While Elite Dangerous managed to capture the spirit of the series, back in the early 2000s, players did not have much choice other than Freelancer.
Combining the best features of the Wing Commander and Elite series, the game allowed players to live in a virtual galaxy that reacted dynamically to the player’s choices.
The game sadly failed to break sales records, but it managed to gather quite a dedicated following. And this has also gaven birth to a modding community that tried to improve the game to keep it relevant for us. Gotta love those guys keeping us entertained!
So if you’re looking to play through Freelancer again with some fresh material, here are the best mods that all feel like a must-try.
Freelancer is mostly about peaceful activities. So those looking for some real space dogfighting actions are out of luck.
Unless they download the Wings of the Federation mod.
This mod turns Freelancer into a whole different game, introducing 12 new missions inspired by the classic Colony Wars that involve way more space fighting, realistic planet dimensions, an amazing looking HD Textures pack and huge, huge space ships.
So, are you ready to leave trading behind for good?
Reaching new planets and discovering new civilizations is all well and good. But if you can’t conquer them and build a galactic empire, where’s the fun supposed to be?
Stargate – Infini completely overhauls the Freelancer experience by letting you embark on an epic journey where you can colonize new planets, develop new technologies, and build new weapons and ships with which to conquer even more planets.
The new additions are so well thought-out, that Infini feels more like an official expansion. Definitely give this one a try.
Addicted to space combat? You have come to the right place, my dear space freelancer.
88 Flak is among the best total conversion mods ever made for Freelancer.
This guves us a metric ton of new space combat mechanics, and balance changes that make the experience fast-paced, exciting, and incredibly involving. Forget those boring journeys of the vanilla game: we mean real business here.
If the 88 Flak mod is the gateweay to a more exciting Freelancer experience, then Shadow of Fear is its culmination.
This insane mod comes with many of the changes seen in 88 Flak, alongside a lot of new content too. Stuff like new environments, new ships, player stations, bounty hunts, and pretty much everything you can think of that the vanilla game lacks.
This mod also doesn’t touch any of the original content, so you can decide to play Freelancer like you always did and indulge into the new content only when you feel like it.
Star Trek and Star Wars are very different beasts. But in Nightstalkers Universe, they are one and the same.
Among the biggest Freelancer mods ever made, Nightstalkers Universe provides players new content inspired by the most popular sci-fi franchises ever made.
Stuff like Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, and others.
Each franchise gets a dedicated section as well, so you won’t have to deal with weird cross-overs and ridiculously non-canon fanfiction.
As much as Freelancer is about freedom, these worlds have to remain separate.
A new Freelancer has been born, with the Shattered Worlds: War-torn mod.
This is among the best gameplay overhauls ever made for the title, as it introduces a rebalanced ship system, an overhauled economy, a new mining system, and tons of graphics improvements.
I mean really, the game is pretty old. We need some nicer graphics people!
Is this a Freelancer sequel? Not quite, but definitely close to it.
A full-fledged space role-playing game? Yes, please.
Discovery Freelancer is a fantastic mod that really challenges the vanilla Freelancer experience, not only with new ship balancing and improved economic features, but also with some brand new mechanics lifted straight from role-playing games.
These new mechanics let you be whoever you want, build your own space bases, and interact with other players in different ways.
Discovery Freelancer is also getting supported to this day (as of this writing). So you’d better get ready because your space adventure is only going to get bigger and better from here!
Another Freelancer Rebalance mod? Yup, but this one is just straight-up good.
Freelancer Rebalance does pretty much what you’d expect. You’ll get tons of different balance-focused changes for both the single player and multiplayer mode, fixing issues found in the original game that did not receive much attention from the developer.
The changes are so many that you really have to experience it, but check the mod’s detail page for more info. Or just download it and give it a try: what’s there to lose?
There is no other way to describe the Crossfire mod, arguably the best modification ever released for Freelancer.
Crossfire expands the vanilla game experience so much that it will feel like you’re playing the game’s official sequel. The mod improves upon pretty much every feature found in the game, from graphics and special effects to AI, space exploration, economy, and ship systems.
But that’s not all!
You also get a new quest-based storyline that makes the single player experience way more focused, and way more engaging than in the vanilla game. Freelancer 2.0 Crossfire, here we come!
