I've been playing Career Mode since FIFA 20, and honestly there are very few days when I don't load it up.

Back in FIFA 21, I decided to buy a mid-range gaming laptop. Not a high-end machine or anything fancy. The reason was simple: I wanted more real faces in the game.

Every title update, I'd hope EA had added more scanned players, and every time I'd end up disappointed. Then one day I came across screenshots on Twitter showing faces I'd never seen before.

That's how I discovered mods.

Since then, I haven't really played the game in its vanilla form. In that sense, maybe I'm not even the right person to talk about the strengths of the base game anymore.

The first thing that got me hooked was face mods.

A lot of the faces EA eventually adds through official updates already exist in the modding community long before that. The main difference is usually whether the player has been properly scanned or not.

One of the biggest changes in FC 26 is how faces work.

In previous games, there was effectively a limit on the number of real faces that could exist. Modders would often have to borrow an existing face slot from another player and replace it with someone more popular.

As someone who likes playing in lower divisions, that could be frustrating. Sometimes a player who originally had a real face would end up becoming generic because their slot had been used for someone else.

Now, at least in theory, FC 26 allows real faces to be assigned to as many players as are included in the database. For someone like me who loves face mods, that's a huge deal.

That said, EA deserves some credit too. Generic faces are much better than they used to be. Youth players still need work though. I remember hearing that appearances would change as players aged, but I honestly don't know what happened to that feature.

The main mod I use is FIFER's Realism Mod.

It includes around 3,000 faces. In leagues like the Premier League, almost everyone has a real face. What I appreciate most is that a lot of high-potential young prospects have real faces as well.

For me, that's already enough to make the mod worthwhile.

FIFER's project is probably the biggest modding project in the FIFA/FC community. If someone asked me where to start, it'd probably be the first thing I'd mention.

After a few years of messing around with mods, I'd roughly put them into a few categories:

• Gameplay mods  
• Face mods  
• Visual and presentation mods (scoreboards, banners, turf, cameras, and countless other details)  
• Career Mode overhauls that change things like transfers, player growth, and progression

There's a mod for almost everything.

I've even seen mods that do nothing but replace the splash screen.

These days though, the biggest reason I mod the game isn't faces anymore.

It's gameplay.

At the end of the day, that's what we spend most of our time with.

Right now I'm running FIFER's Realism Mod together with KIARIKA's Career Mod.

I'm also using Career Craft's Create-a-Club Mod, which gives you much more freedom when creating club badges and kits. It's a really unique project.

Then there are a few standalone face mods for lesser-known players. Sorry to those players, but I mostly use those faces for youth academy prospects.

For gameplay, I use Anth James' EAFC Gameplay Overhaul.

I've jokingly started calling him the Bielsa of the modding scene.

The amount of attention he puts into details is ridiculous.

In addition to the standalone version that serves as the foundation, I use options that make goalkeepers stronger, tighten up midfield play, increase defensive blocking, and make injuries more realistic.

I've been using Anth's gameplay mods for a while now, and they're probably the biggest reason I still enjoy playing match after match.

It's difficult to explain in words.

For me, matches simply feel more dynamic and believable.

I've heard that vanilla FC has improved a lot with the right slider settings, and I believe that. But if I had to point to one thing that completely changes the experience, it'd be gameplay mods.

People upload comparison videos all the time, but honestly those never really convinced me.

I think gameplay mods are something you have to experience yourself before you understand why so many people swear by them.

There's still a lot more I could talk about, but I'll stop here for now.

I just hope this gives some Career Mode players an idea of why I've stuck with modding for so long.

If you're curious about what's out there, these are the sites I'd recommend looking at first:

• FIFA Infinity — probably the biggest FIFA/FC modding site. Most of the major projects can be found there.  
• Nexus Mods — covers PC gaming as a whole. I've found plenty of smaller and more unique mods there.

Those two sites are probably the easiest place to start.

I'd also recommend EVO-WEB.

It's mainly known as a PES community, and honestly it's where I learned both the frustrations and the rewards of modding through PES 2021. The amount of content there is incredible. It's a community with a strong DIY spirit, and there are active FIFA and FC discussions as well.

For me, modding has changed these games so much that it's hard to imagine going back.

If you enjoy Career Mode, I think it's worth considering at least once.

One thing I would recommend, though, is starting with free mods.

Unfortunately, the FIFA/FC modding scene also has a paywall side to it.

Both FIFER and Anth, whose mods I currently use, offer paid early-access versions. I wouldn't recommend jumping straight into that.

To be fair, FIFER eventually releases complete versions publicly, and Anth always provides a free Lite version.

More importantly, there are already countless free mods available.

Before spending any money, I'd suggest simply browsing the sites above and seeing what catches your interest.

And if people find this useful, maybe I'll write another post about the trial-and-error side of modding. Honestly, that's where most of the real stories are.

English isn't my first language. I originally wrote this in Japanese and used AI to help translate and polish it.

Why I've Stuck With FC Modding Since FIFA 21