CD Projekt Red has given more details about Cyberpunk 2077's character creator and the game's depiction of transgender characters. This follows criticism over an in-game advert that uses a sexualised trans model to sell a drink with the slogan "Mix it up". It's the only depiction of trans characters we've seen so far, so it raised some red flags.
The ad's artist has defended it by saying it's an example of the sort of exploitation that's normal in Cyberpunk's world and exactly the sort of thing you're fighting against. It's context that would have been handy when CD Projekt Red first put it on display.
We've not seen much of the character creator, but apparently it will eventually give players more options to make a version of V that's more representative of themselves.
"It's a very sensitive and important subject I believe," quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz told Gamasutra. "We have put a lot of thought into this. One of the things we want to do in the final game (which we couldn't show in the demo yet, because as you mentioned it's a work in progress) is to give the players as many options of customization in the beginning of the game as we can."
This is something that CD Projekt Red "wants to do" rather than something that's currently implemented. An example of the options it wants to offer player is that they can sculpt V's face with physical traits that could be assigned to to any gender.
"The idea is to mix all of those up, to give them to the players, as they would like to build it," said Tomaszkiewicz "Same goes for the voice. We wanted to separate this out, so the players can choose it freely. This is something we are still working on, it's not as easy as it sounds."
CD Projekt Red is also "paying a lot of attention" to how it portrays trans characters beyond customisation options for V. "We do not want anyone to feel like we are neglecting this," said Tomaszkiewicz, "or treating it wrongly."
