Mod Spotlight: Knights and Merchants

When a mod becomes a remake.

There are games that never get hyped much in the media and aren't considered milestones of their genre, but still success in accumulating a modding community so large and dedicated, that you could say the development of such title never really stopped. Such is the case of Knights & Merchants, a medieval real-time strategy with in-depth society simulation and epic-scaled armies. Even though the game came out in 2001, a community of talented fans doesn't stop in their effort to, fix and tweak it, make it enjoyable for the modern gamer, and support it with all the features the fanbase demands. All this goes towards a impressive mod, appropriately named KaM Remake.

Even though the GOG.com version of Knights & Merchants has been prepared to run on modern Windows systems "out of the box", the mod greatly improves many technical aspects of the game, as well as it introduces many improvements to its mechanics. The extensive support of online play itself, allowing hundreds of gamers daily to carry their epic campaigns against each other, makes the mod essential to getting the most out of your Knights & Merchants. The creators, however, don't stop at that. The original game engine has been completely rewritten from scratch, to make sure the remake's superiority in gameplay. This didn't happen in an instant, of course. The mod is in development since 2008, and all of the changes it makes to the game are the effect of ongoing debate within the community of its creators. Even now, the modders are looking for people to beta-test the newest version, expected to arrive first quarter 2014.

Navigate to the KaM Remake official website for some further details, download, and installation instructions. The Knights & Merchants game itself, complete with its Peasants Rebellion expansion, is currently available 50% off on GOG.com. That's only $2.99 until Sunday, December 29, at 1:59PM. Every copy bought through the links provided in this editorial sends a little money towards the remake developers and supports their further work on the project (or you can support them directly via PayPal donation widget on their page, if you already own the game and bought copies for everyone including your cat).

 Source: GOG.com