Fallout 4 mod gives Nick Valentine an HD facelift

This week on the Mod Roundup, Nick Valentine—the synthetic detective from Fallout 4—gets some HD upgrades to his looks. We've also got a mod that removes those weird, irritating pauses from XCOM 2, and you now have the opportunity to play Crusader Kings 2 as an undead Viking warrior, which I'm sure you've always dreamed of.

Stop Wasting My Time, for XCOM 2

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I've barely played any of XCOM 2 yet, but even my brief time with the game left me feeling that it was a bit clunky in some respects. There just seemed to be these long pauses at unusual times. By long, I mean maybe a couple seconds, but it's enough to feel weird and intrusive, to make me wonder: "Is the game waiting for me to do something?" This mod removes the pauses that occur after shooting, getting a kill, and going into cover, making the game feel quite a bit smoother.

Valentine Reborn, for Fallout 4

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I don't typically install face-makeover mods. I guess I'm just not that superficial. (Actually, it's because I'm extremely lazy.) This one's got my attention, though, an HD makeover for everyone's favorite android detective, Nick Valentine. It upgrades his eyes, teeth, and face textures, and comes with an optional upgrade for his exposed synth hand as well. Frankly, he deserves it.

Undead Vikings, for Crusader Kings 2

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How does being n zombie Viking sound? In reality it probably wouldn't be much fun, what with the decomposing and those heavy horned helmets, but it sounds hard to resist in a game like Crusdader Kings 2. Become an undead Viking warrior, raise an army of loyal draugr, and enjoy new perks like eating your prisoners alive. Hey, whatever it takes to stay in power. I've certainly done worse things in the game as a human.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.