Video games have taught me thatI’m actually super interested in fashion and character design. What a character wears tells us so much about them as a person and good character design can further inform a narrativewithout having to say a word. I love any game where you can unlock alternate outfits because it gives you a look into what else might be in a character’s wardrobe.
Playing dress-up in gamesis always a lot of fun, but I only ever like it in theory. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to collect every alternate outfit and examine them with a fine-tooth comb in the menus, however, you’ll catch me dead before I let any of my party leave the dressing room with something that isn’t the default outfit on.
So Many Looks, But None Of Them Make Sense
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has some excellent alternate outfitsfor its cast. You can dress up like a mime and give Gustave a baguette to strap to his back just in case you forgot that the game is, in fact, made by French developers. There are old-timey swimsuits to be found, berets, sunglasses, and plenty of alternate haircuts for the entire cast, but I just can’t ever let the party take off their default expedition outfits.
I feel the same way aboutthe Persona series. you’re able to dress up the rag-tag group of high schoolers in outfits from other Persona games, their school clothes, tuxedos, you name it, but it always feels like a major breach of character to let them run around in anything other than their default looks.
My problem with alternate outfits stems from the fact that they always feel like fourth-wall-breaking cosmetics. Why would Lune be wearing a swimsuit during a harrowing life-or-death mission? Why would Junpei wear a tuxedo and top hat while exploring Tartarus?Why would Ellie be wearing a Sly Cooper t-shirt?These outfits are obviously meant to be jokes or a nod to the player, but they break the immersion of a story for me since it doesn’t make sense for most characters to wear something other than their intentionally designed outfit.
Getting Back To Business
The only time I’ll dress characters up in anything other than the default look is when alternate outfits make sense in the story or when fashion is otherwise emphasized.Stellar Blade, for example,has plenty of alternate outfits for Eve to wearand a lot of them complement the original character design, so it would make sense for her to wearsomeof those alternate looks.
Some of Eve’s outfits, however, totally fell into the immersion-breaking category that I avoid when playing games, so there’s nuance to it.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2has a lot of alternate suits for Peter and Miles to wear. I liked finding and reading about each outfit’s comic lore, however, I never kept most of them on for longer than a few side missions since it wouldn’t make narrative sense for a veteran Spider-Man to bewearing a zip-up hoodie and red knee-high socks, even though the outfit is a perfect recreation of Peter’s homemade suit from Spider-Man: Homecoming.
When games emphasize outfit collection, I’ll slip my characters out of their default outfits and into something a little more casual, but when it’s time to pick up the story again, I’m all business.
My fear is that, by wearing alternate outfits, I’ll turn a serious moment in a game into the ‘when your custom character is in a cutscene’ meme. It’s hard to take the bleakness and despair of Clair Obscur’s plot too seriously when baguettes are strapped to everyone’s back like the Master Sword.
