Player character models will now be randomized by gender in Rust. Like your race, gender will be automatically assigned to your Steam account permanently, so you won’t be able to choose whether to be male or female—so just run with whatever you’re automatically assigned with. Apart from aesthetics, it doesn’t make any difference in stats or character capability.
The developers of Rust made the announcement in an update last week stating their intention to implement the new feature. They wrote, “the new player models–including females–are now in, and who you are depends on your SteamID. This update wipes the servers and your blueprints. Have fun!”
Developers Garry Newman and Taylor Reynolds noted that they understand how not being able to choose your gender can be an issue for some players.
“We understand this is a sore subject for a lot of people,” they wrote. “We understand that you may now be a gender that you don’t identify with in real-life. We understand this causes you distress and makes you not want to play the game anymore. Technically nothing has changed, since half the population was already living with those feelings. The only difference is that whether you feel like this is now decided by your SteamID instead of your real life gender.”
In addition to the new gender addition, the devs have added fixes for a variety of gameplay related issues and changes to the way grass looks and behaves, transparent surfaces and fog, and a ton of map updates.
You can check out screenshots from the new terrain below.