It sounds like crazy talk, but yes, the character customization in Cyberpunk's launch has been less than stellar.
Cyberpunk 2077, the video game, is based on Cyberpunk, the 1988 tabletop role-playing game created by Mike Pondsmith. The game takes place in a dystopian future ruled by megacorporations where bioengineering and cybernetic modifications are embraced by the populace. The game was so successful that it received three subsequent editions, and it's widely considered one of the best tabletop RPGs of all time. Naturally, when Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in May 2012, it instantly bore the enormous expectations of legions of tabletop fans.
In The Witcher 3, players control Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher with a long past, a well-developed character, and a canonical appearance. Players can style Geralt’s hair and beard any time they wish by visiting barber shops throughout the game, but overall, Geralt remains as Geralt should. In Cyberpunk 2077, however, players control V, and V can be anybody, really. Their background is decided when the player chooses one of Cyberpunk 2077's lifepaths, and their appearance is likewise customized at the launch of the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 Looks Aren't Very Customizable
The first tenet of the Cyberpunk tabletop game is “Style over substance.” When it was revealed in May 2020 that the Cyberpunk 2077 character creation system included the ability to customize genitals, audiences hoped that the game would embrace that tenet to the fullest. Unfortunately, the reality fell a little short. While the character creator does boast a fairly decent number of options in some areas (such as 21 different varieties of ears), other areas are far too sparse. For example, there are only two body types in the game - one that looks traditionally male and one that looks traditionally female. There are only nine options for cyberwear, 14 for piercings, and 11 for tattoos, and none of them is exactly reminiscent of a flamboyant cybernetic playground.
Perhaps worst of all, once these aspects of the character are set in the beginning of the game, there is no opportunity to change them. Even with his much more limited cosmetic options, Geralt can still enjoy a shave and a haircut from time to time. V remains static in a world that is supposed to be built on the whims of body modification. All the ear varieties in the world cannot make up for this. It's undoubtedly the area where the video game falls farthest from the spirit of its source material.
To be fair, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a roughly five year head start on Cyberpunk 2077. It also did receive specific DLC which allowed more styling options for Geralt. Hopefully CDPR follows the same pattern for Cyberpunk 2077 and releases DLC with a barber shop equivalent that will allow players to create the true “style over substance” V of their dreams.
