GOOD games with female protagonists?

Mandy@beehaw.org to Gaming@beehaw.org – 122 points –

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

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Recently played Control. Had a blast!

Control is one of my favourite games. Had me 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.

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.

-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

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

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

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.

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!

And it's unavailable in my country >:(

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.

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.

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.

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I just finished Control and it's really good! Jesse is a strong female lead and there's no male option like some games.

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.

Amazing game, definitely one of my all-time favorites and the most fun I've had with a combat system. The atmosphere of the game is fantastic as well, pulling so much tension out of every new supernatural office space you discover. I'm absolutely thrilled they confirmed a Control 2 recently, I can't wait to get back into that world with all its lore to discover. I feel like I need to play Alan Wake now too since they're connected.

Alan Wake is pretty interesting from a female perspective, because it's a male hero but it's good a pretty good female supporting character in the Sheriff and the plot with Alice is really interesting in light of the idea of fridging. Also, the sequel will have a second playable protagonist that's a woman.

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

Their in-depth, yet surprisingly simple breakdown of magnetism has always been one of my favorite science clips.

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

  • 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.

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

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.

  • 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!

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.

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.

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.

Metroid is another (and maybe the first) prime example of this

Oh wow, I thought they were enby for the longest time.

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

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

$300 for a Quest 2. Only drawback is its Facebook infested.

So yeah, vives a Lil expensive for a paycheck to paycheck gal

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

When you do get around to it, you'll enjoy it! I played it fairly recently. It isn't quite as hard hitting as the first game, but it still made me cry. More of a "prey on insecurities" kinda hard hitting. The power (because they never want to go back to rewind, do they?) is pretty neat. Second best after the original.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Not even out yet still probably the number one answer.

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.

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.

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

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?

I liked it. But I always warn people off of accepting my opinion as anything valuable. I can find reasons to like things… I mean, my favorite color is orange, I liked the Pontiac Aztec, and I’m almost 50. I’m not normal. I found Catalyst enjoyable, I felt I got my moneys worth. If I could get my money back, would I feel I should? No. Would I nominate it for game of the year or hold it up as a classic? No. I feel I got what I paid for.

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).

Cyberpunk!

Cyberpunk is soooo much fun. I can't wait for the DLC. It got a bad rap when it launched, but at least when I played it (on PC about 6 months after launch), it was really great and didn't experience any major issues.

Though it should be noted for those unaware that it is a very dark and mature game. An NPC is violently raped off camera. That makes the game not for everyone's taste. Personally, I enjoy when games don't feel like they're avoiding subjects like that (which can feel jarring, since it's a real life concern) and it does add an extra level of emotion to the game. Plus of course, getting to have revenge.

Also some smaller indie games with a cyberpunk theme: Dex (sidscrolling action RPG with a great soundtrack! Although Dex has generally a linear main plot, there is a clear attempt to give you the ability to approach parts of the game different and make it feel more open) Cloudpunk (odd mix of open world and walking/driving simulator with focus on story, if that makes any sense? Despite the voxel graphics: the city has a great atmosphere. Great music at times. Some really interesting stories.

Night in the Woods is objectively the best game ever made by any measure. Tacoma and Gone Home are amazing too.

I mean I dunno, it depends on what kind of games you like, surely?

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!

Trying to find some that haven't been talked about yet:

Echo. It's a fantastic experimental infiltration game with an AI that adapts to your way of playing. The setup is very impressive.

Pathologic: one of the three playable characters (the Changeling). It's a bizarre russian game, with an unique world, and messy gameplay. Can't recommend it enough.

Va11 Hall-A: chill bartending game in a cyberpunk setup.

The Blackwell series: comfy, kind of amateurish point and clicks by Wadjet Eye. I like them very much.

Transistor: weirdest game by Supergiant. You play as a redhead with a talking sword. I don't remember much about it except that it was good.

The Fall: (pushing it a little bit, since the protagonist is an AI, but I've always seen here as female.) Criminally underrated puzzle games, disguised as metroidvanias.

Eliza (by Zachtronics): the only visual novel I enjoyed. It's hard to explain, it's about AI, burnout, whether tech dehumanizes people, and solitaire.

Hedon Duology: for something completely different, it's a slightly kinky retroshooter, with amazon Orcs fighting demons.
It may sound a bit dumb, but it's excellent. Huge levels, interesting worldbuilding, and a gameplay based on exploration, puzzles as well as shooting.

There's probably a ton more, but that's all I can think about at the moment.

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).

Don't see it mentioned yet, it's an older game but Remember Me is pretty good

The Last of Us: Part II !

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

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

Jade from Beyond Good and Evil.

That game was so good. It's a bit sad that they never released a sequel. Otherwise, it probably would have been underwhelming.

Would you have risked the chance to have a potentially terrible sequel or end it with a bang it was?

The Mass Effect series is still my favorite, you can choose your protagonist to be female and the game will adapt accordingly. Or Dragon Age if you are more into fantasy.

It's older, but The Longest Journey is good. Unfortunately, the final game in the series kinda sucks.

While it's an ensemble, most people would agree that the main character of Final Fantasy VI is a woman—they just might disagree about which woman is the lead.

I also liked the first Xenosaga game, but again, it's a series that goes pretty badly downhill.

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

Whoa whoa whats wrong with Senua?

id rather not get lynched, thank you very much

Lol I'm genuinely curious. Its at the top of my "to play" pile since I've heard so much good about it.

So if there's any fair warning to temper my expectations..

Fun is very subjective so I just want to give an opposing opinion. I really enjoyed the game and its portrayal of mental illness and trauma. The story can be confusing but I really enjoyed the overall arc. So keep it on your list because you should experience the game yourself to form you own opinion.

algitht than if you like a nicely structured story than stay away its purposely confusing to "portray a certain type of mental illness", which i call bullhog on, a confusing mess is a confusing mess

combat i find too slow the game is generally boring to actually play

like it wanted to be an art project so bad bad just had to attach a game to it

I'm having a great time finally getting into What Remains of Edith Finch.

Control is excellent

Not female, but the protagonist of Outer Wilds is nonbinary, as is their entire species.

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Most games I can think of have been mentioned, but I found Signalis to be an interesting experience assuming you can get past the annoying inventory management

If you can get into the right mindset, I think Signalis is an absolute gem of a game. The story is juuust enough to be very disturbing. And the ending stuck with me - holy crap that ending.

I personally loved it, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the old-school survival horror genre.

But OMG I wanted just one more inventory slot so badly.

Resident Evil Remake 2 and 3, great games with both male and female protagonists!

Aquaria

A very well put together Metroidvania. The map is very fun to explore, good boss fights, great music, and interesting story.

Returnal is a great game if you like roguelite mechanics. Great gameplay, art design, and sound. The haptics on the PS5 are excellent too.

Returnal is great. Gameplay is so tight, it feels like an arcade shooter but in 3d.

I'm not much of a fan of the roguelite genre but everything else was so good.

There's Alien: Isolation if you're looking for a horror game. Every so often I'll go and give it another playthrough. That game was phenomenal, especially if you're a fan of the Alien movies

If you're into the anime aesthetic: Nier Automata, Atelier series, and Recettear. I think FFXIII is fun but people would argue otherwise.

Recettear is something I recommend too, as it's really unknown for how good it is. You play as an item shop owner (who's a young girl) that has to make a profit from making and selling items, and there's a dungeon crawling elmenet too.

Forspoken isn't bad.... As long as it's played completely dubbed in Japanese with subs on. Obviously last of us 2 was really great, horizon is also very well acted, and very well done. I think it also is inclusive in a way that matters where some games just replace the protag with a woman, these games build it into narrative as well. In the same vein, I really liked life is strange (even colors to be honest)

A group of developers have created a version of the game and it's sequels that runs on modern machines: http://nolfrevival.tk/

Edit: this was meant as a reply to @KIM_JING_JUICEBOX 's comment. No One Lives Forever is a whip smart spy FPS that nails the Bond aesthetic but stars an unforgettable female protagonist, Kate Archer. Download it for free above.

Surprised no one has mentioned Tomb Raider yet. Others not yet mentioned:

  • Assassin's Creed: Liberation, and Chronicles: China
  • Beyond: Two Souls
  • The Last of Us Part II
  • inFamous: First Light

There's this weird game from a while back that didn't get much hype.

You'll find it either as "The Experiment" or "Experience112". Got some interesting mechanics, which later influenced another niche game I just realized has a female protagonist: Republique.

Technically, you don't play as a female protagonist. But you're essentially not the main character and you have no discernible physical features anyway, so you could just apply whatever gender you want to whoever you think "your character" is.

It's kind of like... "Female protagonist by proxy". I feel like that's a decent description. The point is that the main character is a (generally) well-written lady protag.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. After playing it for a while I couldn't stop until I reached the end. It looks aged now but controls are generally nice and the story is amazing. And I think the character feels feminine, it's not just a neutral character with a female skin.

That is a good game, agree. My one complaint is that there're a few moments of drive-by transphobia in it. And some puzzles are obtuse or require items that can be missed, but a quick google solves that frustration easily if need be.

Along a similar vein, Syberia is wonderful.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. You play as many characters, but the primary main character is Alexis Roivas.

Castlevania: order of ecclesia

Cross code

Oceans heart

Alice games

Stardew valley

I recommend CrossCode. It's a puzzle-heavy top-down action-RPG. Think 2D Zelda games, but faster paced and sci-fi themed. You play as Lea, an amnesiac who's trying to recover her memories by playing a fictional MMO called CrossWorlds. I love basically everything about it: the art, the music, the characters, the story, the puzzles, the level design; it's just great.

she is also very expressive for a mute person who can only say HI LEA BYE through a makeshift synthesizer

A few more that may not be mentioned:

Dandara - fun platformer

Ion Fury - throwback to 90s shooters, good if you can handle some juvenile humor.

Knights and Bikes - played through with my daughter and we loved it.

Spiritfarer - low pressure gameplay, story and exploration focused (edit: sorry, runekn already mentioned this one)

Chorus is a space dogfighting game that's quite fun. Has good storytelling. Doesn't pad time with repetitive/recycled quests so progression always feels unique. Some people find the inner monologue of the protagonist annoying but it's fine imo

Not seeing Transistor but if you want a female protagonist that will make you cry your eyes out at the end, I recommend her.

Games As Literature 101 has a documentary that goes into a deep dive about Red as a character.

Also some people used Red's song from Transistor as a wedding song 😃

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is good. I still gotta finish it, but I've enjoyed it so far.

Kena was great. There was so much more they could have done with that world and Kena's backstory, but I think it's the #1 best looking game I've ever played.

Passing By (I think Curly is technically gender-neutral but I always saw her as a girl).

I think the download files got taken down though unfortunately

Edit: Apparantly they've been canonically made non-binary

A lot of good suggestions here. Remember Me and Mirror's Edge are also good, perhaps not as great some of the truly outstanding ones already posted though. But if you're looking for something with a cyberpunk edge, both will fit the bill nicely.

Final Fantasy X-2 comes to mind. I didn't finish it, but it's well-reviewed so...

I loved the gameplay of X-2, but the story is a bit lackluster and it's really easy to accidentally skip huge portions of the game and find yourself underleveled to a debilitating degree.

Going Under. It's a goofy rougelike game which parodizes corporate companies and startups. You play as an unpaid marketing intern who needs to kill monsters from failed startups, but she applied for marketing,

Extremely retro, but currently available on the Mac App Store: Mess O' Trouble. It was a WorldBuilder game--think Infocom, but with static pictures you could interact with. I believe your choice of Daredevil Dawn or Fearless Frank had some impact on the gameplay if you got far enough, but child me never did.

Does this game exist on other platforms?

Doubtful, though it might be possible to emulate System 6 or System 7 and get it running on Windows or Linux.

How about Final Fantasy XIII? The first game has a full sized party, but Lightning is clearly the main character and the focus. Second game costars Lightning's younger sister and a new male character. Third game is just Lighting.

I liked the trilogy. But I loved XIII-2. I'd also argue that Serah is the main protagonist, even though they share most of the screen time.

The modern tomb raiders are pretty decent.

Seconded. And I'd say they're more than pretty decent. They have amazing level design, particularly with respect to interactions with the level. Eg, you jump on a ledge and the ledge might start to break. Think stuff like that, repeated dozens of times in various ways.

Lara is pretty cool. She has that kinda inquisitive yet "I wanna help everyone" power fantasy that I relate to. They did also try to make it like she doesn't want to kill bad guys (which is realistic -- it's weird more video game characters have no qualms with the first time they kill someone), but it is a video game where combat plays a prominent part, so it doesn't really work when Lara is kill people by the dozens.

Here's one a ton of people slept on, Disciples Liberation. The protagonist is a chick, you can be pious, kind, hateful, evil and/or fuck your way through the entire world if you want. You can be bi, straight, not get involved in romance at all, doesn't matter. But no matter how you play, you are an absolute badass that can barely beat two soldiers at the start and can nuke literal gods by the end.

there's a demo for a game on steam called Laika: Aged Through Blood which has a badass motorcycle mom

If we are doing demos too, there is also the Boomer Shooter 'Selaco' on Steam. It's just the first level in the demo and there isn't much story so far. But it looks very promising I think and we play as Dawn, a female Captain and murder a bunch of terorist that want to blow us up. They want to announce their release date next quarter.

Another Boomer Shooter with a female lead is 'Ion Fury'. This one has already released some years ago. We play Shelly 'Bombshell' Harrison and are part of the Global Defense Force. After a long shift we want to settle down with a nice drink as an explosion causes us to spill it and cyborg cultists led by an evil Dr. want to take over, so we go murder them.

Staying with shooters there is also 'Nightmare Reaper' where we play a female mental patient and the levels are her dreams which are created proceduraly and I guess we cleanse them of her nightmares.

Back to demos but a completely different genre: 'Sea of Stars'. An old school rpg, kinda reminds me of Chrono Trigger gameplay wise. It's made by the folks who made 'The Messenger', different genre again and no female protagonist in this one. But in there was a story tidbit about two kids with the power of the moon and the sun who saved the world a long time ago. We play those kids and the kid with the power of the moon is a girl. Again, just a demo on Steam so far but it looks very fun and releases on the 29th of August.

What constitutes a good game is obviously very subjective and as probably became very clear I like me some Boomer Shooter where the story doesn't necessarily needs to be the focus, but that won't be to everyones taste.

I just started playing Asscreed Odyssey last week, having fun so far. A bit of a departure for the series, more of a Witcher-style open world action-adventure game in ancient Greece. You can select between player characters Alexios (male) and Kassandra (female), I picked Kassandra, I like her, she seems decently written and the voice acting is great.

Elden Ring is incredible, although it's silent protagonist (aside from grunts etc), and might be too difficult. I know many women who love it though.

CrossCode is an excellent neo-retro overhead 2D action RPG. Great combat system, puzzles, and story.

Valheim isn't very story heavy but it's an incredible exploration/survival/crafting game, one of my all time favourites.

Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Parts 1 & 2 (and sequels Part 3 and Part 4): Masterfully crafted interactive "choose your own adventure" videogame, pretty much a video-book with an immersive story and wonderful illustrations. Highly recommended, I've been enjoying Jerma985's streams of it. You're constantly making choices that will completely change the outcome of the game, there is a rewind button if you need it.

Control has already been mentioned by others, I also recommend it. Great writing, graphics, lots of humour in the environment. Especially if you're a fan of SCP. Honestly the combat got a little monotonous towards the end but it didn't overstay its welcome. The documents you find around the world are hilarious and well worth a read.

Played Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin recently

fantastic game. The platforming is fun with surprising depth. The Rice mechanics have way more depth than I can stand, but it's still forgiving enough that you never feel severely punished for messing up.

i love this game, glad it was really successful too, I wanna see more from those devs. felt like a 2D Okami spin-off

I really wanted to like Sakuna, but I just... couldn't. The platforming combat is really stiff, and the game is pretty bad at explaining mechanics. Oddly enough, I found the rice farming to be the most interesting part! Unfortunately, rice farming is essentially just there to provide buffs for the platforming, so I stopped playing after about 10 hours.

It's stiff at first, but you get a lot of tools to improve it. One of the moves is basically a dash similar to a megaman x game, that can be used up to 2 times and go in all cardinal directions.

That on top of the wall grab makes her feel a lot smoother later on in the game.

Also this is not even including for combat you get Iatsu and the dash I talked about earlier, which let you move all over the combat area. That on top of countering attacks and the skill specifically for countering attacks. Iatsu needs to be leveled up before you really feel how strong it is though.

the rice farming is indeed meant to make the platforming easier, so it might not be as great if you didn't enjoy that part of it.

I do agree though the game is horrible at explaining this stuff though, which can make some parts more frustrating than they need to be.

The only game that comes to my mind now that hasn't been mentioned yet, would be Tchia. Very sweet game.

The code realize games are pretty good. Also gonna shout out Pretty Princess Party and it's sequel Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island. They're both on the girlier side of things but don't get as much attention as they should.

The Longest Journey, Dreamfall, Dreamfall Chapters

This is what I was coming here to recommend. April is a great character, and the series is really good. The first is very much old-school point & click, with the sometimes highly obscure puzzles that entails, but the story is excellent.

Soul Hackers 2 is a nice little palette cleanser of an RPG. Not as expansive as other Megaten games but it kept me engaged all the way through. The main party are all adults too which is a nice change of pace.

I enjoyed the chill, stylized vibes in Sable. Coming of age, botw-inspired exploration, beautiful world. No (?)Combat—I don’t remember fully, but very little at least. Just explore, experiment, and engage the world around you. A passable world-build/story too!

If you're into farming and dungeon delving, Rune Factory 4 has a female protagonist option.

Rune factory 4 actually came to PC as of 2021 so you don't have to own a 3ds to play it anymore. I'm currently playing RF5, and I'm enjoying it.

Alba is a very cute and relaxing game, but it's good! And the eponymous main character is a little girl.