Mod of the Year is the largest celebration of hobbyist, amateur and professional modification developers. With record attendance and a massive number of updates, releases and new projects 2010 was a year like no other, packed to bursting with goodies to make any tired relic PC game seem new and exciting again. The Modding Hall of Fame has rolled out the red carpet welcoming one and all to see the best mods ever released all in one place.

Up until Jan 1st 2011 join us and help celebrate your community, culture and give thanks to the developers by voting for your favorite projects. For the first time in ModDB history we have a press panel which sees personalities from other websites like Joystiq and Rock Paper Shotgun have their say where it counts. Welcome to the 9th Annual Mod of the Year Awards.

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Mod of the Year 2010 Editors Choice - Best Upcoming Mod

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2010 was the year that has had the most new profiles created to date, and many mods updating with new media and news! To be nominated for an award in Best Upcoming mod projects need to have been updated significantly during 2010 and have not released (obviously) anything more then a demo. We have made special cases for both Dear Esther and Earth's Special Forces due to the length between the last release, the nature of the new update and the quality + quantity of media released throughout 2010. Here are the Editors of ModDB's and our judges top selection of 2010.



Dear EstherDear Esther
is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, experimental first-person game. Built in the Source engine, it abandons traditional gameplay, leaving only a rich world soaked in atmosphere, and an abstract, poetic story to explore. Dear Esther was originally launched in 2008 and is currently being rebuilt by Robert Briscoe


Cry of FearCry of Fear
is a singleplayer modification of total conversion Half-Life which brings you the horror you've always been afraid of. It's all made exclusively by the developers. It also uses new gaming styles that you will rarely find in Half-Life mods, such as advanced cutscenes and other stuff that will be revealed at a later date.

Hexen: Edge of ChaosHexen: Edge of Chaos
is based on the original Hexen game that was developed by id Software and Raven Software. The story ties into the expansion packs and also touches upon the Heretic narrative; especially the incredible atmosphere painted into these rich worlds and their darkling journeys.

Earths Special ForcesEarth's Special Forces
is a fast paced, 3rd person fighter based on the hit anime, Dragonball Z. Select your favorite character and fly, power up, transform, melee, and beam your enemies into pulp. Each character is given signature moves and abilities to compliment different style of play. Some are stronger in hand to hand combat, others are better with energy attacks.

Blade SymphonyBlade Symphony
is a game built on the Source Engine featuring fierce duels in an alternate universe. Play as the cyber-ninja Hokuten Assassins, the fabled Black Rose knights, or as the shinobi and ronin Vagrants.

Post comment Comments  (0 - 50 of 90)
D3ads
D3ads

GO CRY OF FEAR!!!!

Good luck to all nominees :)

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ImADragon
ImADragon

im right with ya

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branpurn
branpurn

Dear Esther deserved it, but Cry of Fear is amazing too.

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Slevo
Slevo

i love how the second they play ESF it instantly makes all the other games look like crap ;) i think esf doesent win these years is because they already won so many times before esf would just win all of the mod awards seriously so true.

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radutanasie
radutanasie

My prediction will fulfill!

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Splinesplitter
Splinesplitter

Dear Esther, I wish you luck.

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Highmist
Highmist

Aww, im stuck. Blade or CoF. Ah well, best wishes to both!

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Pablo79
Pablo79

ESF! Win!

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JohnnyMaverik
JohnnyMaverik

Dear Esther FTW

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TSP-FriendlyFire
TSP-FriendlyFire

I'm let down by the choices. Looking at this it seems HL1/2 are the only viable modding platforms and everything else is "well too bad".

Guess I should've expected it, though.

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dsi1
dsi1

Large amount of mods on the engine means it is statistically more likely to have a large amount of winning mods on that engine ;p

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TSP-FriendlyFire
TSP-FriendlyFire

I only see Half-Life 1+2 having 20-30% of total mod count. In order for them to garner 80% of the top spots, that means 60% of mods aren't even worth thinking about?

Even going off the Top 100 list, which should account for the dead mods being filtered out, HL2 has 30% and HL1 has 4%. Does that sound proportional?..

I'm not denying that there's a lot of quality releases, but share the love, guys!

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Vcc2cc
Vcc2cc

HL1 is what? 13 years old? It's sorta surprising that people are still modding for it. So, considering its age, I think having mods like sven coop, cry of fear, paranoia, and natural selection still popular today is a good sign, despite the games age.

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branpurn
branpurn

According to the list of all mods, Source mods make up ~40% of ModDB's mods.

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BunnyJen
BunnyJen

Does it matter what engine it's on? Isn't it about the game not the engine? Or am I wrong here. :/

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Tatsur0
Tatsur0

I'm looking forward to the results on this one and can't predict which will win but I'm quite a fan of Dear Esther and wish em luck.

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alienzkiller
alienzkiller

ESF FTW

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cW#Ravenblood

Nice mods, lets see who gets it :)

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auroraparadox
auroraparadox

Best of luck to Blade Symphony.

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Rny
Rny

Cry of Fear and Dear Esther are truly sweet mod's. BUT I CAN VOTE ONLY FOR ONE D:

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Lord_of_Sausage
Lord_of_Sausage

Blade symphony all the way! (across the sky!)

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Catalyst440
Catalyst440

To me, the only innovative one is blade symphony, So personally I would love to see that win, But the others are very impressive none the less.

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dsi1
dsi1

Blade Symphony looks innovative on the gameplay front, but Dear Esther is well... look at it, and that's on Source Engine!

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LORDDEREX
LORDDEREX

Dear Esther
or
Cry of fear
One of those i must be, even if i must say: i think they have made it very good the Cry of fear, since it is for hl1!

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majorD2
majorD2

GOOD LUCK ESF AND BLADE SYMPHONY

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PytoX
PytoX

Cmon Hexen EOC :D

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Ori`verda
Ori`verda

darn! everytime same thing, half-live, counterstrike and stuff like that but what about other games like Halo and CNC?

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feillyne Staff
feillyne

It's still Editors Choice, not Members Choice. So you know, it's their right to nominate whoever they like. :-)

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alienzkiller
alienzkiller

you know we should vote now like in music idol

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ImADragon
ImADragon

Cmon cry of fear!!!!!! woooooooooo
you re great!!!!!

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phipe
phipe

I root for Cry of Fear.

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Zorrentos
Zorrentos

Cry of Fear! Cry of Fear! Cry of Fear! Cry of Fear! etc ....

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MrCowThing
MrCowThing

I'm rooting for Blade Symphony, those guys have been working hard!

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Heaney
Heaney

(buried)

WTF... I don't know a SINGLE mod on this list...

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LORDDEREX
LORDDEREX

well then u have missed a big deal, time to start looking on some great mods: start with Sven coop.

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Heaney
Heaney

I have downloaded more than 25 mods from here...

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Lazy6pyro
Lazy6pyro

There's a ton more than 25 mods on here....

The whole point of the MoTY is for people to not only give back to the mods they love but for people to get exposed to new, quality mods that they track and subsequently enjoy. I don't understand why you are sort of angry that mods you knew didn't make the list; I would be joyous that I have found 5 new mods to track.

I guess people don't think like me... :/

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Henford
Henford

Amen to that.

I don't understand people getting all bitchy about their mod not winning an award. If you are not modding for the joy of it, you shouldn't be modding in the first place.

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Vcc2cc
Vcc2cc

DEAR ESTHER FTW

Cry of Fear in second FTSP (for the second place)

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TensaZangetsu
TensaZangetsu

GOOO ESF!

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Splinesplitter
Splinesplitter

It just had to happen! Big congrats to Robert, Dan and everybody else who works on this marvelous mod!

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radutanasie
radutanasie

Dear Esther won!

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Mr.Walrus
Mr.Walrus

A well deserved victory!

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ImADragon
ImADragon

awwww man cry of fear doest win...
at least is 2nd place :)

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urinal-cake
urinal-cake

personally speaking, not for the rest of puny human and the blade symphony team -- everyone nominated were great, but hot damn i'm glad we lost to dear esther. that **** is soo ccassshh.

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ansob
ansob

I am pretty sure the rest of the team is going to agree with you, u-c. I certainly do.

Congrats to Robert & co. for a well-deserved win, and hurry up and get Dear Esther out already. :P

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TALON_UK
TALON_UK

Never heard of it before, but looking at that video Dear Esther is a beautiful looking mod. Congrats guys, well deserved.

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KarrdeKNR
KarrdeKNR

Well, we over at ESF didn't win, but I'm glad we got the nomination nonetheless. That being said, you have no idea how bad I want to play Dear Esther :P Congrats.

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KindredPhantom
KindredPhantom

They are all winners in their own way.

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KEEP_IT_UP!
KEEP_IT_UP!

true true.

but "dear esther" just a weeeeee bit more then the others ;D
(dude seriously, look at these shots...)

congrats for all the nominations and the winner ofc. :)

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