The Vintage Story modding community is a continuously evolving landscape. Modders offer new ways to reshape the game’s survival experience in more ways than one. But with so many options, which mods are worth trying? To help you decide, we’ve put together a tier list of the best Vintage Story mods for 2025 and beyond.

Best Vintage Story Mods in 2025 Ranked Tier List

Before proceeding, it’s important to note that this curated list of the best mods for Vintage Story should help enhance many players’ gaming experiences. Each entry to this tier list offers a unique blend of utility and benefits, providing valuable resources for players seeking guidance. May this compilation serve as a helpful starting point for a personalized modded Vintage Story journey.

10. Firearms

Temporal stability wanes and drifters prowl in Vintage Story, requiring players to use every thought imaginable for survival. The Firearms mod aims to increase player endurance through powerful black powder weaponry. This mod adds technological marvels balanced by high cost and deliberate pacing. Wield the potent weaponry like the powerful yet slow Pistol for midrange combat or the Flintlock Musket for those long-range encounters. However, crafting each firearm requires either the Tinkerer trait from the Clockmaker class or a rare schematic. Also, maintenance for these weapons demands valuable gunpowder and linen. Despite its challenging care requirements, wielding these firearms from this mod strikes a great balance between challenge and power.

9. Player Corpse

Normally, a player’s demise in Vintage Story means items spill out from their corpse. Then, it becomes a frantic scramble to return to the place of death, hoping to recover those lost items. However, the Player Corpse mod redefines this mechanic to make it easier to recollect items after dying in Vintage Story. In particular, your skeleton that holds all your lost items appears on the spot where you died. Doing so makes it easier to collect the items instead of desperately pressing the gather button. Additionally, the mod lets you claim your items if it becomes seemingly impossible to collect them because of certain issues, such as glitches. If so, use the administrative command, “/returnthings,” (without the quotes) to restore items from your last ten deaths.

8. Combat Overhaul

The Combat Overhaul mod is a fundamental evolution of the game’s combat mechanics. Touted as one of the best mods in Vintage Story, this mod redefines various combat-related features and improves them to their next level (no pun intended). For starters, this mod brings accurate hit detection, where the effectiveness of each strike is determined by its point of impact. Additionally, it implements a Bullseye aiming system, wherein greater accuracy yields better rewards, such as a higher damage output. Vintage Story players who are also looking into enhanced combat mechanics should enjoy this mod’s specialized character progressions. For instance, individual weapon proficiencies define your character’s combat role. Note that these aren’t mere stat adjustments, as these improvements add new layers of tactical depth to the game.

7. A Culinary Artillery 2.0.0-dev

Participate in a kitchen revolution in Vintage Story with the Culinary Artillery mod. Install it to add the tools needed to become a master chef, such as simmering saucepans and a massive cauldron. Use these pieces of equipment to extend food shelf life and expand your culinary capabilities. Aside from the culinary tools included in the mod, it also allows you to transform food preparation in Vintage Story through additional features and systems. For instance, the Culinary Artillery mod lets you extract sap from trees with the spile. Alternatively, it also lets you dry meats on the new drying rack.

6. QP's Chisel Tools

QP’s Chisel Tools is a mod that can become the next evolution of sculpting in Vintage Story. Install it to enjoy various specialized instruments, such as the Pantograph and Portfolio. Do so to take advantage of new features, allowing you to copy, paste, and even save the blueprints of your architectural marvels across servers. With this mod, it lets you elevate your craft using precision tools like the hand planer for fast removal. Alternatively, use the paint scraper for cleaning up multi-material blocks. Also, QP’s Chisel Tools come with additional features to help ensure your dream base turns into reality. Use commands like rotate shapes and create custom ladders to refine and perfect your ideal headquarters.

5. Expanded Foods

If you want to further expand your culinary expertise in Vintage Story, then consider installing the Expanded Foods mod. Use its included features to comprehensively modify the game’s kitchen metagame with its massive library of new items and recipes. Make no mistake, as this Vintage Story mod doesn’t only add new ingredients to the mix. Instead, it seamlessly integrates itself into the game, creating an interconnected pantry for the battle- and kitchen-hardened player. From rendering lard and producing salt, use the Expanded Foods mod to transform Vintage Story’s Vanilla cooking mechanic into a deep, rewarding process. Discover new meal types, extend your food’s shelf life, and more with this mod.

4. Millwright

Become a master of advanced mechanical engineering in Vintage Story with the Millwright mod. Introduce reinforced rotors to your game, allowing you to mount twice as many improved sails. Do so to take advantage of about quadruple the output power, transforming wind-powered engineering into a marvel of efficiency. This innovative mod also offers additional benefits through its vertical-axis windmills and compact pass-through axles. Additionally, it offers options for wider sails and reinforced materials, providing unparalleled control to push mechanical systems to their absolute, yet still optimal, limits.

3. Carry On

Reimagine logistics in Vintage Story with the Carry On mod. This innovative mod allows you to physically transport fully-loaded containers in your hands or on your back. Lift and transport anything from simple baskets to hefty crates. With this mod, take advantage of a tangible resource management method made to transform a seemingly tedious chore into an immersive act of manual labor. Impart efficiency in transporting goods with careful planning, promoting convenient navigation through various logistics-related challenges in Vintage Story.

2. BetterRuins

Do you feel that you’ve explored every nook and cranny in Vanilla Vintage Story? Add new places to explore and conquer with the BetterRuins mod. With it, venture into over 600 new structures that dot the landscape. Uncover the mysteries of new locations ranging from solemn graves to imposing castles. Additionally, your exploration in Vintage Story with the BetterRuins mod is guided by more than curiosity. Discover maps leading to unique story locations wherein interconnected quests offer rewarding challenges. Install it, and experience features that deepen Vintage Story’s narrative.

1. Primitive Survival

Primitive Survival isn’t a mod that targets the improvement of a particular feature or system in Vintage Story. Instead, it’s a downloadable expansion pack, complete with new tools, cosmetics, creatures, and more! Regarded as one of the best, if not THE BEST mod in Vintage Story, Primitive Survival meticulously transforms the map into an authentic wilderness trial. Master fundamental crafts and turn the harsh wilderness from an adversary into a provider. Evolve your skills through natural progression. However, do so, and the challenges evolve with you. Nonetheless, Primitive Survival offers various opportunities that scale with progression. For instance, you can automate farming with irrigation vessels or discover powerful relics that can carry you to the endgame.

How to Install Mods in Vintage Story

Installation procedures depend on whether you’re playing in single player mode or as part of a Vintage Story server. If it’s the latter, the mods can be installed by the server host, and the files should be placed in the ModsByServer folder. The default path for that folder’s location is as follows: %AppData%\Roaming\VintagestoryData\ModsByServer. Once installed, all players in that Vintage Story server can enjoy those mods. Some players who may need assistance with installing mods for their Vintage Story servers may consider contacting customer support. On the other hand, installing mods in single-player mode requires the player to follow several steps. Assuming that you’ve downloaded the Vintage Story mods, continue by following these installation steps:

• 1. On Windows, press the Windows+R keyboard keys to open the “Run” window.
• 2. Fill the “Open” field with the following path (assuming that you installed Vintage Story at the default location): %appdata%\VintagestoryData\Mods.
• 3. Once opened, drag and drop the zip file of the mod to the “Mods” folder. Remember, don’t extract the zip file.
• 4. Launch Vintage Story and click “Mod Manager” from the main menu.
• 5. Click “Reload Mods,” and check if the installed mods have been recognized by the game.
• 6. Load your save file or start a new game to check if the installed mods are working as intended.

OR

• 1. Launch Vintage Story and click “Mod Manager” from the main menu.
• 2. Click “Open Mods Folder” to open that folder on your PC.
• 3. Ensure that the downloaded mods are in the “Mods” folder.
• 4. Once placed, click “Reload Mods,” and check if the installed mods have been recognized by the game.
• 5. Load your save file or start a new game to check if the installed mods are working as intended.

Note: On Linux, the path for the mods folder is as follows: ~/.config\VintagestoryData/Mods