If you’re someone who wants a visual of your character, but are unsure of how to go about it, here are some of my personal recommendations. Please note that generally this is meant to be a guide for use with any setting, however some settings will work better than others(and some options will work better with some settings). It also will generally not work as well in cases where the character has less than human features (for example a lizard-folk, dragonborn, etc.) or in cases where you have a super specific design in mind.
I generally try to keep the options in this to low cost or free, with some options liable to be there due to
Picrew. There are tons of great character maker things on that site. It is basically a site designed around artists making character creators. It has gotten a bit bad with the number of ads on the site now however, so I would generally not suggest approaching it without an ad blocker now.
Here are some personal favorites, and ones that can work well for most things.
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/644129
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2212965
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1706331
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2435758
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1564386
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2346888
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/332600
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/587862
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1855819
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/582810
https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1992727
It’s often worth it to search for a specific fandom on there if you’re after something specific for something like a Star Trek character for example.
Itch.io. Itch.io has a small handful of character creators, often a little hidden, but still there. In my experience, it takes a little digging to find some decent ones. One that I’ll throw out there now is this one, designed to make a Star Trek character.
https://wayne-peters.itch.io/star-trek-miniature-maker
Hero Forge. Hero Forge is a site where you can make custom miniatures. It’s pretty cool. As such, it has a fairly decent, but still simple, character creator. It might not get you something specific, but it certainly can get you something at the very least.
Video Games. There’s a fair bit in this category, as there are a ton of options. I will generally try to stick with low-cost or free options in this category, but I also want to provide a host of options. The ideal is that most of these games are free, or are popular enough that there is a good chance you already own a copy, but that ideal is not always capable of being met.
Sims. Sims 4 is free to play!! It’s generally a pretty decent option, even just the base game. There are also enough Create-a-Sim related mods that if you are interested in, you can dive into. It also goes without saying that having a ton of DLC for the game gives you more options as well. However, for a simple and free option, it works wonders.
Dragons Dogma 2. But isn’t Dragon’s Dogma 2 a 60 dollar game that doesn’t go on sale? It is. That is correct. However, it is a 60 dollar game with a free demo, and that demo is literally just the character creation suite. For both human and cat-folk like characters, this can be a great option. It can also work for other human adjacent characters, like dwarves and the like. The first Dragon’s Dogma is also a decent option.
Dragon Age: Veilguard. Guess what? Just like Dragon’s Dogma 2, Veilguard has a free demo that is just the character creation suite. It’s great for human, dwarf and elven characters. The other games in the series have decent character creation suites, but don’t have the free option Veilguard does.
Cyberpunk 2077. This is on here due to its popularity rather than anything else. It has a decent character creation suite, and can allow for a fair amount of options clothing wise. It is liable to really only work for modern or futuristic human characters of course.
Bethesda RPGs. This is another brief one, as in my opinion, neither have that robust character creation suites, with only really Fallout 4 having one that is worth it. However, they all provide some pretty good options. Starfield is fine, but I found it slightly more limiting than Fallout 4’s suite.
Baldur’s Gate 3. In a list like this, I’d be remiss not to mention BG3. However, I don’t really find it a good alternative to most options on this list to be honest. It’s character creation suite is relatively lacking in the face department. There is no face customization beyond picking a face from about 8 options per species + gender, facial hair, and makeup. It’s still viable, just not terribly so.
WWE Games. This is my personal favorite if I am being honest. The latest WWE games have some insane character creation suites, and have enough stuff to work for a number of settings, although modern and modern adjacent settings will of course have the most luck. Even older games have very robust suites, however lack the image uploading abilities of the current releases.
MMOs. There are a ton of free to play MMOs that can give you a variety of options. Star Trek Online for Star Trek characters (although it pretty dated now lol), Final Fantasy XIV has some decent, albeit somewhat setting specific options, and there are plenty others. More just a decent place to poke around and find something that might work.
Some other honorable mentions. These are ones that I find too setting specific, or too expensive to really recommend. Read Dead Redemption 2’s online mode has an acceptable character creator, but it’s really only applicable to that game’s setting. The Saint’s Row games, especially 3+4 have some good options, albeit fairly stylized and dated. You might have some luck with Dark Souls/Elden Ring character creation, but those work largely just for fantasy characters, and are also fairly tough to work with. Street Fighter 6 has a custom character creator that’s pretty decent. Soul Calibur games post SC III have character creators, but they are somewhat limited, and generally don’t improve terribly much entry to entry (I think SCVI still has some of the same face options that SCIII did). Nioh 2 has a strong character creator, that is then reused in one of the Dynasty Warrior Empire games. Crusader Kings 3 has a pretty good character creator, but it is generally fairly limited to humans, and to medieval settings.