Command & Conquer, and particularly its Red Alert spin-off, used to be one of the most popular franchises in gaming. Growing disinterest and lack of lack of funding in real-time strategy games hastened Command & Conquer's shelving, but there remain pockets of dedicated fans who adore the Westwood-developed series. Few, however, love Command & Conquer like the modders behind Mental Omega, a modding project for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 that's now finished after more than 15 years of development.
The announcement was made on Twitter by Mental Omega main designer Speeder, who confirmed to their followers, "The work is done." As of the start of November, Speeder and team uploaded version 3.3.6 of Mental Omega to ModDB, the final version of a massive mod for Command & Conquer 2: Red Alert 2's Yuri's Revenge expansion. The free mod features a massive 133-mission "megacampaign" spread across four different factions.
This specific Mental Omega update, an upgrade to 3.3.6, includes nine missions, a new game mode where all RTS players start in the center of the map named "Land Grab," 40 standard maps, 10 "Land Grab" maps, 2 "Islands" maps, 5 "KOTH" variant maps, new units and buildings, new artwork, massive changes to the mod's balance, and so much more. It's the first update in over a year, but for Command & Conquer fans, it's going to be more than worth the wait.
What's most impressive about Mental Omega isn't just its size, but rather the dedication of Speeder and the other developers who have worked on the mod over the years. It's one thing to love a game so much that someone will dedicate their time to creating a mod, but it's something else entirely to work on a mod across over 15 years. For context, that's longer than the official Red Alert franchise ever lasted.
Funnily enough, as excited as fans are for the new and final update for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2's Mental Omega mod, they're also asking the question of what will happen next. Mental Omega delivers two acts of campaign, and some fans are already questioning whether there could be a third. Speedy and team definitely deserve a break, but maybe they're all the more excited for further RTS modding than ever.
To its credit, Electronic Arts has tried to keep the Command & Conquer franchise alive to varying degrees over the years. In 2020, it released the Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection, with an attempted reboot on mobile devices in 2018 named Command & Conquer: Rivals. Here's to the continued support of Command & Conquer, even when its future is more uncertain than ever.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is available on PC.