Set an expectation first: No More Room in Hell 2 has a cosmetics system, not a character creator. There is no face sculpting. What you choose is what your Responder wears and carries, plus which starting class you take into a match. Guides describing free-form character creation as a confirmed upcoming feature are working from old information.
What you can customise
The 1.0 update reworked this area, and the changes are specific:
- New outfits, unlocked with either Credits or Merits.
- Two new cosmetic categories: Compass and Flashlight. Previously these were purely functional items; now they have appearance options of their own.
- Every cosmetic option was repriced.
- Cosmetics are now ordered by their level unlock requirement, so the menu reads as a progression rather than a wall.
- A new voice, Wright, was added.
Credits or Merits
Both currencies unlock cosmetics, but they are earned very differently.
Credits come from playing — supplies you extract with convert into them. Merits are free and come only from Assignments. Four Assignments run each week and reset on Tuesday: three give one Merit each plus Credits, and an overall goal gives three Merits.
The exchange rate between them is dramatically in Merits' favour. Some cosmetics priced at several thousand Credits can be had for a handful of Merits. If a cosmetic accepts Merits, paying Credits for it is close to throwing money away.
Known issues with the customisation menu
- Flashlight and Voice can show as unselected when you first open the Customization menu. Cosmetic display bug, not lost items.
- Heavy customisation caused memory crashes, most often when in a squad, when using DLC clothing, and when using items with logos or patterns. The studio's temporary advice at launch was to avoid clothing with logos and patterns entirely.
- Hotfix 1.0.3.1 fixed that crash, along with crashes from exiting the customisation menu too quickly and some items displaying the wrong patterns. If you were avoiding patterned clothing on launch-week advice, you no longer need to.
Starting classes
The other half of what people mean by "characters" is the class you begin a match with.
- There are 26 starting classes as of 1.0.
- Each match offers you a choice of three, drawn at random.
- Each class carries one or two possible starting perks.
- You cannot change class once the match has begun.
The starting perk is meaningful because it sits outside your nine skill picks — it is granted by the class rather than chosen at a level breakpoint.
A warning about published class tables
The most widely circulated table of starting classes and perks is out of date in ways that matter:
- It still lists Teddy Bear and Averaging as starting perks, but the 1.0 update removed both skills from the game. Any class described as having them has something else now.
- It still uses the old difficulty name Casual, which 1.0 renamed to Beginner.
The honest position is that the 1.0 starting perks for the affected classes are unconfirmed. We would rather say that than repeat a table we know contains removed content.
Responder slots and losing a character
Customisation and class choice both attach to a Responder, and Responders are not permanent. If a character dies permanently, its progress goes with it — level, chosen skills and purchased loadout.
Cosmetic unlocks themselves are tied to your account, so you do not lose outfits you have bought. What you lose is the character that was wearing them, along with the loadout you bought for that character specifically. This is why experienced players treat a well-developed Responder as the thing worth protecting, rather than any individual item on it.