Facial diversity is a theme that has run throughout the entirety of Bethesda’s catalogue, with a huge array of options available across their various games for players to create their own in-game avatars. Starfield looks set to continue that trend with a character creator built from the ground up, to provide players with painstakingly realistic facemodelling options – but you’d better like your own face, as you’ll be staring at it for around an hour at the start of the game.
Speaking to The Guardian, Bethesda’s Todd Howard says that character creation time in Starfield starts at a flat 60 minutes, with players expected to spend that entire time creating their character from scratch. The team created a huge range of age, face, and ethnicity options using both scans and generation, going as far as to create a full set of face piercings and hairdos from scratch to ensure that Starfield’s world has plenty of variety even before players start changing things.
While many of the presets will include a range of differing facial features, and players will be able to pick hair types and styles to suit their image best, options are still limited, allowing the team to easily control any pronounced differences between player character faces. Howard says that this restriction is primarily to make people more comfortable with the idea of staring at their own face whilst playing the game, something I am certain many will be acutely aware of while doing even with a diverse set of options.
Players who aren’t afraid of sharp corners are in luck, as Bethesda says they scanned and generated a broad range of hairstyles, and players will be able to add piercings and even create entirely new hair options, such as a mohawk, which you can then position exactly how you want it. You can also alter your walk cycle, for a little personal flair at any time, or add in piercings and hairdos that aren’t included in the presets at all, though bear in mind that going overboard may make your character look jarring against Starfield’s background.
Of course, as Howard says, if you don’t like what you see at start, you’ll be stuck with it for a long time – Bethesda’s generation tools allow for the creation of every NPC in the space MMO, so don’t expect to meet anyone with a cooler haircut than you managed to pull off.
The Starfield Direct can be viewed on YouTube below:
If you’re planning on facing off against yourself in Starfield, you may want the best Starfield shields to protect yourself, or perhaps the best Starfield armor to aid your journey. You can also try out some of the best Starfield consoles, to give you the perfect Starfield experience.