Highlights

  • Palworld's character creator is lacking and falls short of modern expectations, offering limited customization options for avatars.
  • The presets and main customization menus only allow for basic adjustments to body type, skin color, hair, and a few facial features.
  • To improve the character creator, Palworld should consider adding features like adjusting body shape, more detailed facial options, and the ability to add facial hair for a more comprehensive customization experience.

Japanese developer Pocketpair's open-world creature collector Palworld has thoroughly captivated players since it entered early access on January 19, and the developer has made promises to move forward with consistent updates to make the game an even better experience. What was originally expected to be nothing more than a meme has genuinely surprised the gaming community by offering an experience reminiscent of Pokemon and ARK: Survival Evolved, yet one that still manages to set itself apart. However, while Palworld is already highly successful, its early access state puts it at the beginning of a long road of updates and improvements.

As Pocketpair works diligently to update Palworld during its early access period, there is one specific feature it should consider overhauling in the process — the character creator. Despite its vast world and multifaceted gameplay, Palworld's character creator is lackluster at the moment, providing a rather underwhelming and limited set of customization options for avatars. As Palworld is a highly comprehensive game, its character creator should follow suit by allowing players to create a truly unique identity in a world brimming with possibilities.

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Palworld's Character Creator Needs an Extensive Overhaul

Palworld's Character Creator in Its Current State

Many modern gamers, especially fans of the role-playing genre, have come to both desire and expect a certain level of character customization in the games that they play. Those who long to create a unique experience for themselves often feel that experience relies on the originality of their custom-made character, so the more customization options a game's character creator has, the better. Unfortunately, while it otherwise offers an impressive array of appealing gameplay features, Palworld's character creator falls short of modern expectations.

Currently, there are twelve different presets to choose from that can either be kept the way they are or used as a starting point. The presets themselves are nothing to write home about, but that is primarily due to the limited options available in the main customization menus. For example, the body customization menu allows only the adjustment of body type, skin color, and torso, arm, and leg size. When it comes to hair, there are 27 different styles to choose from, and players can adjust the hair color as well.

The face customization menu offers the most options, as players can choose from twenty-one different face types and eleven different eye types. Additionally, both eye color and eyebrow color can be changed using either preset colors or custom colors, along with saturation and brightness sliders for some added detail. Finally, the voice menu has six different voices available, which is considered average for a game like Palworld. Despite the character customization options that Palworld does offer, however, it is still very limited in comparison to many modern RPGs.

How Palworld Can Improve Its Character Creator

Improving Palworld's character creator is not as simple as adding more options, as Pocketpair must first consider what it adds to the game and how it will contribute to its creativity. For example, rather than simply being allowed to adjust their character's body size, players might also appreciate the ability to adjust body shape — a feature that many RPGs implement today. Furthermore, although Palworld's face customization is its most extensive, it could still offer more detailed options, such as sliders for the size and shape of facial features like the eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, ears, chin, and jaw.

Palworld's hair menu is arguably the one in need of the least amount of work, although a facial hair option would be a welcome addition, as the only way to currently add facial hair is by beginning with a preset that already includes it. If Pocketpair's Pokemon clone was to add these features and more to the game's character creator, it would certainly take it above and beyond where it is now and offer players something more akin to what is typically seen in modern RPGs.