So you pick the gender of your main character, and in a fun turn, the male and female Ryder are both people! They are twins, traveling together on this mission, and the one you don't choose ends up in a coma during the game's prologue. So you can customize both of them, and also their father (also a person), so that they can all look alike. Adorable.

Scott Ryder and Sara Ryder are the default names. It goes without saying that I picked Sara Ryder. Also, that's my middle name!

I spent probably an hour on my first game attempting to customize her appearance, because when you choose her default appearance she's a Caucasian with brunette hair but when you choose to customize her appearance she becomes Korean or something. It became a personal challenge to me to attempt to make her non-Asian. I did not succeed.