Starfield is Oddly Missing One Beloved Customization Feature

Summary

Starfield stands out from other RPGs due to its emphasis on player freedom, allowing them to design their character, make story-altering decisions, and explore the open world.
However, the game lacks a transmog feature, preventing players from customizing their outfit appearances, which is unusual for a modern RPG.
The omission of transmog goes against Starfield's focus on player freedom, and Bethesda should consider adding the feature in a future update to enhance its freeform gameplay.

Since Starfield is a Bethesda RPG, players are given immense control to be who they want to be within its universe. They have numerous tools to design their unique character, they can make all sorts of decisions that affect the flow of the story, and they are able to do almost anything they want within the game's massive open world. While it may not be as freeform as some RPGs, the player freedom in Starfield helps it stand out from the crowd.

Starfield may be built around the concept of player freedom, yet it seems to be lacking in one key area. While players can decide who they want to be, they cannot really decide what they want to wear. The game prioritizes stats over looks, and it does not seem to give players a way to change their outfit appearances at all. Transmog has become an important part of RPGs over the years, so it seems strange that Bethesda would omit the feature from its biggest RPG to date.

Starfield Could Use A Transmog Feature

Just like with every RPG, Starfield is filled with cosmetics waiting to be discovered. Players are able to equip various everyday outfits as well as spacesuits and space helmets. Most of the outfits look vastly different from each other, which lets players express themselves however they want within the game's world. However, these outfits are also tied down by stats that could give players an edge during their Starfield adventures.

Every outfit in Starfield has its own stat block that players will want to be aware of when they are dressing up for their adventure. Many of them also have unique bonuses for things like health, intimidation checks, and O2 levels. While this is nothing new for RPGs, Bethesda has left out the ability to actually transmog outfits. Instead of letting the player decide how they want to look, they are forced to wear whatever outfit is the most useful depending upon how they are playing the game.

The lack of a transmog option feels like a strange choice as Starfield seems to put a lot of emphasis on player freedom. They can build their own ships, make all sorts of game-changing decisions, and even have the ability to decide their character's background for the very first time. These are all great additions to the Bethesda RPG formula. However, not including transmog seems to go against that entire approach. It prevents players from truly being who they want to be, and that needs to be fixed.

Transmog is an important part of RPGs these days, which is why Starfield needs to include it. That said, it's fully likely that the mod community will attend to that request in some way. Players should have the freedom to apply whatever look they want to an outfit and not be locked to whatever appearance that outfit has for its stats alone. When games like Hogwarts Legacy, World of Warcraft, and Cyberpunk 2077 have transmog mechanics, there does not seem to be a good reason why Starfield left it out.

While it is too late to go back and add the feature at launch, Bethesda should definitely consider adding it in a future Starfield update. The studio may have never included a feature like this in its past single-player RPGs, but it is about time it did. Giving players the ability to transmog would take Starfield's freeform gameplay to new heights, as long as it does not come in the form of purchasable cosmetics akin to Fallout 76's Atomic Shop items. The feature should simply be a free addition to the formula, and players would likely run wild with it.