With Cyberpunk 2 on the way, I hope its character creator isn't pointless

Cyberpunk 2077 is officially done with. CD Projekt Red has said as much, with the massive 2.0 overhaul update being the last big one the game will receive. We've known since last year that a sequel is in the works, unsurprising given the 25 million copies sold since its release three years ago. Production has even started on the as-of-yet untitled sequel, though with Phantom Liberty only having just been released it's likely to be early days yet. But CD Projekt Red, I have one request for you to consider as you work on the follow-up: please make the character creator not so pointless.

I admit, the use of the word pointless feels a little bit harsh, but in my time with Cyberpunk 2077 it just felt like wasted potential. That absolutely comes down to the fact that the game was exclusively playable in first person, a perspective that would only shift while driving a vehicle, or by using mods if you're playing on PC. But a majority of the time, you don't even get to look at your version of V, other than in the mirror, so it left me feeling confused as to why there's a character creator at all.

Don't get me wrong, I do know why; it's an RPG, and RPGs have character creators, but a lot of them also let you see your character. I know many players out there spend a lot of time in character creators, particularly in depth ones, because people want to make characters feel like themselves, or possibly even a character that they want to roleplay as. In my playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 I opted to play as femme V, something which I'm not, but as I said, sometimes it's all about the role-play aspect right?

I even made a version of V that I quite liked the look of, but when playing the game it didn't feel like it mattered. This problem felt escalated by the fact that a lot of the dialogue options didn't come across how I thought they would tonally, meaning this version of V that was meant to be mine felt more and more like a pre-written character. Though, that's a problem for another piece.

Character creators can often feel a bit underbaked as a feature because they can't quite go as in depth as you might want them to, and what's the point of making something so complex when the player can't see it 99% of the time anyway? After all, despite all of the ways you can customise how V looks, there are so many ways you can't; despite fat people existing in Night City, you yourself can't be such (and to be clear, I am fat, and would like to be so in a video game too), and, to talk about the cruder aspect, it's a bit silly that there are two whole penis options, but only one vagina option. Why bother having it as an option at all?

CD Projekt Red recently spoke about the fact the game is first person only, noting how it has no regrets over not adding in a third person option, though did say for the sequel it's "yet to see." I do hope they make the decision to let people play in third person, not just so we can all see the characters we spent so much time crafting, but for accessibility purposes. Plus, I don't want to be staring right into NPCs' blank, expressionless faces all the time. It creeps me out.