Get ready to spend hours deliberating over tiny changes as we pick the best games with good character creation for you to get artistic with!
Building a character isn’t something you should rush into. This character is going to be with you through all the highs and lows of the game. You’re about to go on an adventure with them and do some great, or possibly terrible things, and once you set off, there’s no going back.
In other words, this is serious business.
If you like getting into the nitty gritty of character creation, then I’ve picked 10 of the best games for you to get your creative juices flowing.
Make epic humans and elves, recreate your favourite faces from other games and movies, or just give yourself chest muscles that you could never achieve in real life.
The possibilities are endless!
10. Monster Hunter: World (2018)
Monster Hunter: World kickstarts this list of the best games with good character creation, bringing in a tidy creator suite with an easy to use interface.
As I’ve just said, having a character that looks good in every situation is part of the reason we put so much time into creating them. Thankfully, Monster Hunter: World has a setting where you change the lighting to see what your protagonist looks like in moody scenarios and bright open spaces.
Create every aspect of your hunter, pulling out awesome designs like this version of Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy and much more.
You can also alter and design the tail shape and skin/fur of your Palico too!
9. Demon’s Souls (2020)
Every face looks better with decals on it, right? It’s jut a given, which is why you can create some cool gnarly looks with your characters in the new Demon’s Souls remake.
If you’re looking for a game where you can get seriously into the little changes in nose and jaw size or how rounded those ears are, then you’ll have a field day here.
I know what you’re thinking; the character editor on the original version was a little sub-par to say the least. Well, the PS5 version has sorted that right out, with the devs realising rightly that gamers take this stuff pretty damn seriously in 2022.
Now all I have to do is come up with a good name…
8. XCOM 2 (2016)
With multiple hair, skin colour, armour colour, and voice settings to choose from for your characters, XCOM 2 drops into 8th place in our best games with good character creation compendium.
Ok, so the first XCOM game has some cool character building features, but the level of detail in the sequel knocks it out of the park.
You can even add specific tattoos and accessories to make your characters wholly unique. Play around with facial hair, hairstyles, and paint designs on pieces of armour!
7. Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
Cyberpunk 2077 rightfully gets a bad rap for a whole bunch of reasons. Still, one area that saves it and keeps it at the forefront of our minds is the epic character creation system.
I guess it makes sense that in a game where there’s so much focus on body modifications that the character building part would an important element.
Any game where you can change a characters penis length is serious about character creation. You can make non binary characters, putting Cyberpunk 2077 as one of the few games that is truly diverse when it comes to making a character that truly represents every player.
As well as body parts, Cyberpunk players must design their character’s backstory too. The character creation part takes hours… it’s just a shame that the rest of the game goes downhill from there.
6. Saints Row: The Third (2011)
Yes, someone has made Morgan Freeman in Saints Row: The Third, and they’ve done a great job too!
SR:TT is another title that let’s players make a character of any gender. Pick from any race and and get into the finer details of facial features with every different type of eye shade, cheekbone shape, make up colour, and much more.
You can also just make insanely weird monstrous characters too if that’s your bag.
I’ve seen a pretty good Waluigi on this thing too, though the real money is in the creation of realistic-looking normal people.
5. Fallout 4 (2015)
Another game that is very good when it comes to creating realistic humans as opposed to evil minions. I mean, the guy above looks remarkably like Walter White, and the face lines look far too real to be generated by a computer.
This is a bit of a 2-for-1 offer in the sense that players make both a male and a female character. After choosing which character you want to play as, the other becomes your husband or wife in the story.
‘Baldly’ go where no man has gone before , rock the coolest make-up around, and mess around with hair styles and overall face shape. This is like sculpting in 3D… using a controller.
4. Sims 4 (2014)
Of course Sims 4 had to feature in this list of the best games with good character creation. The whole premise of this game is making a cool character, making a house for said character, and so on.
This is one of the best Sims games to date for character creation, giving players the ability to actually get in there and sculpt faces and body shapes like some divine creator.
I suppose you are when playing Sims titles…
Change clothing styles and accessories, craft your characters ambitions, and get to the very core of what motivates and moves them as people.
That’s deep!
3. Skyrim (2011)
The bronze medal for our best games with good character creation goes to the one and only Skyrim, one of the first games I can remember playing where I could change the appearance and race of my character.
I mean, I make out like I changed the race a lot, but I always pretty much picked High Elf.
Old habits die hard.
Classes don’t feature in Skyrim, but you can get really creative with battle scars and dirt for warriors or wise-old wrinkles if you want your character to feel more like a scholar or a wizard.
2. Elden Ring (2022)
I recently sat and watched with my head in my hands while my mate spent 15 minutes picking the correct battle grunt voice for his character in Elden Ring.
Talk about thorough!
The face shaping and physical attributed of this game are fantastic. You could get lost for hours in this segment, going back and forth making incremental changes before even starting the game.
Change body type, skin colour, head size, muscle size, chest size; the works! Then, after picking a class, you get the main bulk of your clothing.
I guarantee you’ll have a lot of fun with this one; share your creations with us over on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
1. Soul Calibur VI (2018)
This might be a bit of a surprise entry, but SoulCalibur VI is officially the winner of our best games with good character creation. The character creation just shouldn’t be this good in a fighting game… it just shouldn’t!!
So why has this game come top? Why is there a picture of what looks like a mutated Donkey Kong with a banana sword above?
DK isn’t the only creation I’ve seen in SC VI; I’ve seen Thanos, a warped Pikachu, Venom, Spiderman, Waluigi, Shrek, Sonic, Freddy Kreugar; the list goes on.
How does it work? Well, there’s an open ended clothing and accessory system. You can get uber creative and combine multiple elements together, getting right down to the placing of specific items.
This is character creation in its most fun form, which is what playing video games is all about, after all.
What Was The First Game With Character Creation?
The first game with character creation was Multi User Dungeon: MUD1, more commonly known as MUD. Made in 1978, players explored dungeons through text-based descriptive gameplay.
The player picked a character sex (male or female) and chose their own name. It’s a little simple compared to today’s offerings, but there you have it!
Seb Santabarbara has bought every Nintendo console that has ever been released in his 31 years on Planet Earth. His favourite game franchise is Zelda, and he’s patiently waiting for Banjo-Kazooie to come back to the fold. When he’s not playing games, he’s travelling the world in his self-converted camper van.
