There’s nothing quite like the feeling of waiting months or even years for a game to release, only to spend three hours creating the perfect replica of a chosen celebrity before actually diving into the primary content of the game. There’s a reason character creation is such an integral, in-depth aspect of so many games: For many, video games are a way to enter another world, where you can place yourself in the role and/or likeness of anyone, from gunslingers to dragon slayers to soccer players.
Dragon’s Dogma 2: 10 Best Customized Characters
Fans are always coming up with the best character designs for the main characters of games. Here are the best custom Arisens in DD2.
As such, a good character creation system can provide a strong sense of immersion, something that keeps players coming back to titles years or even decades after their initial release. Here are some of the titles that provide that sense of immersion through extensive, complete, and satisfying character creation systems.
10Hogwarts Legacy
Enter The Wizarding World Like Never Before
Hogwarts Legacy
WHERE TO PLAY
Fans of the magical franchise have long awaited a full-scale role-playing Harry Potter game. While plenty of associated titles had been created prior to the 2023 release ofHogwarts Legacy, none had really scratched thatI want to go to Hogwartsitch that so many Potter fans have.
As such, it was vital for Portkey Games to include a vast array of options for customizing your character in-game. You can choose the pitch of your voice, whether you have freckles and scars, and a little later on, those crucial elements: your wand and house.
It’s unfortunate that the Hogwarts Legacy character creation system lacks many of the options available in many other games, such as sculpting characters' faces outside a choice of 25 or so preset looks. What it does do, though, is provide a range of important options to help effectively immerse a player in the Wizarding World, to the greatest extent that video games have offered yet.
The Most Fully-Developed Aspect Of The Game
Though perhaps lacking in the in-game content department, theNBA 2Kseries has made leaps in terms of the options for customizing the looks of your character. There are options for plenty of hairstyles, hair lengths and hair designs, as well as hundreds of tattoo designs, clothing and gear options which can be purchased later on with in-game currency.
There is even a companion app that will photograph your face for use in the game, though the face scans are often faulty and unconvincing. In addition, player stat allocations are extremely important for the player’s experience of the game, and improper allocation could leave you faltering down the line in multiplayer games. There’s a lot to tinker with, and if this is what you’re looking for in a character creator, this title will serve you very well with its creative optiions.
8Dragon Age: Inquisition
Many Options, Hindered By A Critical Lighting Issue
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dragon Age: Inquisitionincludes plenty of customization options, from the more obvious choices such as hairstyle and eye color to more detailed, specific aspects, such as the size of a character’s Adam’s apple or the style of their eyelashes. Facial aspects can be adjusted with sliders in a similar fashion toThe Sims 4, allowing for a huge range of precise tweaks to be made.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Best Emmrich Companion Build
Emmrich is one of the last companions you acquire in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Here’s how to make him standout in combat.
In addition, tattoos are race-specific, meaning that certain races will have access to certain designs and will not be able to apply others. In all, this game’s release in 2014 paved the way for incredibly specific character creation systems that followed.
Despite offering one of the most extensive character creators of all time, final reviews of the system were left mixed, as certain issues withlighting caused the character to look oddly out of placein cutscenes and dialogue. They sometimes didn’t match the way they looked in the initial menu as a result.
Simple, Clean, And Solid For Its Genre
Diablo 4has a solid character creation system, with a decent selection of hair, jewelry and body styles coupled with a vast array of options for designing the style and color of tattoos. It is simple, straightforward and clean, and the characters tend to come out the other side looking thirsty for some demonic blood.
This character creator may not include all the bells and whistles of some other options on this list, but Diablo 4’s customization revolves around the designing and pruning of your skill trees rather than your character’s appearance. Plus, it’s a top-down game, and your character’s face is visible only in cutscenes and dialogue exchanges. Even so, this is a far more advanced character customization suite than the series has offered before.
6Elden Ring
Very Robust, But Partly Unnecessary
Elden Ring
The 2022 action RPG by From Software joins the Souls-like subgenre by presenting one of the most punishing games in the field with grotesque, memorable bosses to keep you up at night. Inside a world built by Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin, Elden Ring’s gothic landscape, unforgiving combat, and top-tier exploration will keep you invested well into the year.
Elden Ringoffers another example of a simple yet effective character creation system, with most of the appeal coming from the combinations of stats that will form the basis for your build (which have spawned plenty ofclass-specific build guidesacross the internet). Faces can be changed thoroughly, from eye color to the size of features, and the all-important class is selected.
The only problem with Elden Ring’s character creation is that, for most of the game, your character will typically be wearing a helmet and armor that provides the best possible advantage (the better to help you survive). Given that the FromSoftware megahit is largely touted for its high degree of difficulty, it can be costly to remove a helmet or change your clothing based solely on cosmetics. Some players have resorted to mods to render their avatar’s helmet invisible, to see more of their precious creation.
5Ark: Survival Evolved
Freely Tweak And Exaggerate Your Avatar’s Frame
ARK: Survival Evolved
While many of the other games on this list focus on creating a character to be used for role-playing purposes,Ark: Survival Evolvedtakes a different approach. Thisunique survival gameoffers all the typical staples of a modern character creator, such as hair, skin, and eye color, but the main appeal lies in the sliders you can use for things such as height, hip width, bicep and forehead size.
Every inch of your character’s body can be scaled from 0 to 100, meaning that most characters emerge looking truly unique and utterly hilarious. The fun is heightened by the fact that the experience is heavily multiplayer-oriented. Some of the best moments in this game come from watching your friend’s silly-looking character run around desperately as a Tyrannosaurus Rex chases them.
4Cyberpunk 2077
Maybe A Little Too Extensive
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red’s open world RPG. The game is a sequel to the setting of the iconic tabletop roleplaying game, Cyberpunk 2020.
Cyberpunk 2077’s release was accompanied by a buzz around the extensive character creation system, which includes options for an extensive range of voices, distinctive facial markings, and the size and shape of all manner of body parts. The level of detail included has led to players dedicating the considerable time required to create just about everyone, from pop stars to Handsome Squidward. The likenesses can be surprisingly good.
Cyberpunk 2077: 14 Best Smart Weapons, Ranked
The Smart targeting system of these weapons will do much of the heavy lifting for you while playing Cyberpunk 2077.
In addition, the player chooses the all-importantLifepath for their character, whichdetermines their origin storyand influences the events of the first chapter of the game. The creation of this avatar is a fundamental aspect of the way you experience the game, making it far more than just a fun and comprehensive tool to mess with.
3Fallout 4
Another Of Bethesda’s Best-In-Class Character Creators
Bethesda titles' character creators are known to be fully-featured. The Fallout series is largely to credit with this: It offers not only extensive customization of the character’s appearance, but the chance to adjust a straightforward skill system known as S.P.E.C.I.A.L. to your liking. This system offers a variety of unique ways to fight off ghouls and deathclaws across the Wasteland.
Fallout 4improved on this tried-and-true customization by allowing users to raise and lower sliders to sculpt their characters' faces, leading to an almost infinite number of options for role-playing when combined with the playstyle-determining structure of Fallout’s skill system. Plus, your character’s face is visible for most of the game – that is, until the point when you find Power Armor and stomp around the Wasteland in all your metal-plated, nuclear-powered glory.
2Baldur’s Gate 3
Everything A Role-Playing Game Needs
Baldur’s Gate 3
23 years on from the release of the seminal RPG, Baldur’s Gate 2, the third game in the series has been developed by Larian Studios (of Divinity: Original Sin fame). Set over 120 years after the events of the last game, Baldur’s Gate 3 tasks you and your party of heroes to fight off a mind flayer invasion of Faerun, while seeking a way to remove the tadpole in your brain that’s slowly turning you into the enemy…
There are few games where a robust character creation is more important than one based entirely on Dungeons & Dragons, a TTRPG.The 280 award-winning Baldur’s Gate 3allows players to customize not only aesthetics such as hairstyle, race and voice, but also allows for customization of a character’s background and history. This allows and even encourages players to role-play as they would in D&D.
In addition,Baldur’s Gate 3provides the option to hide helmets and armor while in-game, meaning the face you spent three hours creating will be visible in all cutscenes, dialogue and interactions within the game. The only drawback is that many options for backstories, oaths and classes are described minimally when creating a character, so new players may find themselves being forced to use playstyles they hadn’t intended to.
1The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
A Then-Unique Blend Of Storytelling And Character Creation That Still Holds Up
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
“You’re finally awake.“The opening line of Bethesda’sElder Scrolls V: Skyrimis cemented in gamers' minds as one of the most iconic in all of video games.
Hailed by many as one of the greatest of all character creators, Skyrim includes a vast array of skin tones, spells, powers and unique abilities inherent to different races, aspects that would still make it an exceptional creation system today, well over a decade later. The classes are so different and unique that it will have you creating multiple saves to see what it is like to take on the dangers of Tamriel from the perspective of a wood elf or an argonian.
What makes this game’s character creator especially unique is the way it’s seamlessly blended into the story. Right out of the gate, you are thrust into the world of Tamriel, and remain immersed in the world even while adjusting your eyebrow depth and facial markings. One reason role-playing and build-devising in Skyrim is still so compelling is that the game encourages you to do so right from the get-go.
18 Essential Skyrim Mods For PS5
From Immersive Movement to Helgen Rebuilt, these excellent Skyrim mods are available for PS5 and will change the way you play this classic.
