Mine is Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark N64)
One of my favorite games
(Okay, maybe not protagonist, necessarily…)
She was the best part. It can slide
Aloy from the Horizon series
I decided recently that the horizon series has overtaken Fallout in my estimations
Madeline from Celeste
Samus from Metroid
I played Metroid Prime for the first time recently and Samus Aran is an absolute badass. She crash lands on a planet and kills every single thing she encounters. If you read the logs of the space pirates you find scattered around they basically say “oh fuck the hunter is here, she’s coming for us next”.
The atmosphere is almost a little survival-horror-esque, but the experience is more like doom: you’re not locked in here with all these monsters, all these monsters are locked in here with you.
Shame about Other M though. Fun to play and watch others play, but held back by a bad control scheme and poor voice direction.
…the BABY!
Rivet from the latest Ratchet and Clank game.
Why? Two words:
Big Hammer!
I swear it looks bigger in game, but I haven’t played in a long while, so I could be misremembering.
Alyx
Laverne from Day of the Tentacle:
She looks like she really knows how to use a microwave… >.>
What a banger game
Can I say female V from CP2077?
Okay, V is what you make of her, but damn the story bites hard. The voicing is superb, and customisations permissive.
V as female felt more apt for me than V as male
I was so surprised how weirdly cast male V was, he always sounded like someone doing a kinda cringy 1930’s mobster impression.
Switched to female V, and it was night and day.
I’m playing Cyberpunk now for the first time but knew who the voice actress was for female V - Cherami Leigh. She always does a wonderful job and can communicate emotion eloquently in her work. Instantly picked her for my first playthrough.
Here’s her characters in some of my favorite media:
- Makoto Nijima, Persona 5
- A2, NieR:Automata
- Sonia, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Asuna Yuuki, Sword Art Online
- Sailor Venus in Sailor Moon Viz dub
I find female V is always overacting. Every time she says something whatever emotion it needs to be is at 110% so when that emotion needs to flip from line to line or even in the same line it’s like tonal whiplash.
Never played male V so don’t know the comparison, but female Vs line delivery makes me cringe constantly.
Make V’s voice actor sucks so much. It is the cringiest shit on earth. It’s remarkable compared to how organic Jackie sounds.
Max Caulfield in Life is strange 1
Protagonist has got to be Bayonetta (though it’s based only on the first game). Her character growth in the first game was so good, even if the plot was a little convoluted. Never finished the second one since I didn’t like playing on the Switch and never played the third one. Hope her character is still good though.
Honorable mentions are Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, and Stelle from Honkai Star Rail (though this one is mostly for the absolutely ridiculous dialogue options we get to choose).
Favorite female antagonist is hands down GLaDOS. Such a fun, sarcastic, and likeable villain.
“Oh. It’s you.”
Such a loveable heap of junk.
She has to be the most quotable video game character ever.
How are you holding up? BECAUSE I’M A POTATO. clap clap clap Oh good. My slow clap processor made it into this thing. So we have that
If you become light headed from thirst, feel free to pass out.
Here come the test results: You are a horrible person. We weren’t even testing for that
Some of my favorites have already been mentioned.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice by Ninja Theory
This lady is a standout from recent games I played in the past several years. Senua is an incredible character, complex, driven, and felt very human. I and probably a million other gamers connected with her deeply. Won’t say any more to avoid spoilers, but she was in one of the greatest games I ever played. Her actress, Melina Juergens, was perfect for the role in many ways (which I won’t say why here to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t played this game). Haven’t played the sequel yet, but I remember Melina won an award at the recent Game Awards for her performance in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
You beat me to it!! She wins in my book.
She’s an absolute badass. I cheered her on, suffered with her, and cried when I finished the game. I felt every emotion she had during the game, because I felt like I was on the journey with her by her side while she faced her trials. Beautiful and unforgettable experience.
Great pick, she’s up there for me too. I also only played the first one but thought it was an amazing experience.
Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Fantastic voice acting, awesome gameplay, beautiful world. 10/10 I love her.
Honestly? Aloy from the Horizon games. She’s maybe not the most rounded character, but she is a very strong, determined, stubborn, and intelligent person. She knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it. I think it also helps that the games don’t really have many choices or multiple endings, which I think was a good design choice. The story belongs to Aloy, not the player.
Also she’s not a protag (sorta, you can play as her) but I would like to give a shoutout to Lae’zel from BG3. I suspect a lot of players haven’t explored her character questline much because of how prickly she is at the beginning, but her character development is extensive and, at times, heart-wrenching. A story of someone getting the entire fabric of their life and soul torn out from under them.
My issue with Aloy is that she was such a Mary Sue in the first game. I can give some benefit of doubt to her on the account of the spoilers, but my god literally the only time she failed was at the beginning of the game during the trial and even then it was more a force majeure than anything she did wrong. She could thrust herself into any situation and come out on top with nothing dragging her down.
I’m found her more relatable in the second game because in the second get we at least get some hints of her mission being a burden on her and when she is caught off guard by a superior opponent she doesn’t magically beat them. But even in the second game she doesn’t have a lot of depth. There’s so much more depth Aloy could have but the writers never gave her the depth she deserves. And I don’t want people to think I’m dunking on Aloy, I think she could be a very interesting character if she had been properly fleshed out as a person. It’s an issue all Horizon series characters suffer, they all lack depth. Some of them are flatter than the Bonneville Salt Flats.
And I completely agree with Lae’zel. She’s my favorite characters from the BG3 party of character. She’s literally how you described Aloy: determined, stubborn and intelligent. If we ignore the zealotry (which stems from her upbringing) Lae’zel is very similar to Aloy because she thinks she exists solely for the sake of her mission, she is indominably determined to fulfill her mission and she will step on anyone who gets between her and her mission. I find it pretty weird how Aloy is almost universally liked while Lae’zel is one of the least liked companions. I guess it’s the difference of seeing the world through the eyes of the person vs seeing the person as they are within the world.
None of the guys at my old job liked lae’zel. I think because she’s kind of mean. I’m like that’s what I’m here for. I don’t want some pushover passive aggression like shadow heart, and karlach is fine I guess, but lae’zel making people lick her boots is the shit. I’m not even into being dominated but I do like women with agency.
TBH I don’t even hate that part of her, but couple that with her people’s fucked up society that she wholeheartedly endorses until a certain part of her personal quest …
I’d probably have been more willing to explore her quest if I actually liked that part of her. Didn’t quite click for me.
Commander Shepard.
