Aion 2 has arrived, and there's a lot to like if you've got a hankering for a new MMO: meaty combat, challenging boss encounters, a seemingly endless grind for completionists, and, yes, it's free to play. However, one of my very favourite things about it is the character creator.

Like many South Korean MMOs, much love has been poured into Aion 2's character creator. It comes with countless adjustable settings, allowing players to tweak each facial feature to the minutest detail, as well as some truly adventurous facial markings and hair styles. I tend to start every new MMO with a few spins of the character randomiser; fishing for inspiration with each new roll. And with Aion 2, I struck gold.

Suddenly, there he was: a tiny man with bright red eyes and green hair, his gut looming over stumpy legs; a different sort of hero. I rolled up my sleeves and started to finesse: I made his jawline flat and angular, his mouth blobfish wide. I changed his hair to the most irregular option I could find, and giggled at my ridiculous, magnificent creation.

The best video game character creators, I reckon, let you make both beauty and beast. Some people - the vast majority, perhaps - get pleasure making cool protagonists, handsome and strong in a way that plays into the classic hero fantasy. That's okay, obviously. But the freedom to get a bit weird with it offers a different kind of joy.

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