2y ago

GOOD games with female protagonists?

yes, i know, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and horizon zero dawn exist, and id rather i dont know them, so what else you got?

254 comments

Control is great.
- Jessie is great.
  Quantum Break would have been twice as good, if you'd played as Beth (same actor).

Recently played Control. Had a blast!
- Control is one of my favourite games. Had he hooked from start to end. Great suggestion 💯
- This game is insanely good. The different ways you can engage in and approach combat makes this really fun just to fuck around in and kill hiss guys.
  
  I may be biased by a personal history of bad encounters in the workplace, but the way one can deck those hoards of pesky hiss mob with whatever falls under hand is CATHARTIC.
- This was one of those games I thought was alright when it came out. When all the DLC came out I played through it again and really enjoyed it. But recently I did one last playthrough, and at this point, I think it might be my favorite game?

The Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. I love me some Jennifer Hale as Commander Shepard.

Portal and Portal 2

All of the Metroid games. Those are a blast.
- Thank you. I was scrolling too much to see this. My immediate thought was Metroid. Samus has been running and gunning since the NES console.

Try Life is Strange: an emotional coming of age game about a photography student with the ability to rewind time. One of my favorites.

-Control
-A Hat in Time
-Celeste
-Shantae (Pirates Curse and Risky's Revenge are my favs)
-Touhou Luna Nights
-Returnal
-Portal 1/2 if that counts
- Just wanted to add that Celeste is one of the best games to get into speedrunning.
  Unlike most games the dev actively worked with the speedrunning community and made the game as accessible as possible.
  You're timed by the ingame clock and it pauses in between chapters so you can take a breather without affecting your time.
  Here's what it looks like (My PB) I learned by doing 1 run a day and slowly improving (as well as watching other runners)
  https://lemmy.world/post/392616?scrollToComments=true
- A Hat in Time!!! It's like an old school n64 platformer, but so solid and well polished. Both my 11year old son and myself have 100s of hours in it

Portal, Portal 2. Bonus points for also having a female antagonist and passing the bechdel test
- Does it pass the bechdel test? Chell doesn't speak.
  
  She tries to say "Apple" it's not her fault that severe brain damage causes her to respond nonverbally

How has nobody mentioned the Metroid games yet?
- Because the only time they gave Samus a significant amount of dialog, they turned her into a mewling idiot.

I know it's already been said, but Control is one of my favorite games ever and it has a well-written female protagonist. It's a must-play.
Also Returnal.

Life is Strange games! More story then anything, and the dialog is a bit cringy these days but there's really no other games like it and I highly recommend them.
- Specifically the first game (unarguably the best one), its prequel, and True Colours. Life Is Strange 2 has two brothers, instead. They're all very, very good games that all have made me cry (some multiple times).
  They're also pretty gay if that interests you.
- Yeah, these were the very first games I thought of. The first Life Is Strange is one of my two favorite games from the last decade.
- I can't speak highly enough of the original Life is Strange game. Although I cannot possibly replay it because I don't want to feel those feelings again.
- You'll love them if you liked old-school adventure games. I grew up on DOS point-and-click games and it was like a refreshing modern twist on those. Great music and angsty, moody atmosphere, too.
- I’ll add Tell Me Why to that recommendation. It was developed by the same studio as LiS, and it has a similar vibe and gameplay. It’s also free on Steam for the rest of Pride month!
- Yes I loved Life is Strange and Before the Storm. I haven't played the rest, but those two games stories were really good. It was cringe back then too, but that's what made it awesome sauce.

I just finished Control and it's really good! Jesse is a strong female lead and there's no male option like some games.
- For anyone unaware, Control feels like a triple-A SCP game. Which should appeal strongly to anyone who enjoys SCP.
  
  I love sane clown posse. thank you I will check this out
- Seconding Control. One of my favorites.
  
  I would third control. I picked it up from the Humble female protagonist bundle and it was fantastic, loved everything about it.
  Once you unlock all the powers the combat and exploration really open up, and the game still has a significant bit of story left giving you time to have some fun with them.
  Also loved the environmental lore, all the notes and the vids with Dr. Darling are great. Highly recommend the game.
- Definitely. Control is an absolutely fantastic game!
- Hell yeah! Jesse is such a badass

Control.
One of the best games I've ever played, and I don't play many games. I've even replayed it twice. Criminally underrated female protagonist with a super cool story :))
edit: sorry didnt see its been suggested a trillion times :c
- it's worth suggesting it a trillion times though.

Subnautica (obviously?) - Female protagonist trying to survive long enough to figure out what happened to her sister on a frozen planet.
Gris - A very lovely and emotional story about grief.
- Just to be explicit, Subnautica: Below Zero is the entry featuring the female protagonist, Robin, not the first game.

There are several pages in this thread so these might've been mentioned already, but
Mirror's Edge, the original.
Tomb Raider (2013) and up
If you enjoy the Ubisoft formula, Far Cry 6
Saints Row 2 and up
Mass Effect franchise before Andromeda
- Mirror's edge catalyst is criminally underrated you can't change my mind
- I did enjoy fc5 Sadly 6 just didnt click for me

metroid
returnal
beyond good and evil
the FFXIII trilogy (yes they're good and I'll fight anyone that says otherwise)
Bayonetta
A lot of the Resident Evils
Celeste, bonus points for being very gay as well
Half-Life: Alyx
Tales of Berseria (if you like anime stuff. the protag's outfit is trash but she's probably the best Tales MC IMO)
Telltale's Walking Dead
Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The female protag is canon as far as I'm concerned
Night in the Woods
Control
Nier Automata
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Signalis
- Great list. I would also say most RPGs, if they're any good, will give you the choice -- Mass Effect, Skyrim, Pillars of Eternity, the Divinity games, etc.
  Lots of adventure games as well -- The Longest Journey/Dreamfall games, Life is Strange, Whispers of a Machine, etc.
  Honestly, the number of games where you're trapped playing a lantern-jawed, grunty doofus is way, way less overwhelming than it used to be, which I really appreciate.
- It's funny, I really liked the outfit for Berseria. Something about a not well-groomed-in-the-middle-of-fights look stood out from the crowd.
- Kena is so good
  
  i actually haven't finished it! i need to get back to that. it was surprisingly difficult
- Shoutout to signalis, can't believe I had to scroll so far to find it mentioned. It's probably the single game that had the most impact in me in the last year.
  Amazing soundtrack, story, themeing, and has a lot of respect for its inspirations whilst greatly building upon them. Chopin's prelude in d is forever etched in my mind and this is now my favorite quote:
  Great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
A Plague Tale (franchise)
Tomb Raider (franchise)
Horizon Zero Dawn
Bayonetta
Control
Fatal Frame (franchise)
Nier (franchise)
- Absolute yes to Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice!
- Fatal Frame my beloved! Love most of that series _{*Except 5*}

There's a lot of great recs in here! A few that I don't see posted yet:
Gone Home is a highly atmospheric exploration game where you play as Katie, a girl investigating her family's house after she arrives home and finds it empty. FYI in case you're with me in the "easily frightened" camp: this one can be just a little tense/scary in that "alone in the house at night" kind of way, but it's decidedly not a horror game.
A Short Hike is a(n unsurprisingly) short and sweet little game where you play as Claire, a bird who goes on a little hike/adventure through, essentially, an island nature preserve. One of my go-to "relax and feel good feelings" replays.
Bayonetta was already mentioned, but I'd specifically like to call out Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. It's a quite different game from other Bayonetta installments, with creepy-cute fairy tale vibes and somewhat unique controls.

Portal

Scrolled through the comments, how has no one not mentioned A Plague Tail? Amazing story from a woman's perspective
- A plague tale series is awesome! Great characters, cool and weird story, and wonderful mechanics that are constantly challenging without being annoying. Highly recommend
- Yeah was thinking same thing until reached your comment

I definitely have to add another vote for Celeste. The mental health theme was incredibly well done and it's one of the most memorable games I've ever played.
Dishonored 2. Haven't played through much of it because my laptop is a bit weak, but loved the first one.
I'm very much looking forward to Hades 2, and hope it won't be too much longer before we see some more news on it! I would like to try Transistor sometime too, as I've heard good things about it.
- Dishonored 2 was great with Emily and is the play through I went with, and the DLCs is excellent with also a woman lead. I need to actually replay it with Corvo.

RetroPi -> Tomb Raider
Get off my lawn
Also NOLF but you can’t run it on anything anymore.
I am old.
- Was looking for this, also old xD. The new tomb raiders are fun too its just the ps1 versions were classics.
  
  Is it worth going back to the original PS1 Tomb Raider if I played through Anniversary already?

Assassins Creed: Odyssey. Cassandra is my muscle mommy.
- Kassandra has awakened things in me that I didn't know were there. OK, that's a lie, I already knew.
- Evie Fry from AC Syndicate was great, but all the cut scenes were the brother.
  Max from Life is Strange.

Portal?

Mass Effect! FemShep is amazing!

Satisfactory
- If we are doing the "protagonist is technically female even though it changes nothing for the plot" we have to add portal
  
  Yeah we should! Most games listed here could have switched the character gender without making changes to the plot as such.
  But it does make a difference, so I think they should be included. Even in the extreme example like Satisfactory, where you barely see what your quiet protagonist looks like, it's make a lot of people happy that the character just is female without it being pointed out or sexed up. It's also made a few people from the Expected Crowd confused and annoyed, which is healthy.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark (think Final Fantasy Tactics) https://store.steampowered.com/app/699170/Fell_Seal_Arbiters_Mark/
Final Fantasy VI https://store.steampowered.com/app/1173820/FINAL_FANTASY_VI/
- I was going to suggest FFVI as well! I would also suggest the Trails in the Sky series as the first 2 games focus on the female protagonists Estelle.

Many good choices here. I didn't see Half Life Alyx here yet. It is an amazing game which alone is almost worth the cost of VR.
- ID rather not shell out up to and above 1k for an enthusiast item for people with too much money, but thank you
  
  Well yes but have you considered that the game is fucking amazing
  
  $300 for a Quest 2. Only drawback is its Facebook infested.
  
  Get a 2nd hand CV1
  
  Haven't tried it but there is this: https://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-alyx-novr
- This game is amazing. I borrowed Index from a friend to play it and I loved every minute of it.
- to be clear you mean more so the worth of a quest 2 rather than an index, right?
  
  I can't stand wired VR anyways

Returnal, a rogue like 3rd person shooter (sort of bullet hell) with a scifi alien setting and a mindfuck story. It's one of my favorite games I've played in years, both for the story and gameplay. I can't recommend it enough.
If you're familiar with the story of the first Last of Us game, Last of Us 2 is great and is centered around Ellie.
- Returnal is what I was going to reply with? Seriously enjoyed it and its bizarre story

Does Crosscode count? I bought it on sale after hearing how good it is and so far sunk 40 hours in easily. Characters interact very well with one another and the combat system is high paced but accessable. Lots of great puzzles and the over arcing story is engaging.
- Never got around to that one for one reason or another, ill see about that one

In approximate order of how strongly I recommend but all are recommended
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Epistory
Tales of Berseria
Tangle Tower (Pair of male and female protagonists through the whole game and they are very balanced for screentime)
Wargroove
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
Crypt of the Necrodancer
The Stillness of the Wind
Sable
Tsioque
The Flame in the Flood
The World Next Door
Never Alone
One Step from Eden

Mirrors Edge/Catalyst? Sorry I missed it’s already mentioned.
Phantasy Star On-Line New Genesis (male and female characters).
- Ugh Catalyst. I really enjoyed the first one but they messed up in Catalyst: I don't want to sit in front of a loading screen each time I mess up a run. Great game otherwise but those screens made me drop it prematurely.
  Portal is an often overlooked masterpiece with female protagonist -- and antagonist, even.
  Tomb Raider, of course. Satisfactory has a female protagonist though there's even less characterisation than in Portal.
  I've heard great things about both Celeste and Alien Isolation in their own way, though didn't play them.
  Then there's a gazillion of games which are neutral, either by giving you a choice (say, Cyberpunk and a gazillion other RPGs) or you can project whatever gender you want into the PC (say, Factorio).
- How was catalyst? I loved mirrors edge but the reviews in catalyst warned me off. Did you like it?

Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Not even out yet still probably the number one answer.

Celeste

technically any MMO (or other RPG) that lets you build a female character, but I would say FFXIV as there are a lot of interesting female secondary protags.
Hmm, by that standard, Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous both qualify, though opinions on the NPC companions vary.
Nier: Automata
Immortals: Fenyx Rising
A couple of the Star Ocean games let you choose between a Male or Female protag.
- Related, but the Mass Effect protagonist can be male or female, but most people say the female voice actor is better, so it's not just a cosmetic choice it's actually the superior experience.
  Or so I've heard. I only played as the female protagonist based on hearing this.
  
  I tried a MaleShep run once, made it an hour or two. Mark Meer's delivery makes it sound like they just left the placeholder track in the final release.
  
  Same thing with Cyberpunk 2077, I've heard playing as the female V has better VO.

Celeste is a classic. It's a platformer. Really amazing game.
Chorus is a space dogfighting game. It has a great core gameloop but imo it is missing out on side content and story.

Ms Pac Man obviously
- That's Pac Man in drag. I'd allow it, but how strict are the rules here?
  
  Good question.
  You just destroyed my childhood by the way

Definitely Celeste

The Longest Journey, 1999.
- Ooh, this is a good one. I had already forgotten about this. The original game was really good, but the sequels were kinda all over the place.

I enjoyed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. It's a bit shorter than U4, but still worth playing. I liked Chloe and Nadine together.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey female lead is canon, although you have the choice to play the male as well.
- Same for Valhalla. Which interestingly canonically has a female player character for the vast majority of the game (the "real world"), but a male lead for the shorter Norse mythology parts of the game. There's a lore reason for it. Though the game does let you actually choose whichever gender you want for either part (but it does recommend the canonical choices). The modern day character is also a woman and has been since Origins.
  For an older style AC game, AC Syndicate has you play as opposite gender twins in Victorian London. It's one of my favourite AC games. You do have to play as both twins for some length of the game, but a significant amount of the game lets you choose which to play as (and Evie is more fun to play IMO).

All the Metroid games, especially the 2D ones. If you like a good metroidvania, well, you can't go wrong with the game that created the genre.
I did not see Celeste mentioned, but if you're at least one bit into platforming, this gem is an absolute must-play. And must listen, I have the OST on repeat since it came out.
If beat them all are your jam, you need to play some P games, and the ones with a female protagonist are the Bayonetta. Heavily sexualized, but to a point where it becomes some kind of parody of itself, you have to embrace the aesthetic. The rhythm is frantic, the scenario barely understandable, the action way over-the-top, and the combat gameplay tight as hell.
In more standard AAA waters, the two Tomb Raider reboots are pretty good, although a bit heavy on male-gaze.
Back to the indy side, What Remains of Edith Finch is a first person narrative game, in which you'll play as different characters. But the main ones are girls, and it matters in the plot.

Besides me wanting to immediately say things like Metroid, Celeste, Tomb Raider, Life is Strange and such.
Games I enjoyed
Cat Lady / Lorelai
DOS2 (technically you can just play Sebille and Lohse stories)
fault milestone (incomplete)
anything by Christine Love (visual novels)
Transistor
Then other random games I can think of that I didn't see listed
Fatal Frame
Bleed
They Bleed Pixels
Franbow
Beyond Good and Evil
Beyond Two Souls
Indivisible
Hatsune Miku games? (lol)
Potionomics
Alice Madness Returns
Tandem: A Tale of Shadows
Gris
Little Misfortune
Crypt of the Necrodancer
Neptunia series
Saintmaker
And I should stop before I am here all day thinking... lol
- I second Transistor as an INCREDIBLE game.
  Gris and Crypt of the Necrodancer were great too. Though I’ve yet to finish either. Loosely in the vein of Gris, I enjoyed both monument valleys too.

Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm are some of my favorites.
- I loved True Colors as well.
  
  The only reason I didn't mention it is I haven't played it. Not sure I'm ready for another round of emotional decimation just yet lol
- I've only played True Colors, but it was also really good.

Great list from @mint@beehaw.org, just a few more:
Gris is an absolute gem.
The A Plague Tale duology is also up there (with Requiem being my favourite game of all time, so I'm extremely biased, sorry / not sorry :D).

The Last of Us: Part II !

beyond good and evil is great

Mirror's Edge is a good one I haven't seen mentioned yet. A bit older by this point but it was a fun one.
Transistor is another great one. The gameplay was fine but the art and sound is incredible.
- I vouch for Transistor, one of my all times favorite game! (narration, music, plot, graphics are all amazing)
  And I am pretty sure you can soon add Hades 2 to the list. It is from the same devs (Supergiant) and will have a female protagonist!

Returnal.
- You literally play as the baddest removed in the galaxy.

Silent Hill 3 has a great female protagonist imo, but you have to play Silent Hill 1 to get the gist of the story in 3.
- I a tually have sh1 on the list of games to stream, will add sh3

Can I suggest some great novel games?
**VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action **
play as a bartender and change outcomes of stories by providing different drinks
Fatal Twelve
death game, mystery, lesbian couple as main character, one of the best

254 comments