The best character creators in gaming let you craft a hero (or villain) that looks exactly as you imagined. From tweaking individual facial features to deciding traits and personality, when you’re using a character editor you want it to bend to your will, mold your perfect character, and sometimes spend longer on the creation process than with your head in the game itself.
Whether your goal is to make a perfect facsimile of yourself, to build an over-powered alter-ego, or to run around with a comically oversized head–these character creators will allow you the maximum creative freedom.
Baldur’s Gate 3
- Developer: Larian Studios
- Release Date: August 3, 2023
Baldur’s Gate 3 offers you not one, but two opportunities to build your perfect character creation. Different races have different customization options, with some including horns, tails, and scales. You can change pretty much every detail–facial features, facial structure, body type, body art, skin tone, hair, etc–creating a truly unique character before your foray into Baldur’s Gate. Two new races, Dragonborn and Half-Orc, have been added, both of which have their own idiosyncratic features.
Once you’ve made your main character, you’ll then be prompted to do it all over again, crafting your Spirit Guardian, a familiar face who comes to you in your dreams. Whether it’s a dream or a nightmare to behold them is up to you.
In typical Dungeons and Dragons fashion, there are plenty of non-aesthetic choices too, allowing you to build a character of a specific class, background, and with a set of inbuilt spells and abilities. The choices you make here will impact the way the game unfolds, so think carefully about how easily you can commit to your character before you lock them in. You will be able to respec at certain points in the game (provided you have enough gold) though, allowing you to experiment with different builds and preferences if it’s not quite right.
The Sims 4
- Developer: Maxis
- Release Date: September 2, 2014
The Sims 4’s character creator is the stuff of legend, in a game dedicated to letting you live your best, most customized life, there’s not much you can’t do. The base game provides a selection of basic outfits and haircuts, occasionally adding new community-designed ones during special events, but there are thousands of extra items to be found in DLC and additional game packs. Check out some of the best Sims 4 DLC and expansion packs here for ideas. The game also supports an extensive modding community (called CCs, or Custom Content), meaning if there’s a celebrity you want to replicate, a real-world outfit you want your Sim to style, or a breed of animal you want to clone, the community probably already has you covered.
You can choose your Sim’s appearance from plenty of presets, but real character creator-heads know the true fun lies in the sliders. Zooming in on facial features allows you to move them manually, dragging them to where they fit best, and adjusting factors like eye angle, eyebrow depth, and individual lip thickness. One of the stand-out features in The Sims 4’s character creator is the ability to customize different outfits for different events way in advance. If you want to add a fancy fit for weddings, a uniform for work, or a laid back pool party costume, these can all be saved and changed into automatically (or by using a wardrobe) by your Sim in-game.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Developer: Capcom
- Release Date: March 21, 2024
The Dragon’s Dogma 2 character creator was front and center in the game’s marketing campaign pre-launch, so much so that it was released before the game as a separate free download. Players began crafting their perfect character well in advance, as well as their unique custom Pawns–unquestioningly loyal companions who aid you in your quest. A new race was also added into the sequel, the Beastren, feline characters who actively dislike Pawns and have new interactions with them as the game progresses.
There’s something extra immersive about the Dragon’s Dogma 2 character editor, as seemingly aesthetic choices like height and weight impact your abilities, statistics, and build. You can also get pretty granular with every aspect of your character or Pawn’s appearance, editing even their posture and the angles at which their joints bend. Vocations offer different classes–Archer, Mage, Fighter, or Thief–which will dictate your fighting style throughout the rest of the game. If you’re looking to build a character that can never be replicated, Dragon’s Dogma 2 might be the place to start.
Fallout 4
- Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
- Release Date: November 10, 2015
Fallout 4 allows you to customize default characters Nate and Nora to your heart’s content. As parents of Shaun, the baby’s appearance will change depending on how you style these characters, so it’s worth taking the extra time to edit them both. Creating the couple’s pre-war look is especially rewarding given they’re frozen soon after, meaning they can retain their snappy dress sense even after the bombs fall and everyone else is looking crusty. That being said, you can still pick from all the usual scraggly options you’d expect from the Fallout series.
Fans of the game have even managed to create characters from the Fallout TV show, or replicate famous faces like Walter White, Waluigi, and Nigel Thornberry, but our favourite pastime is creating the most monstrous mugs we possibly can with the ridiculous generosity of the in-built sliders.
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Oblivion Remastered
- Developer: Virtuos/Bethesda Game Studios
- Release Date: April 22, 2025
For years fans have poked fun at the janky-looking characters in Oblivion, fondly reminiscing over their goofy expressions and stony-faced stares, so when Oblivion Remastered came out, it stopped us in our tracks. You can now create unbelievably realistic characters, attractive characters, even. It was a shock to all of our systems.
But lovers of all things janky can rest easy, although it’s now possible to create a gorgeous action hero, there are still plenty of abominations to be crafted. The untethered sliders and seemingly endless options mean you can create characters with huge towering heads with tiny pin-prick eyes, or elaborate and brightly-coloured facial hair that sits at an uncomfortable angle. The sky is the limit. Oh, and you can have beards, now.
Races have become a little less of a heavy choice, as it’s a lot harder to fully “mess up” a build now. The game is a lot more forgiving to alternative playstyles and you can largely go on aesthetics alone. Custom classes are still a good option, though, if you want to tweak every element of your design.
Monster Hunter Wilds
- Developer: Capcom
- Release Date: February 28, 2025
Monster Hunter WIlds is the kind of game you could boot up just for the character creator. There are two characters to design, your main character and Palico, your cat-like companion. You can go pretty wild in both respects, as their appearance won’t impact their stats or abilities. Every element can be fine-tuned or selected from presets, allowing you to play around with facial structure, hair, and features to a seemingly endless degree. Once you’ve perfected the look and outfit, you can also customize voice and stance, as well as deciding if your Palico will speak in human or Felyne language.
Once you’ve had your fun with character creation in Monster Hunter Wilds you can also share your designs with the community, or use presets to get the character you want. We’ve put together a list of the best Monster Hunter Wilds character creation codes, including Harley Quinn, Kratos, and Billie Eilish.
Elden Ring
- Developer: FromSoftware
- Release Date: February 22, 2022
As long as you don’t mind looking a little spooky, the Elden Ring character creator is a lot of fun. Crafting your Tarnished is an experience as complex as you’d like it to be, either choosing from one of the 10 preset appearances, locking in your choice for every tiny detail, or some happy medium in between the two.
Once you’ve selected their rough body type and age, you can get to tweaking the finer things. Most of the skin colours are fairly pallid, and hair tends to be a little straggly but these are dire times. You can make gorgeous elf-like waifs, or bizarre-looking abominations, the choice is up to you. Either way you’d fit right in. You can eventually change your appearance, if you feel like your time in the Lands Between has altered you.
Toward the end of the character creation experience, you’ll be asked to choose a Keepsake. This is an important decision that will determine the boon you carry with you into the start of the game, so be sure to check out our guide to the best keepsake to pick during Elden Ring character creation.
Nioh 2
- Developer: Team Ninja
- Release Date: March 12, 2020
The Nioh 2 character creator is often cited as one of the best editors ever made. It’s rich with options, supporting endless creativity that can be used to create a fairly realistic looking samurai. None of that uncanny weirdness or hair not quite fitting with the forehead width you’ve chosen–the editor is responsive and smart. Your samurai character can be fully customized to an extremely specific level, but your yokai form can also be tweaked through options for hair and horns.
The character creator in Nioh 2 is in a class of its own, but its quality is only enhanced by how smoothly custom characters are represented in cutscenes, something many games struggle with. It’s also easy to save, share, and swap characters with code sharing, meaning you can show off or save yourself some time. Your character can also be remade at any time from the main menu, so you can play around with concepts or even reflect your character’s journey through aging and scars.
Inzoi
- Developer: inZOI Studio
- Release Date: (Steam Early Access) March 27, 2025
Inzoi’s gameplay leaves a lot to be desired at present, and there are many issues with its chaotic use of AI and lackluster interpersonal play, but the character creator (called Character Studio) could fly as a game in and of itself. Something the Sims 4 missed was texture editing, a feature which allows for incredibly unique garments and tattoos to be designed, getting you closer than ever to a hyper-realistic version of yourself.
Aside from some limitations in the presets, and the fact that everyone always looks super attractive, the benefit of using Inzoi’s character creator is how true-to-life you can make the objects, accessories, and outfits your Zoi wears. 3D objects can be scanned in and remade in-game, and then shared with the community through Canvas, an inbuilt mod sharing system. You can even video your own face and let the game replicate your facial expressions, if for some reason that is something you want.
Code Vein
- Developer: Bandai Namco
- Release Date: May 31, 2019
Code Vein’s character creator is the stuff of legend, and often a topic of conversation when fans discuss the game. Players can easily spend hours designing new characters, and the r/fashionvein subreddit is packed with unique creations if you’re lacking inspiration. One of the best features of the character editor is the ability to move and resize accessories freely, meaning with enough imagination you could create pretty much any outfit. Past that, it might be one of the most intricate character creators we’ve ever seen, with options to change minute details and adjust pretty much every facet of your character’s physical appearance.
You can adjust parts of your appearance once you’ve started the game, but keep in mind that things like gender, physique, face, and voice are all locked. Hairstyle and clothes can be customised throughout. Although be warned, you will spend a lot of your time with most of your face hidden behind a big mask.
In our Code Vein review, we emphasised how the comprehensive character creator’s almost unlimited options is an indicator of how the rest of the game feels wide open to finding a custom playstyle that suits you.
