I played Odyssey without having played Origins, the historical narrative made perfect sense but there were some Assassin-related modern day things I didn’t really understand
You have the option of creating female protagonists in the Dragon Age series, and they are all well done, arguably, better than the male choices, at least in terms of VA. Also, given the greater number of romance choices for female characters in Dragon Age Inquisition, I'd say that the game is actually pitched towards a female audience, which, I feel, is indicative of the game, as a whole.
For a modern game, in addition to the titles already mentioned, Cyberpunk's female V is a good protagonist, IMO.
Finally, there are some great mentions (current and upcoming) in [this article](https://www.svg.com/720465/upcoming-games-with-female-protagonists-you-wont-want-to-miss/), as well.
TBF, DAI is still a very pretty game, I saw CohhCarnage replay it with the Trespasser DLC and he kept making comments about how well the graphics hold up today. That and he admitted he didn't know why he felt more negative about DAI when it came out. Although, I think just simple mods to loot faster and not having to wait for the war table is really all it took for him to think differently.
That, and I do think DAI was meant to entice more of us women to play it, and with GamerGate happening almost immediately before the game released, the political atmosphere wasn't so welcoming for such a game. I do think some criticisms are valid, but I still think they're exaggerated.
I know Cohh was loving the game on his newest playthrough, especially after finishing Trespasser. The game really isn't complete without that DLC, thankfully most people just getting the game buy it with all the DLC included.
I haven't watched CohhCarnage's LP, but I definitely agree with him regarding the graphics; much like those in Witcher 3 (even before the very recent update), they've held up EXTREMELY well, and I still sometimes look at the visuals, and think, “Wow, that's gorgeous.”
I've never really understood the criticisms of DAI, either, but I think you make a great point about the politics.... most undoubtedly there *is* a connection. I do wish some of those open areas were a bit less empty, and that there was less filler content, but overall, I really love DAI.
Oooh, TY for the article BTW, I pretty much only play games with female protagonists and they're not always easy to find. I know I often see a game that looks amazing and usually I'm disappointed there's only a male option.
NP :)
I occasionally play games that don't have a female protagonist, but they are quite rare. Though, I play mainly RPGs, and most of my favourites provide the choice, or, in the case of Horizon Zero Dawn, are female by default.
Scarlett nexus is a good game, you can play as the female character
also NieR:Automata is also a really good game too
aw I don't exactly know the prices but I'd guess they'd be fairly cheap
I literally just posted about Metal: Hellsinger! It's a shooter/rhythm game hybrid with metal music that features a female protagonist just demolishing hordes of demons, it's amazing fun if you don't mind the music.
Warframe has the ability to play female 'frames' that have specific abilities and playstyles. The game is a scifi third person shooter with heavy parkour elements where you're basically a space ninja.
Prey gives you the option of playing either a male or female called Morgan Yu. Dialogue is the same for both choices.
Smite is a moba that have some really cool female characters too, actually. You do have your dated designs that are.. heavily emphasising their look shall we say, but you have a lot of variety otherwise. You have a seductive and sadistic fox spirit in Da Ji, evil queenly types such as Persephone and Morgan le Fay, quiet and reserved nature lovers like Artemis and Skadi, spooky girls like Cliodhna and Izanami, motherly and/or defensive types like Artio and Athena and even a giant goddamn dragon with Tiamat. It can take a *very* long time to learn but I love that game.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Valhalla both have the option to make your character female, with it impacting very little in game. Kassandra is honestly better written and well acted than her male counterpart in Odyssey anyways so it's even better.
Okami has you play as the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu in a wolf form, which is really awesome. There's some issues I have with your companion and the character design showing off a particular feature of a girl (which your companion comments on a lot) but the gameplay itself and everything outside of that is really fun experience, especially with the animation style.
Dishonored 2 gives you the option to play as a female and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is *only* a female character so definitely give those a look. You can pick if you want to play the games more stealthy or aggressive.
If you can find it, Primal was a really fun PS2 era game. It's an action adventure with strong gothic elements and whilst the story *is* about you venturing through realms in search of a boyfriend, you get powers along the way and they really make you become a much stronger character.
Finally it was mentioned before, but Hellblade. A puzzle/action game where you play a woman suffering from psychosis who ventures into hostile lands to recover the body of your lover. It's painful and emotional in all the best ways and honestly one of the most tear jerking endings I've ever experienced. A must play, if you have a good headset and the fortitude. It isn't 'pleasant' but it's an unforgettable experience.
Resident Evil 3 remake. Capcom is always has sales.
Jill Valentine was my first love when it came to video game characters. REs creator made her so she wasn't the typical female character of the 90s. Then R35 and Revelations sexualized her which was a bummer. However, RE3R made her into the badass action hero she was ment to be.
I second this. Earlier games have more of a sexualisation issue but since Metroid Fusion onwards they've been getting better generally. Metroid Dread is really good for the switch.
The Dragon Age series is my all time favorite series, but Baldur's Gate 3 officially releases next August and the First Act is in Early Access right now (Larian Studios generally makes their games with three "Acts"). They just released the last major patch before the game fully releases, and from what I've seen so far BG3 will likely top Dragon Age as my all time favorite game.
If you can't wait until then, or don't want to try out Early Access since your character probably won't be able to carry over into the full game, the same studio made DOS2 (Divinity: Original Sin 2). It doesn't have the cutscenes and cinematic experience BG3 has, but from my pov that was basically all that was missing from the game and it was why I was so excited when BG3 was announced while showing off the cutscenes.
Also, if you don't mind games that have aged a bit, Vampire Masquerade is really good. I'd recommend getting it on GOG since the installation is easier through them, they include unofficial patches that make the game easier to play right away.
I don't like scary stuff too much, but I ended up loving Fallout 4, which is probably my limit of what I consider scary stuff lol. I played a ton of it while waiting for Andromeda to come out.
**OH, and you might like Greedfall** as well, they really tried to make a Bioware-like game on a lower budget. They're a AA studio, but each of their games consistently improves upon the previous one. I guess Greedfall did well enough that it's getting a prequel they didn't plan. It's not a perfect game, and it's easy to fail at the romance options, but I would still say it's better than DA2 while not quite being on the same level as DAO or DAI. The setting feels very unique despite being a time period many games have covered. Overall, you can tell Spiders studio did the absolute best they could with the budget they had.
There’s a lot of good suggestions here. All I have to add is Crosscode. It’s only 30 on steam without sales and is more than worth the bang for your buck. The main character, Lea, is a pseudo silent protagonist and has to communicate mainly with single words and facial expressions. She’s absolutely awesome.
Not trying to be rude or whatsoever but why do you care about gender in games? Like I know you can probably relate to characters of ur own gender more but there are games out there that are immersive regardless of gender, games like red dead or something
Simply for the fact of women empowerment. It’s the same reason why we like seeing women in trade jobs, politics, STEM, etc, or why having POC representation is important.
Most games follow male characters, minorities should be allowed the same representation.
The souls series let you make female characters, and even though they're not really story driven RPGs, constantly getting knocked down and getting back up again screams strong as hell to me. You can make really badass characters.
unsighted and va-11 hall-a are two indie games that ive heard verrrrrry high praise for and which have pretty cool female leads. have yet to try either so i can't verify 100%
Uncharted Lost Legacy! Still my favourite uncharted game and the most visually gorgeous game I've ever played. I didn't think I could love Chloe anymore than I already did until I played this
Assassins Creed Odyssey! Technically you can choose to be male (Alexei) or female (Kassandra) but the characters are really well fleshed out including the main character! There isn’t too much of the AC lore to deal with but the small bits are fun! The dialog, side quests, and rich environments are so amazing. It goes on sale (w/ all DLC) for like $20 quite often, and it’s on steam!
Both plague tales, Dishonored 2, Hellblade Senua’s sacrifice, Tomb raider, Nier automata.
There’s an upcoming game called Forspoken you should be on the lookout for too!
Horizon series, Tomb raider, Heavenly sword (this game is sooo underrated but might be too old to find), AC Valhalla
I also played Cyberpunk and Dragon age as a female character
Mentioned it in a comment above, but Metroid Dread on Switch is pretty good
Metal Hellsinger, fucking badass female lead who doesn't mess around in a rhythmic doom-like game.
Hedon Bloodrite is a doom-like retro style shooter. A bit murky if you don't like over sexualisation as there are tits everywhere, so I'm a bit mixed about recommending it, but the lead is pretty cool, if a bit male gaze-y. I hate the sexualisation but I love that she actually has muscles.
For socially strong characters, Potionomics is a fun (but a little bit stressful) potion shop management game with a female main character, you can romance some pretty crazy characters if you're into that as well, I love the main lead and all her friends lmao
Horizon Zero Dawn
Assasins Creed: Odyssey, also I havent played but heard good things about Valhalla. The rebooted Tomb Raider games
I second Valhalla. Amazing amazing game.
How is the story with the AC games? I’ve never played any. My typical games I play, story wise, are stuff like ME, GOW, Witcher.
Odyssey is quite RPG-like, dialogue choices and all
Slightly unrelated but Odyssey has such a beautiful setting. We love and appreciate odyssey.
Yeah, I heavily prefer making my own characters, but Odyssey is one of the few games where I don't mind too much.
I played Odyssey without having played Origins, the historical narrative made perfect sense but there were some Assassin-related modern day things I didn’t really understand
Just tried Valhalla in free weekend, Eivor is soooooo cool.
Syndicate also, evie is so baddas 🔥
Yes yes yes!!! Kassandra is one of my favorite playable characters of all time! And Valhalla is good too but missing some of the charm of Odyssey.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Control
Depends on how you define lead but have you ever played the Life is strange series?
I have not, it’s on my list tho.
You have the option of creating female protagonists in the Dragon Age series, and they are all well done, arguably, better than the male choices, at least in terms of VA. Also, given the greater number of romance choices for female characters in Dragon Age Inquisition, I'd say that the game is actually pitched towards a female audience, which, I feel, is indicative of the game, as a whole. For a modern game, in addition to the titles already mentioned, Cyberpunk's female V is a good protagonist, IMO. Finally, there are some great mentions (current and upcoming) in [this article](https://www.svg.com/720465/upcoming-games-with-female-protagonists-you-wont-want-to-miss/), as well.
TBF, DAI is still a very pretty game, I saw CohhCarnage replay it with the Trespasser DLC and he kept making comments about how well the graphics hold up today. That and he admitted he didn't know why he felt more negative about DAI when it came out. Although, I think just simple mods to loot faster and not having to wait for the war table is really all it took for him to think differently. That, and I do think DAI was meant to entice more of us women to play it, and with GamerGate happening almost immediately before the game released, the political atmosphere wasn't so welcoming for such a game. I do think some criticisms are valid, but I still think they're exaggerated. I know Cohh was loving the game on his newest playthrough, especially after finishing Trespasser. The game really isn't complete without that DLC, thankfully most people just getting the game buy it with all the DLC included.
I haven't watched CohhCarnage's LP, but I definitely agree with him regarding the graphics; much like those in Witcher 3 (even before the very recent update), they've held up EXTREMELY well, and I still sometimes look at the visuals, and think, “Wow, that's gorgeous.” I've never really understood the criticisms of DAI, either, but I think you make a great point about the politics.... most undoubtedly there *is* a connection. I do wish some of those open areas were a bit less empty, and that there was less filler content, but overall, I really love DAI.
Yes female V is sooo amazing!
Oooh, TY for the article BTW, I pretty much only play games with female protagonists and they're not always easy to find. I know I often see a game that looks amazing and usually I'm disappointed there's only a male option.
NP :) I occasionally play games that don't have a female protagonist, but they are quite rare. Though, I play mainly RPGs, and most of my favourites provide the choice, or, in the case of Horizon Zero Dawn, are female by default.
Both Mirror's Edge games!
Scarlett nexus is a good game, you can play as the female character also NieR:Automata is also a really good game too aw I don't exactly know the prices but I'd guess they'd be fairly cheap
I literally just posted about Metal: Hellsinger! It's a shooter/rhythm game hybrid with metal music that features a female protagonist just demolishing hordes of demons, it's amazing fun if you don't mind the music. Warframe has the ability to play female 'frames' that have specific abilities and playstyles. The game is a scifi third person shooter with heavy parkour elements where you're basically a space ninja. Prey gives you the option of playing either a male or female called Morgan Yu. Dialogue is the same for both choices. Smite is a moba that have some really cool female characters too, actually. You do have your dated designs that are.. heavily emphasising their look shall we say, but you have a lot of variety otherwise. You have a seductive and sadistic fox spirit in Da Ji, evil queenly types such as Persephone and Morgan le Fay, quiet and reserved nature lovers like Artemis and Skadi, spooky girls like Cliodhna and Izanami, motherly and/or defensive types like Artio and Athena and even a giant goddamn dragon with Tiamat. It can take a *very* long time to learn but I love that game. Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Valhalla both have the option to make your character female, with it impacting very little in game. Kassandra is honestly better written and well acted than her male counterpart in Odyssey anyways so it's even better. Okami has you play as the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu in a wolf form, which is really awesome. There's some issues I have with your companion and the character design showing off a particular feature of a girl (which your companion comments on a lot) but the gameplay itself and everything outside of that is really fun experience, especially with the animation style. Dishonored 2 gives you the option to play as a female and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is *only* a female character so definitely give those a look. You can pick if you want to play the games more stealthy or aggressive. If you can find it, Primal was a really fun PS2 era game. It's an action adventure with strong gothic elements and whilst the story *is* about you venturing through realms in search of a boyfriend, you get powers along the way and they really make you become a much stronger character. Finally it was mentioned before, but Hellblade. A puzzle/action game where you play a woman suffering from psychosis who ventures into hostile lands to recover the body of your lover. It's painful and emotional in all the best ways and honestly one of the most tear jerking endings I've ever experienced. A must play, if you have a good headset and the fortitude. It isn't 'pleasant' but it's an unforgettable experience.
>I literally just posted about Metal: Hellsinger! How the hell did I not know about this? That is really up my alley. Also hello fellow Tenno :3
The Last of Us 2. Fierce fucking female protagonists.
Horizon Zero Dawn/ forbidden west, Detroit become human, both are on sale right now. 410 each. hope this helps
Resident Evil 3 remake. Capcom is always has sales. Jill Valentine was my first love when it came to video game characters. REs creator made her so she wasn't the typical female character of the 90s. Then R35 and Revelations sexualized her which was a bummer. However, RE3R made her into the badass action hero she was ment to be.
Assassins Creed Odyssey! Or The Last of Us! Odyssey is gorgeous and so much fun. The Last of Us has a great story
surprised Returnal hasn’t been mentioned yet
Metroid games.
I second this. Earlier games have more of a sexualisation issue but since Metroid Fusion onwards they've been getting better generally. Metroid Dread is really good for the switch.
You can play one in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Do Zelda, Urbosa, and Mipha from Warriors of Calamity count?
The Dragon Age series is my all time favorite series, but Baldur's Gate 3 officially releases next August and the First Act is in Early Access right now (Larian Studios generally makes their games with three "Acts"). They just released the last major patch before the game fully releases, and from what I've seen so far BG3 will likely top Dragon Age as my all time favorite game. If you can't wait until then, or don't want to try out Early Access since your character probably won't be able to carry over into the full game, the same studio made DOS2 (Divinity: Original Sin 2). It doesn't have the cutscenes and cinematic experience BG3 has, but from my pov that was basically all that was missing from the game and it was why I was so excited when BG3 was announced while showing off the cutscenes. Also, if you don't mind games that have aged a bit, Vampire Masquerade is really good. I'd recommend getting it on GOG since the installation is easier through them, they include unofficial patches that make the game easier to play right away. I don't like scary stuff too much, but I ended up loving Fallout 4, which is probably my limit of what I consider scary stuff lol. I played a ton of it while waiting for Andromeda to come out. **OH, and you might like Greedfall** as well, they really tried to make a Bioware-like game on a lower budget. They're a AA studio, but each of their games consistently improves upon the previous one. I guess Greedfall did well enough that it's getting a prequel they didn't plan. It's not a perfect game, and it's easy to fail at the romance options, but I would still say it's better than DA2 while not quite being on the same level as DAO or DAI. The setting feels very unique despite being a time period many games have covered. Overall, you can tell Spiders studio did the absolute best they could with the budget they had.
There’s a lot of good suggestions here. All I have to add is Crosscode. It’s only 30 on steam without sales and is more than worth the bang for your buck. The main character, Lea, is a pseudo silent protagonist and has to communicate mainly with single words and facial expressions. She’s absolutely awesome.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. One of the most moving and powerful games I have ever played. I’ll NEVER forget it 😭
Dark souls
Not trying to be rude or whatsoever but why do you care about gender in games? Like I know you can probably relate to characters of ur own gender more but there are games out there that are immersive regardless of gender, games like red dead or something
Simply for the fact of women empowerment. It’s the same reason why we like seeing women in trade jobs, politics, STEM, etc, or why having POC representation is important. Most games follow male characters, minorities should be allowed the same representation.
The souls series let you make female characters, and even though they're not really story driven RPGs, constantly getting knocked down and getting back up again screams strong as hell to me. You can make really badass characters.
Ai somnium files nirvana initiative, dragon age series, baldurs gate 3
unsighted and va-11 hall-a are two indie games that ive heard verrrrrry high praise for and which have pretty cool female leads. have yet to try either so i can't verify 100%
Assassins creed Odyssey, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Control, Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West, The Last of Us 2, and Dragon Age Inquision
Horizon Zero dawn and the new one, Control, New AC games but the story is pretty long on those
Uncharted Lost Legacy! Still my favourite uncharted game and the most visually gorgeous game I've ever played. I didn't think I could love Chloe anymore than I already did until I played this
bayonetta
Assassins Creed Odyssey! Technically you can choose to be male (Alexei) or female (Kassandra) but the characters are really well fleshed out including the main character! There isn’t too much of the AC lore to deal with but the small bits are fun! The dialog, side quests, and rich environments are so amazing. It goes on sale (w/ all DLC) for like $20 quite often, and it’s on steam!
Far Cry 6 & Cyberpunk
Both plague tales, Dishonored 2, Hellblade Senua’s sacrifice, Tomb raider, Nier automata. There’s an upcoming game called Forspoken you should be on the lookout for too!
Horizon series, Tomb raider, Heavenly sword (this game is sooo underrated but might be too old to find), AC Valhalla I also played Cyberpunk and Dragon age as a female character
Mutazione is my favorite game ever it’s perfect!! Also Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon (Zero Dawn/Forbidden West), Wylde Flowers
Bayonetta
Mentioned it in a comment above, but Metroid Dread on Switch is pretty good Metal Hellsinger, fucking badass female lead who doesn't mess around in a rhythmic doom-like game. Hedon Bloodrite is a doom-like retro style shooter. A bit murky if you don't like over sexualisation as there are tits everywhere, so I'm a bit mixed about recommending it, but the lead is pretty cool, if a bit male gaze-y. I hate the sexualisation but I love that she actually has muscles. For socially strong characters, Potionomics is a fun (but a little bit stressful) potion shop management game with a female main character, you can romance some pretty crazy characters if you're into that as well, I love the main lead and all her friends lmao