is all about: showing you the very best mods you could set up and install into Starfield right this instant!

READ MORE: 5 Awesome Starfield Quests and How to Trigger Them

The Best Pre-Creation Kit Starfield Mods

Starvival - Immersive Survival Addon

This wonderful mod injects some much-needed survival features into Starfield proper. If you find yourself wondering why on earth are all of the game's foodstuffs unnecessary, and why its status effects are practically neutered, Starvival does away with these problems, turning the game into a bit of a survival exploration experience. We consider it a must-have, but not everyone will enjoy balancing the mod's NEEDS options. So, your mileage may vary with this one!

StarUI: Inventory and HUD combo

Inventory and heads-up-display mods are a common target for early modders in Bethesda games, and that's not without reason. StarUI's Inventory revamp offers a phenomenally usable, customizable, and user-friendly alternative to Starfield's baseline Inventory screens, but we also highly recommend the StarUI HUD, which adds bonus features to your moment-to-moment gameplay. With the sheer number of items in Starfield, you'll need this one for sure.

EXE - Effect Textures Enhanced

The wonderful EXE mods were a must-have and a mainstay for every serious Fallout 3 and New Vegas player, and they've now made their way into Starfield as well! Indeed, the author has already provided hand-made upscales and improvements for all the explosion effects, weapon muzzle flashes, gore, flames and fires, ambient FX, and oodles of other stuff. And the mod is currently still incomplete, with loads more to come! We cannot recommend this eye-candy enough, really. Especially when combined with some of the other mods on this list.

Immersive Shell Casings

It might sound odd, we appreciate that, but seeing immersive, physics-affected shell casings is a thrill in and of itself in Starfield. Basically, it does precisely what it says on the tin: keeps your spent shell casings on the ground for a long period of time with, surprisingly, no discernible performance impact. Combined with enhanced gunfighting effects shown in EXE, this turns the game into a visual treat when the combat gets going.

Plague's Optics Reimagined

We're not going to say Starfield's weapon sights are egregiously bad, like some might, but we will agree that the game's holographic and reflex sights offer surprisingly little visibility and usability. Revamping them is, thankfully, something that Plague's Optics Reimagined tackles phenomenally well. The end result is a delightful retrofit of all of the game's CQB combat sights into something that's visually and functionally pleasing. Nice!

High-Vis Crosshair and Scope Replacement

If we're replacing CQB sights, though, why not go the whole distance and do the same with scopes, too? By default, Starfield's magnified optics do not have a high-contrast component to them, making aiming in dark environments a fool's errand. This delightful mod not only resolves that problem, but it also gives you options to customize your scopes, to boot!

Longer (First-Person) Slide Distance

Starfield's combat slide is quite a neat addition to the game, and it works great... as long as you stick to using it in third-person, that is. For some wacky reason, Bethesda's rendition of the combat slide covers an exceedingly short amount of distance if you're using it in first-person. This mod resolves that problem, adding as much extra distance to it as you want!

Ship Builder Tolerance Tweaks

Another simple, yet totally game-changing mod, Ship Builder Tolerance Tweaks makes it so that the craftbuilding UI is ever-so-slightly more tolerant of module overlaps. That's literally all this mod does, but it's absolutely transformative in regard to what ships you could or could not build using it. If you're particularly keen on setting up sweet custom ships, this is the mod to set up.

Neutral LUTs - No Color Filters

Though the 2Game editorial team is, in truth, quite fond of what Bethesda's done with customized lighting and filtering solutions in Starfield, we fully understand that some people might just want to get rid of them all in lieu of a crisp, clear image that best shows off the game's hi-rez assets. That's what the Neutral LUTs mod does: replaces all the custom color look-up tables with a neutral LUT that unifies the image. For some, a must-have!

Functional Ship Infirmaries

Isn't it strange how underused certain ship habitat modules are in Starfield? The medical hab, for one, you'd expect to be able to use to heal-up, though the base game offers no such functionality at all. Enter Functional Ship Infirmaries, which is a huge game-changer when combined with the Starvival mod we featured prior. What you'll need is to assign a crew member with the 'Medical' perk to board your vessel, attach the infirmary of your choice to it, and voila - you've got a free medical facility wherever you go!

Leveled Mission Board Rewards

Another weird omission for Bethesda to make is that the studio failed to level XP and credit rewards on any of the game's many proc-gen mission boards. These are infinitely replayable and, often, extremely amusing, but the fact that you'll always keep getting minuscule rewards may put you off completing them. Not so with the Leveled Mission Board Rewards mod, which does exactly what it says and virtually nothing else. Another must-have, in our book.

Creation Kit Mods Incoming!

And there you have it - these are some of the finest Starfield mods you could download, set up, and enjoy in a matter of minutes! And all of that without the modders even touching the Starfield Creation Kit. Once that comes out, expect new weapons, ship parts, armor, customizations, functionality, and - heck - whole new planets, even.

In the interim, we do feel the mods featured on this list are transformative enough to matter, and we vouch for each and every one of them! So, don't dawdle: a whole galaxy's worth of awesome content awaits - only in modded Starfield.

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