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While there still is a long way to go to improve representation, we have had some spectacular videogames with female protagonists, and here’s the best of them.
10 Nier: Automata
Nier: Automata is an amazing experience. A part of Yoko Taro’s long-running multimedia Drakengard/Nier series and developed by Platinum Games. You play as 2B, a part of an elite android force fighting a war against alien machines on humanity’s behalf.
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The game has an incredible story, which explores many ideas about humanity, identity, and existence. It also comes with a fantastic combat system and a beautiful soundtrack. It is one of the best games to come out last decade and a must-play for fans of action games.
9 Alien: Isolation
Alien as a franchise has had terrible luck with licensed games. But Alien: Isolation fixed that. The game puts you in Amanda Ripley’s shoes as you try to make your way through an abandoned Nostromo, with the titular Alien hunting you down.
The atmosphere in the game is fantastic. Every encounter with the Xenomorph is absolutely terrifying. Add to that some innovative features and you’ve got one of the best horror games with a female protagonist to date.
8 Bayonetta
Platinum Games are masters at crafting high energy, insane and over the top action games. Bayonetta is one of the games that established that reputation. This game is completely off the rails bonkers, and so very stylish in that cheesy early 2000’s action movie way.
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The combat is spectacular. The story is a little convoluted, but it’s just there as a background to let you beat up on some minor deities. And the soundtrack is the perfect backdrop for all the carnage.
7 Half-Life: Alyx
When Valve announced a new Half-Life game, expectations were through the roof, and rightly so. Half-Life is one of the best games of all time and holds up pretty well even 22 years later, and Half-Life: Alyx continues the trend into VR.
This game feels like the thing that VR games have been missing all this time. The physics, the environments, and the VR experience are all as close to perfect as you can get right now. With Half-Life: Alyx, Valve breathed new life into VR and showed us what a studio with that level of creativity and expertise can do on the platform.
6 Resident Evil 2: Remake
Capcom has been hitting it out of the park lately, and the Resident Evil 2: Remake is no exception. This lovingly upgraded version of the original has you roaming the mazelike Raccoon City Police Station. The station is filled with zombies and monsters to keep you on edge, but the real kicker (pun not intended) is the ever-looming threat of Mr. X.
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The remake is a faithful update of the classic game and playing as Claire Redfield as the main female protagonist has never looked this good.
5 Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a different kind of action game. The hack’n’ slash combat is simple and functional, but the game focuses much more on the story. It follows our protagonist on her journey to fight for the soul of her dead lover.
Along the way, we deal with a variety of mental health issues plaguing her in a powerful, emotional experience. It also helps that the game looks gorgeous. Though the combat is not the best, it’s just good enough to keep you engaged as you follow the journey.
4 Horizon: Zero Dawn
Guerrilla games knocked it out of the park with Horizon: Zero Dawn. This game is one of the best exclusives on the Playstation 4, and that’s saying something. Hunting giant robotic beasts across a huge, varied map feel as good as it sounds.
Aloy’s journey is engaging and captivating from the start and the game throws in so many challenges your way that it’s never dull. And with the complete edition coming to PC and a sequel announced, there is no excuse to not play this masterpiece.
3 Mirror’s Edge
Mirror’s Edge is exhilarating. Running through the corporate nightmare city of Glass with some of the best parkour mechanics gets the adrenaline pumping. The game constantly teases you with death as only parkour can. Once you get the hang of the traversal, you can pull off some spectacular, death-defying stunts as Faith, and find more and more ways to frustrate the enemy soldiers.
At least till you miss a ledge and plummet to your death, but the danger is what makes it so much fun, isn’t it?
2 Dishonored 2
Arkane Games’ sequel to the original Dishonored builds on all the things that made the original so great. You have the option to play as Corvo or Emily from the start, and the world and story are ever so receptive to every choice that you make.
The combat and movement feel smooth and fluid, the story is great and the new smattering of characters and mechanics is wonderful. It gets a little repetitive in the middle, but the moment to moment gameplay is so much fun that you’ll be happy that there’s more of it. Dishonored is one of the best stealth-action franchises around, and Arkane’s future projects look just as interesting if not more.
1 Portal
While Portal is strictly not an action game, it involves lasers, gunfire, rockets, and explosions so why the heck not? It is one of the best games to be made and it still holds up amazingly well.
The interactions and growing irritation of GLaDOS at your getting closer and closer to escaping makes for some of the funniest writing in videogames, and the puzzles are just hard enough to make you feel really smart for solving them. Portal is a modern classic, and for good reason.
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