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Everybody that is familiar with me realizes I approach avatar design in RPGs very, very earestly. It’s not talking about perfecting stats, instead creating my hero's looks with meticulous detail. I greatly appreciate games that allow me to really bring my character to life via subtle features like makeup, tattoos, hair highlights, and even manicures. I'll often spend upwards of three or four hours in the editor, carefully crafting my perfect in-game avatar. The catch is: After I leave the editor, I often can't get back in.

The Annoying Realization

I'm sure everyone's experienced it at least once. You spend what seems like forever creating your character, and after countless time-consuming tweaking, they look perfect. However, when you leave character creation and finally get a look at what your character looks like in-game, you notice something unfortunate: Something is off. Maybe their facial structure doesn't suit their face, or you decide you really should have gone with a another hair style, or you notice that although they look fine from the front, their profile view looks absolutely bonkers. No matter the issue, there's only one solution: Go back into the editor and fix your character's face. Unfortunately most RPGs don’t permit you return to the customization screen, for reasons that escape me to this day.

My first attempt at creating V yielded a character with an impressive manicure, but a disappointing face.

Gaming Frustrations

Initially it happened to me, I was a few hours into Dragon Age: Inquisition, and finally saw my otherwise-attractive Inquisitor's profile. Her nose looked fine from the front, but from the side, it was absurd. I played a few more hours before I couldn't take it anymore and restarted the game so I could remake my Inquisitor. It happened again when I played The Outer Worlds, though I fortunately caught it early enough that I only lost a few hours of gameplay. Unfortunately, the same was not true with Cyberpunk 2077 — I was so captivated with the game that I didn't notice how unfortunate my V looked until I started using Photo Mode. I was unhappy with her appearance. I lost roughly 15 hours of gameplay beginning again the game to adjust poor V's face.

The Simple Answer

A straightforward answer to this problem (aside from attempting to just accept it): Permit players to return to character creation to change their appearance. Several RPGs include this feature, but the majority don't include it at release, which I find completely baffling. Baldur's Gate 3 initially launched with no way to tweak your character's appearance, but fortunately added the Magic Mirror shortly after the game's launch. Although I liked my Tav's starting appearance, I later decided I wanted to alter her physical look to represent her mental corruption as the Illithid parasite in her head grew more powerful.

If you launch an RPG that doesn’t allow re-entry to character creation, the least you can do is emulate Larian's lead and make adding a Magic Mirror your first post-launch priority.

Recent Cases

When I first started playing Avowed, I was interested in the various plants, flowers, and mushrooms I could choose to have emerging from my character's face. But these weird-looking Godlike features were a little intense for my tastes, and I didn't really understand why they were an option to begin with. So I went with the least-noticeable Godlike facial feature the game had to offer, and began exploring The Living Lands. But hours and hours later, around the time I reached the game's halfway point, I'd learned enough lore to understand why those wild plants and fungi were available in the character creator. Now that these wild customization options clicked for me, I wanted to change up my character's face. Regrettably, returning to character creation was not an option, something I (and others) found totally baffling in a game where the player's appearance is relevant to the main quest. Avowed's plans shows that the developers has plans to add an character-editing feature to the game later this Fall, but the question remains: Why wasn't it there at launch?

That feel when you realize you're stuck having a plain, fungi-free face.

Good Cases

I must acknowledge the good: As much as I wasn’t fond of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I was very grateful for the fact that it launched with the ability to change my Rook's look already included in the game. My first Rook looked like a half-melted Bratz doll, and it took several attempts to get her looking right. If her bedroom in The Lighthouse hadn't come equipped with a mirror I could use to change her looks, I'd have probably just put down the game without finishing it.

Final Reflections

It could be said that it doesn't matter what your character looks like in a video game, and they're entitled to that opinion. I just find that RPGs are more fun when I can build my character exactly as I imagine them in my head, and sometimes that takes a few tries.

I understand that game development is a rocky, uncertain process, and that some content will always end up on the cutting-room floor. I just find it baffling — and frankly, annoying — that even now, in The Year of Our Lord 2025, I'm so frequently finding myself locked out of the editor, desperately wishing for access and internally shouting, "LET ME IN!"