Cyberpunk 2077 Will Let You Create Transgender Characters

Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't have a fixed protagonist like The Witcher 3. Players will be able to create their own characters in a futuristic dystopia, and CD Projekt Red is making it so the character creator will be capable of generating characters of all gender and identification, including transgender and non-binary characters.

Speaking with Gamasutra in the wake of criticism regarding the representation of transgender characters in Cyberpunk 2077; CD Projekt Red quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz said that gender identity will factor into the game's character creator. CD Projekt Red has previously avoided questions about gender representation for player characters.

"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," Tomaskiewicz says.

"For example, we want to do this thing where, as you create your character, after you choose the body type, you can, for example, use physical traits as you build your face that could be assigned to a man or a woman."

Tomaskiewicz added that the customization will extend to non-binary options as well. "The idea is to mix all those up, to give them to the players, as they would like to build it. 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."

Some are hesitant about CD Projekt Red's plans to depict transgender or nonbinary characters in its game based on previous incidents where the company made jokes on the subject on social media. This is something CD Projekt Red hopes it can show players it can handle properly.

CD Projekt Red is slated to come out on April 16, 2020 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Check out our Cyberpunk 2077 guide for more coverage, and our E3 2019 guide for more news from this week's show.