What you can customize for Hawks

EA and Bit Reactor explicitly confirm these choice groups:

  • species
  • first name
  • appearance
  • clothing
  • masculine or feminine voice presentation
  • Specialization
  • additional cosmetic and identity options shown in the creator

The official final-trailer article names eight species available for Hawks and hired Operators: Devaronian, Human, Neimoidian, Ovissian, Togruta, Twi'lek, Weequay, and Zabrak.

Most in-game cinematics are rendered in real time, so your customized Hawks appears in the story rather than being replaced by a fixed pre-rendered model.

Choices that affect combat

Your Specialization sets the Operator's combat role and abilities. Your Weapon Class changes range, damage profile, and Action Point use. These are the choices to consider mechanically; appearance and clothing are cosmetic.

Species is not a hidden optimization choice. The developers state that no species or faction has better weapon proficiency, specifically to avoid forcing players toward one identity for a statistical advantage.

If you are new to turn-based tactics, EA's class guide points to Soldier or Assault with a Blaster Rifle as straightforward starting combinations. That is an onboarding suggestion, not a permanent best build. See the classes and weapons guide before choosing.

Custom Operators versus authored Operators

Authored Operators join through the story and have established personalities, histories, and voiced scenes. Custom Operators are recruited by you and can be customized in appearance, clothing, voice, and name. You can choose how heavily your deployed squads lean toward either type.

Custom recruit names and backstories can be edited directly. Nicknames are not earned through an XCOM 2-style nickname progression system.

What cannot change

Hawks remains the protagonist. They must deploy on story missions, and their death causes the mission to fail and restart. Skirmish missions can use any valid combination of other Operators. The broader campaign also remains linear even though your roster choices affect Bonds and some character scenes.