Nexus Mods, the world’s biggest single modding site and your go-to destination for fan-made creations that do things like turn games into World War 2, put Thomas the Tank Engine into things, or make everyone naked, is making moves. Specifically, it’s introduced a new free trial system for its premium accounts, which it’s somehow gone without since introducing subscriptions all the way back in 2007.
It is, it must be said, a bit of a miserly trial. No full week here, instead you get just three days to enjoy all the fruits of premium, after which it’s either pay up or sling your hook.
You can choose a trial for both Nexus’ monthly and yearly plans. Just to be clear, the only difference there is whether it charges you for a month or a year when the trial ends if you don’t cancel. You’ll also need to enter valid card details to make it all work. You’ve done this dance before—it’s how free trials work pretty much anywhere else online.
What does Nexus premium actually get you? Well, the number one feature as far as I’m concerned is uncapped download speeds. As it stands, Nexus users who use an adblocker can download at a mere 1.5MB/s. If you’re not using an adblocker, you’re a mod author, or you’re a Nexus supporter (anyone who’s ever had a premium sub, ongoing or not), that goes up to 3MB/s. Premium subs can download at uncapped speeds, which is admittedly a godsend if you’re downloading big mods or you’re using an auto-installer like Wabbajack.
Speaking of which, one of the other premium offerings is Nexus’ own Wabbajack competitor: collections. These are big, well, collections of mods you can install with a single click, at least notionally, and while I’ve never used one I generally see them spoken of fondly by mod sickos.
That aside, you also get automatic updates for your mods and, of course, no more ads.
Which all sounds pretty good, and it’s good to let people see if it works for them before they fork over actual cash. Still, with Nexus having recently changed hands, some users are a little wary. A free trial is all well and good, but at such a short length and with it automatically rolling over into a paid sub at the end if you forget to cancel? Some are picking up the scent of an incoming enshittification. Which, let’s be fair, could well just be paranoia, but it’s not like the state of the internet gives us cause to be generous about such things.
Anyway, Nexus says the trial system is just an “experiment” at this stage, so all the things people don’t like could end up jettisoned. But for now, if you do sign up for a free trial, make sure you remember to cancel before you get bitten by a sudden charge.
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