Insurgency Sandstorm is one of the most unique shooters of the century, combining mechanics from many of the most beloved franchises across gaming history: hyper-realistic leaning and aiming from Arma and Rainbow Six, the largescale objective based game-modes playing like Battlefield or Call of Duty, and the team-based coordination of many modern first-person games such as Overwatch and Paladins. This unique gem on almost every console features a rich and competitive atmosphere for any kind of FPS-loving gamer.
One of the biggest gripes for this incredible staple of modern gaming is it's lack of true crossplay. Insurgency: Sandstorm does not feature traditional crossplay or crossplatform multiplayer across consoles, only allowing players between the different generations of the same console to play with one another over online capabilities. While this is a major bummer, the absolutely incredible modding community for this game adds some of the best maps, game modes, and alternate experiences gamers could possibly imagine, providing near infinite replayability.
Here are the best Insurgency Sandstorm Mods:
Star Wars: Sagas | ISMC Mod | Noshahr Canals | Mountain Pass
Improved AI | Zombies | Dust 2 | Fire Support | Ammo Mutator
Star Wars: Sagas
What kind of first person shooter would this game be without a true Star Wars mod to fully envelope the Star Wars universe and all of it's greatness into the game? Reenact the absolute best movies in the franchise (hot take alert) by participating in the clone wars with some of the most iconic items, weapons, and equipment this brilliant mod has to offer. With a team still fully dedicated to continual updates, players can look forward to regular changes and additions!
Players are able to choose between the separatists and the clones, with a wide variety of weapons and classes to further select from. Call in support from your overhead, planet-hovering, space fleets and demolish the opposition with everything from thermal detonators to handheld mini-sabers! Save the universe one iconic Star Wars planet at a time and enjoy Insurgency Sandstorm completely reimagined in Star Wars: Sagas!
ISMC Insurgency Sandstorm Mod
If you're a longtime fan of Insurgency Sandstorm or simply like the vanilla game's atmosphere a lot, this mod is a heavily dedicated mod to that exact same iconic look, adding an absolute truck load of new similarly styled content to the OG game. Players of this mod can look forward to a mind-boggling amount of new weapons, factions, cosmetics, attachments, and so much more. Once you're played with this mod long enough, you'll quickly forget it's not part of the vanilla game due to it's masterful inclusion into the landscape of the game.
On top of all the brilliant new gameplay additions, this mod doesn't even stop there. Server owners are also able to further customize their gameplay with entirely unique setups and mod-based game modes, toggling custom-made running animations, hardcore gameplay settings, and choosing whether or not to limit class slots for each team. More realism-focused servers may even choose to disable the ability for players to jump-shoot, which is only one more of the hundreds of additions this mod adds for it's users.
Noshahr Canals
One of the best shooter games of all time is Battlefield 3, which benefitted heavily from the success of the Battlefield: Bad Company series, and many other entries in the Battlefield franchise. For veterans of that series, this mod alone may be enough to make you purchase Insurgency Sandstorm, as the nostalgia felt by seeing this map completely reimagined, is utterly breathtaking.
The same team bringing you this faithful recreation also has recreated the iconic "Operation Metro" map as well, giving you even further a reason to boot up these iconic maps with a team of bots or a server of multiplayer opponents!
Mountain Pass
After many updates, this incredible Insurgency Sandstorm map mod fits absolutely perfect into any server's map rotation, whether for PVP or for Co-op play. Many of the checkpoint scenarios are challenging, even for veteran players, making them extremely fun to tackle in new ways even after having experienced them a few times over. With lots of cover and a mountain-interior to explore, this map adds a fresh breath into Insurgency Sandstorm without doing anything revolutionary.
Improved AI Insurgency Mod
The Improved AI mod is an absolute staple on almost any multiplayer server, whether the server is intended especially for PVP or not as player slots that aren't filled are generally filled by a bot to even out the teams as closely as possible. These bot slots are widely regarded as significantly less than a real player, but with the improved AI mod, they will act much more accordingly!
This mod also massively improves all co-op experiences by upgrading the bot's detection of when to lean, when to throw grenades, and when to change positions. The vanilla game's bot decision making is lackluster at best, making this mod absolutely pivotal for any co-op versus AI servers!
Zombies Insurgency Mod
Everyone loves Zombies game modes, whether you're a fan of Call of Duty zombies or even Halo, Zombies are fan favorites throughout gaming. This also extends to Insurgency Sandstorm mods, adding massive amount of replayability for roleplay servers and cooperative zombie survival gameplay of any multiplayer session. While these zombies aren't as perfectly created as your regular AAA zombie title, they still provide that same dopamine rush you get by living in the apocalypse.
Dust 2
Dust 2? But, isn't that a CS:GO map? Yes, and now it's also an Insurgency Sandstorm map! One of, of not the most iconic CS:GO map of all time, has been faithfully recreated alongside the other classics listed above from Battlefield and Star Wars, further exemplifying the sheer awesomeness of the Insurgency Sandstorm modding community. This map features many new sightlines and angles only taking heavy inspiration from it's Counter-Strike origins.
Requiring only 10 players to faithfully replay a multiplayer CS:GO session, boot up a server full of friends and recreate some of the most nostalgic moments in gaming by playing CS:GO INSIDE of Insurgency Sandstorm! This is the future of gaming.
Fire Support: Thermobarics
If you'd like to spice up your co-op experience by adding a little more genuine BANG for your buck, Fire Support: Thermobarics & Co will allow players to call in fire support that can absolutely demolish hundreds of enemies in a single blast, lighting up your entire screen with a satisfying mushroom cloud. This mod is balanced around co-op versus AI servers where the AI count heavily outnumbers the players, allowing fire-support to be extremely destructive when it otherwise would be unfair in any PVP circumstance.
Call in everything from a simple bombing run to a "Rocket Onslaught." That just sounds fun to use under almost any circumstance. Once you've had your fix of this mod as well, you can finish your high intensity coop run with a bang and the nuclear option properly entitled: "Salvation".
Ammo Mutator Mod
One of the biggest issues with Insurgency Sandstorm that veterans can agree with is ammo issues. Whether that be it's realistic take on checking the current ammo in a clip or how quickly the regular player is able to run through their entire ammo reserves before dying; they both lead to frustration on the end of the player.
Neither issue aligns well with regular gameplay of modern shooters and regularly leads players to desperate close quarters struggles late into a match without ammo in their primary weapons. Instead of dealing with this, server owners would benefit greatly from using the Ammo Mutator mod to further rectify everyone's ammo issues! Fire at will!
Willamette Parkview Mall
Last, but definitely not least, is the absolutely incredible port of the Willamette Parkview Mall from Deadrising. Despite this faithful recreation of the map from such a beloved franchise game, it still features almost every game mode in Insurgency Sandstorm, from Checkpoint, to Team Deathmatch, and even Firefight.
The map itself uses even the original textures from the beloved 2006 title making it as close as possible to playing on the OG Deadrising map in the modern era, while still playing Insurgency Sandstorm. Even if your server hasn't played Deadrising, you have got to try this relic of gaming history.
Looking for more multiplayer gaming info?
- Insurgency: Sandstorm Crossplay - Here’s What You Need to Know
- How to Become a Gaming Entrepreneur with Game Server Hosting
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