u/Capn_C

Genuine question because I'm trying to understand what the change to Creation Engine 3 likely means for graphics. Or it could just be an art direction thing for character models and it might not matter, idk

Photo credit goes to Lynxgal on nexusmods

Notice: The post is tagged with the Paid Mod flair because it's required for any post that mentions a single paid mod, and the last mod in the list is confirmed paid. I don't know which of the other mods named here will be paid or free because they're not released yet. Although I believe Crimson Escalation will be free.

Bethesda may have already released their big update/DLC for 2026 but that does not mean it's the end of new content coming to SF this year. On the contrary, SF's modding community is still active and busy developing fresh new experiences for players to enjoy. These are a few unreleased WIP projects from SF modders that I'm excited for.

Crimson Escalation: Cyberpsyche is working on a mission expansion for characters who betrayed the United Colonies at the end of the Crimson Fleet questline. The new repeatable radiant missions and POIs focus on raiding/pillaging UC targets both military and civilian. Variety of objectives like assassinations, raids, kidnapping VIPs, perfect for characters who don't like the UC.

Prolific quest mod authors AlmightySE and TheMilkArtist are working on their next mods. Not much is known about the 2 mods yet, but judging by their past creations (Everbright, Redgrave) they'll likely have interesting stories and characters to meet.

Dark Universe: Outlaws 02: Kaos_nyrb's sequel to his first outlaws mod. Outlaws 02 will add tons of new bounty hunting quest chains that take you across various settlements, POIs, and space station dungeons to track wanted criminals, interrogating npcs and hunting for clues. Each bounty has their own lore and unique loot rewards, with voice-acted audio logs and npcs.

Modular Outposts: Neon: Miss_o's outpost mod will let you build your own Blade Runner cyberpunk mini-city, and you don't have to be an expert outpost builder. You can put together the modular pieces and in less than a couple hours end up with a miniature city that feels as atmospheric as any vanilla location, except you customized it. The mod is themed around drug kingpin activities and has labs for Aurora manufacturing.

Child Adoption: KATheHuman is bringing the Hearthfire life sim gameplay from Skyrim over to SF with adoptable children, all fully voiced with unique dialogue and perks. Good for characters who want to have families with their marriage partners, or players like myself who want to add more life to outposts and ships.

Reavers Cannibal Faction: Red_Dog is working on a new enemy faction to encounter in your space journeys, the horrifying Reavers from the Firefly tv series. Or at least a space cannibal group heavily inspired by the Reavers. I don't know much about the mod other than the new enemies love using melee and eating people.

Defying Fire: Perhaps the largest and most ambitious mod on the list, Team Firestarter is developing a paid DLC-sized city creation with its own main quest, numerous side quests, and new companions. It introduces a corporate dystopian city with a story that has you decide whether to free the citizens from their brutal corporate overlords or join the corporation. The team wants to release it before the end of 2026. However it is an ambitious project and we'll see what happens. They have released a free preview, Welcome to Arinya.

Are there any other interesting upcoming mods for SF that people are excited for?