diff --git a/client/tests/test_character_visual_sprint28.gd b/client/tests/test_character_visual_sprint28.gd
index 94e184b81..ef049d8a9 100644
--- a/client/tests/test_character_visual_sprint28.gd
+++ b/client/tests/test_character_visual_sprint28.gd
@@ -21,6 +21,43 @@
 class_name TestCharacterVisualSprint28
 extends GdUnitTestSuite
 
+
+## ============================================================================
+## SKIPPED 2026-07-27 — 3D character representation is not under active work.
+## ============================================================================
+##
+## Jeroen's call, during the Phase-4 Atlas work: nothing in this suite's subject
+## (the CharacterVisual 3D compositor) is being changed, and it is by a wide
+## margin the most expensive thing in the client suite.
+##
+## THE NUMBERS, measured 2026-07-27 across all 86 suites:
+##   this suite    50.0s /  26 tests  (~1.9s per test)  <- 37% of the whole run
+##   all 86 suites 127.1s / 3660 tests
+##   the other 78  ~33s   / 3450 tests
+## Every test here instantiates a fresh CharacterVisual Node3D and loads the
+## skeleton .glb plus body/skin-tone assets, so the cost is asset loading per
+## test, not assertion count.
+##
+## WHY `__is_skipped` AND NOT A HARDCODED PASS. A test that returns success
+## without exercising anything reports as COVERAGE — it inflates the pass count
+## and reads, to anyone scanning the summary, exactly like a suite that ran and
+## was fine. gdUnit4's own suite-skip reports these 26 as SKIPPED in the
+## statistics line instead, so the number stays honest and the omission stays
+## visible in every run. It also short-circuits before before()/the test bodies
+## (GdUnitTestSuiteExecutionStage: `if __is_skipped: fire_test_suite_skipped`),
+## so the 50s is genuinely reclaimed rather than merely hidden.
+##
+## TO RE-ENABLE: delete this `_init()`. Nothing else was changed — every test
+## below is intact and was passing when skipped. Do that the moment 3D
+## character work resumes (Phase 5 player rendering at the latest), and prefer
+## fixing the per-test compositor rebuild over leaving it skipped for cost.
+func _init() -> void:
+	__is_skipped = true
+	__skip_reason = (
+		"3D character representation is not under active development"
+		+ " (skipped 2026-07-27, ~50s of the client suite; delete _init() to restore)"
+	)
+
 const COMPOSITOR_PATH := "res://scripts/rendering/character_visual.gd"
 const SKIN_TONES_DIR := "res://assets/characters/skin_tones/"
 const BODIES_DIR := "res://assets/characters/bodies/"