To Mod or Not To Mod?: Why I Chose to Mod Coral Island

If there’s one thing most gamers will agree with it’s that modding is a big part of the video game community—at least when it comes to PC gaming.

Modding in all honesty is a great tool to help elevate the overall enjoyment of a game whether cosmetic or technical and for me personally, Stardew Valley was the first game to introduce me to the world of modding after finishing a complete vanilla playthrough on Switch and then taking a much needed break from the game. The inevitable itch to start a new save soon happened, but this time with a few many tweaks to help spice up the gameplay. And now that I’ve gotten a taste for the modding life, I can’t help but consider the option when playing other cozy games—with my next victim being none other than Coral Island.

Now my relationship with Coral Island began as a love/hate because after seeing trailers and gameplay for the game, I was instantly excited to start playing it at early access, and even got a Steam Deck just to play it since I didn’t have a gaming laptop at the time. However, my experience playing it on the Steam Deck was mediocre at best as I couldn’t go more than two in-game days without the game completely crashing, which was frustrating as 🤬!

On a separate note, Coral Island also has beautiful graphics and I stubbornly didn’t want to sacrifice the visual settings for a better gaming experience, so I did end up buying a gaming laptop after selling my Steam Deck, and it’s the best decision I could’ve made. However, once I was finally able to start enjoying the game, I ran into another problem and that is—the economy in the game really isn’t that great in my opinion, especially when it comes to trying to decorate your farm.

Between all the upgrades, clothing, and furniture options in the game, it honestly feels like I’m constantly struggling to have a decent consistent income in the game, especially early on since fishing heavily relies on upgrading your net for better easier catching and because of this, I was not having much fun with the game and stopped playing it for a good few months.

I then recently woke up one morning with the urge to pickup the game again, but this time, considering the idea of mods at the very least to make myself stupidly rich, so I could afford any and everything in the game and all I would need to do is gather the resources, which was no problem at all and I have to say, once I did this, the game immediately became more enjoyable for me, especially after going back to the game with the latest updates and bug fixes.

I’m now back to playing the game vanilla with more money than I know what to do with, and I feel great! I don’t have the urge to use any other mods, and I’m having a good time pursuing Wakuu and discovering what the game has to offer.

So to tie this back to the title of the post of “to mod or not to mod,” I personally believe there is no right or wrong way to play a game. If modding is necessary for you to fully enjoy a game because the base game doesn’t offer enough, then I say go for it because at the end of day, video games exist for our entertainment and if you’re not having fun with the game, I would consider the idea of mods before coming to the conclusion that the game just isn’t for you.

But what do you all think? Are you a vanilla gamer, love to mod, or both? I personally think I’m both depending on the game.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all for my next post! 🪴💛