Character customization in video games has become a highly sought-after feature, as the desire to have a personalized playing experience continues to grow among members of the gaming community. While many modern games allow characters to be customized in a variety of ways, one of the best methods for kick-starting that customization is by providing players with an extensive character creation system that allows them to create a character that is unique to them.
While there are plenty of games out there that give players the opportunity to create a custom character, some are more in-depth than others. The role-playing genre is especially known for having character creation systems that go above and beyond in terms of overall customization options, many of which allow players to alter very specific details of a character's features.
10 Hogwarts Legacy
While not the first game to do so, Hogwarts Legacy made life as a witch or wizard in the world of Harry Potter not only possible but believable. It effectively took the magic of the Wizarding World and placed it into the hands of gamers by giving them an incredible, lore-accurate recreation of Hogwarts Castle and its surrounding areas.
Hogwarts Legacy's character customization may not go as deep as other games, but it still offers players plenty of choices. With 50 hairstyles, the ability to add freckles, moles, scars, and markings, 20 different eyebrow shapes, and over 30 unique hair colors to choose from, there is no shortage of options.
9 Cyberpunk 2077
Despite Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous launch, it has become one of the greatest comeback stories in gaming history. Thanks to the dedication of its developers and a handful of significant updates, it is now an excellent, fully playable role-playing experience with a big DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, just around the corner.
Cyberpunk 2077's character customization is extensive, to say the least. Players can alter over 40 different aspects of their character's appearance, with plenty of options to choose from in each of those features. For example, there are over 50 different hairstyles and nearly 40 different eye colors players can sift through to personalize their character.
8 Dragon Age: Inquisition
BioWare's Dragon Age: Inquisition is the third main installment in the Dragon Age franchise and earned critical acclaim status upon release. Unfortunately, that status dwindled over time as the game began to be periodically criticized for being too large, having an overwhelming amount of filler content, and undeniable technical issues.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is nearly a decade old now, but it still has one of the best character creators out there. Its character customization was incredibly ahead of its time, even giving players the ability to adjust the size of their character's earlobes and the style of their eyelashes. Inquisition's character creator was so extensive for its time, that some players began complaining of feeling too overwhelmed.
7 Fallout 4
Fallout 4 is the fourth main game in the Fallout series and, to this day, one of its most successful. Praised for its overall amount of content, high degree of player freedom, in-depth crafting system, engaging narrative, and memorable characters, it remains a classic now eight years later.
While most Bethesda games allow players to create unique and personalized characters, Fallout 4 is especially known for having an exhaustive character creator. Not only can players choose from a variety of "types" for each part of their face, but those types all have unique variations as well. Additionally, players can then "sculpt" each individual part to personalize it even further.
6 Elden Ring
Elden Ring has been a massive critical success from its release, even going on to beat God of War Ragnarök for 2022's illustrious Game of the Year award. Modeled after Souls games, Elden Ring brings players into some of gaming's toughest battles, although some critics have considered it to be the most accessible Souls title to date.
Fans have come to expect an in-depth character creator from Souls games, and Elden Ring is certainly no different. Its rather comprehensive character creation system gives players the ability to customize their character's appearance with such incredible detail and precision that they can be sure their character will be set apart from others, so long as they devote plenty of time to creating it.
5 Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 has proven time and time again since its release to be a new standard for gaming, especially in the role-playing genre. Many gamers and critics have found themselves "ruined" by Baldur's Gate 3, in a way that prevents them from enjoying any other game, simply due to its excellence in storytelling, engaging gameplay, and technical polish.
Customizing a character's appearance in Baldur's Gate 3 is quite a bit different from other games like it. Rather than fine-tuning the smallest details of their character's appearance, players can change it by selecting from a number of different races, most of which have sub-races as well. Each race and sub-race can then be customized in order to create an appearance that feels personal to the player.
4 Starfield
Starfield, Bethesda's latest IP, has already become a massive success. It has some of the most extensive customization options ever seen in gaming, which go even beyond character creation. Its particular focus on player freedom and choice makes it a highly customizable experience that gamers can easily sink hundreds of hours into.
At first glance, Starfield appears not to have as many character customization options as some of Bethesda's past titles. However, hovering over individual sections will reveal a detailed modifier for several key features. Some of them get so detailed that players are likely to spend a significant amount of their time just creating a character.
3 Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is the enhanced version of Capcom's 2012 role-playing hack-and-slash adventure, Dragon's Dogma. While its graphics weren't on par with other games of its time, it is still considered by many to be one of the best modern role-playing games.
Dark Arisen's character creator is extensive, to say the least. So extensive, in fact, some players have managed to create accurate representations of characters from other games, like Kratos from God of War and Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII. Character features like weight and height also serve more than merely cosmetic purposes in Dark Arisen by affecting the character's overall abilities and statistics.
2 Monster Hunter: World
Monster Hunter: World is the fifth mainline installment in the Monster Hunter series and the highest-selling game in Capcom's history. It took the colorful, sprawling environments of the Monster Hunter franchise and the challenge of hunting down unique monsters for crafting new armor and weapons to a new, more accessible level, which simultaneously allowed it to reach a broader audience than the series had before.
To this day, Monster Hunter: World has one of the most exhaustive character customization systems in gaming, with countless ways to transform the appearance of a character's face by altering its most minuscule details. Many gamers have taken advantage of the level of depth its character creator offers by creating characters that are almost identical to themselves in real life.
1 Black Desert Online
Black Desert Online's character customization is unparalleled, as it gives players the ability to alter their character's features down to the most minute detail. Many players have stated that they spent a total of 30 minutes on character creation alone, with others saying they spent upwards of three hours.
Unlike many other games with extensive character customization, Black Desert Online lets players adjust the smaller details of their character's entire body. For example, the mouth alone has eight different sections that can all be individually customized for a personalized look. Players who spend a significant amount of time creating their character in Black Desert Online can be sure they'll never meet another character like theirs.