A good character creator goes beyond letting you create the perfect likeness of yourself. I’m more interested in the freaks of nature that bring a smile to my face every time my character turns around.
Tweaking sliders for hilarious effect is a simple pleasure, but one that some games do better than others. Here are some of the best games for creating monstrously ugly characters.
It’s no coincidence that these games aren’t just well-suited to creating weird and wonderful characters, they also happen to be some of the best character creators in video games, full stop.
8
Elden Ring
After picking your class, FromSoftware’s most accessible Soulsborne game Elden Ring asks you for a name, body type, and age followed by an origin story and a keepsake to take into the world with you. From here you can choose a base template character, or get super inventive with the “Detailed Appearance” menu option.
It’s here where you can pick a more specific age, voice, and then decide on skin color from a full rainbow of choices, then hit the “Alter Face & Hair” and “Alter Body” menus to really do some damage. None of these options are limited to a specific gender (body type), which means you can mix and match hairstyles and physical attributes as you see fit.
It’s not until you start sculpting your face that you’ll see the full breadth of options at your disposal. For example, you have seven separate sliders for changing the characteristics of your nose bridge, the ability to set different positions for your eyes, and heaps of scars, tattoos, marks, and skin attributes to apply.
7
Starfield
Bethesda’s open-world RPGs have been slowly improving their character creation options over time, and Starfield builds upon this with the studio’s most exhaustive character creator to date. None of the options within the creator are linked to a specific gender, which gives you complete freedom to create a character that’s as perfect or imperfect as you like.
The creator includes a huge number of sliders that correspond with particular presets, so you can quickly throw together a character that’s good (or bad) enough. But dive a little deeper and hit “Refine” to make more precise changes to specific attributes, then blend your choice of shapes together. There are a good number of tattoos, scars, and blemishes to add that final chef’s kiss to your creations.
Bethesda noted in the run-up to release that you’d be able to create a perfect likeness of virtually any character you meet in the game, and the character creator confirms this. Though the game didn’t land for everyone, it’s still worth a shot especially if you’re a Game Pass subscriber.
Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 have a similar character creator, and though it’s not quite as exhaustive as the one in Starfield it can still be put to devastatingly good use. Skyrim also has a character creator, but you’ll need to install mods like RaceMenu to get access to additional options.
6
WWE 2K Games
A mainstay of the WWE 2K series is the create-a-superstar mode, where you can create a totally custom character, pick physical attributes, a move set, and even design a fancy entrance. The mode dates back to 2000’s WWF SmackDown! and has been dramatically expanded and improved in the decades since.
You can add different characteristics to your character using different “parts” and then enter “Face Deformation” mode to get access to a full set of sliders that let you really stamp your unfortunate mark on some poor young wrestler’s face. There’s more to this than just an ugly face though, with a huge amount of clothing, jewelry, and other accessories that you can mix and match to complete the look.
Since all WWE titles come with a character creator, any of the recent games are worth a shot if you want to try the tech out. You might also be interested to learn that you can upload an image of your face (or any face…) to the WWE 2K website and then use it as a template for your in-game character. Enjoy!
5
Baldur’s Gate 3
Larian Studio’s 2023 Game of the Year, Baldur’s Gate 3 has a detailed character creator, which is just as well since you’ll be spending a good 100 hours staring at your ugly mug once you’ve committed to a playthrough. Character creation is a process that you’ll likely agonize over since there are so many options available to you (which perfectly accompanies the game’s core theme of player choice).
One change that Larian made to the game after releasing it as an early access title was to separate character race and abilities. This gives the player way more freedom to choose how their characters look, offering the freedom to mix and match (though be aware that your choice of race will certainly impact how other characters interact with you).
The only limitation is that there is no face morphing, just a selection of presets to mix and match. That doesn’t mean you can’t come up with something horrific, and the game even makes it possible to change your appearance after you have started the campaign. If you travel to your in-game camp you can use an item called the Magic Mirror to change certain attributes. This includes your face, hair, eye color, tattoos, and scars. Your race and body type will remain fixed, however, since these have implications within the game world.
4
Street Fighter 6
One big addition to 2023’s Street Fighter 6 is World Tour mode, which turns Street Fighter into something of an open-world RPG in which you must complete missions and mini-games to earn experience. Before you enter World Tour mode, you must create your very own Street Fighter character from the ground up.
The avatar creation tools within Street Fighter 6 are truly astounding. Just as you can recreate your own likeness or turn your favorite characters from other games into fighters, you can just as easily go wild with sliders and create slender-man-looking beasts with wavy beards and pigtails. Create a horned monster with devil-red skin, massive pectoral muscles, and an itty bitty waist. We really do live in interesting times.
Best of all, the character that you create in World Tour mode can be taken online and into the Battle Hub, a virtual arcade in which you can challenge other players. It’s a lot of fun just walking around this area, and seeing what ghastly creations other players have dared to come up with.
3
Black Desert Online
Black Desert Online is a Korean massively multiplayer online RPG set in a fantasy setting that features quite possibly the best character creator in any game. If you’re not familiar, the game involves real-time combat and features common MMO side activities like farming, fishing, the ability to own property, and partake in a trading economy.
Before you get there, however, you’ll need to create a character. There is the usual array of sliders and color pickers to choose from, but the best way to go beast mode is to simply grab a point and start dragging. You have full control over your character’s resting expression, which means you can choose to look permanently startled or bare your teeth like some sort of medieval Bugs Bunny at all times.
BDO’s character creator feels more like professional model authoring software than it does a video game, and that’s something to be celebrated.
2
Second Life
Second Life might just be the original metaverse, a digital virtual world that first reared its ugly head in 2003 and still exists today. The game is largely designed as a social experience, allowing players to interact with one another but also build virtual objects using simple 3D modeling tools and even add interactivity to these objects via a scripting language.
Of course, the real appeal of Second Life is the ability to create an avatar to represent you digitally. Pretty much every aspect of an avatar can be customized, often with undesirable effects which can result in models that appear broken, clipping into themselves, with misshapen features and skewed proportions. You really need to exercise some self-restraint if you’re not trying to create something utterly monstrous.
While Second Life has attracted criticism over the years for the inclusion of gambling, poor performance both in terms of network and gameplay, and technical issues that still plague the platform more than two decades later, the character creator is a true piece of art for anyone looking to give life to their inner demons.
1
The Sims 4
While there are many criticisms to be made about The Sims 4, the character creator is one of the game’s best features. This is the most exhaustive character creator ever seen in a Sims title, and it allows you to pick everything from your age to your walk style to the non-cosmetic traits that will define your Sim’s personality.
Once you get to the character creator, you can really start having some fun. EA has made it easy to use simply by clicking and dragging. There’s a wild array of things to change, with elements like hairstyles and clothing not limited to a particular gender.
What really makes The Sims 4 even more interesting is the way the game handles genetics. If you create two “unique-looking” Sims and instruct them to try for a baby, the game will average traits like hair color, skin tone, and other features. Before you know it, you’ll have a whole family of abominations running around, which can make for a fun mini-game in and of itself. Best of all, The Sims 4 is now completely free to play so why not give it a shot?
Bonus: Nintendo Miis
While it’s not a game and so it doesn’t qualify as a main entry, every Nintendo Switch user has the ability to create Miis under the System Settings > Mii > Create New Mii menu. Though Miis are by their very nature simple avatars, there’s a real art to creating something monstrously ugly with the limited tools at your disposal.
Best of all, your Miis will show up in certain games including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Switch Sports. We’d love to see Nintendo bring back these lovable avatars in a big way with the Switch 2.
Creating ugly characters in games is a longstanding tradition. It’s just another way that players can try to break a game, and you can often go even further if you’re happy to install a few mods.
