Chell, as she appears in the first Portal game.
Here is a list of female characters in video games. Feel free to add more characters and categories!
(Characters whose names are bolded are characters that were protagonists or were playable for most of the game in the first game that they were featured in.)
Iconic Characters
These are some of the pioneering female characters in iconic video games. Some are notable for their representation of women as engaging and capable characters, and others are known for their sexualization and/or reduction of women to damsels in distress.
Strong Characters
- Kitana From Mortal Kombat Series
- Ms Pac-Man from Ms Pac-Man arcade game
- Samus Aran from the Metroid series
- Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark
- Jill Valentine from Resident Evil series
- Claire Redfield from Resident Evil series
- Shanoa from Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia
- Anna from Epic Battle Fantasy 4
- Princess Zelda/Shiek from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Smash Bros Brawl
- Yuna from Final Fantasy X and X-2
- Sarah Kerrigan from Starcraft series
- Maureen Fitzsimmons from Westward 2: heroes of the frontier
Sexualized Characters
- Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII
- Lara Croft from Tomb Raider series (especially through old out-of-game promos)
- Ada Wong from Resident Evil series
- Natalie from the Epic Battle Fantasy series
- Bayonetta from the Bayonetta series
- Kasumi from the Dead or Alive fighting game series and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Vollyball
- Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw
Damsels in Distress
- Princess Peach from the Mario series
- Unnamed princess from Fat Princess
- Princess Zelda/Shiek from The Legend of Zelda series
- Kairi from the Kingdom Hearts series
- Yuna from Final Fantasy X and X-2
- Maureen Fitzsimmons from Westward
Positively Portrayed Characters
There are some female characters that are strong, confident and capable, all while lacking any overt hypersexualization. These women are not reduced to a status of love interest, damsel in distress, or sexualized protagonist.
- Chell from the Portal series (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Xbox 360 for the first episode, Windows, Mac OS X, PS3, Xbox.for the #2)
- Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Xbox 360) and its sequels XIII-2 (PS3, Xbox 360) and Lightning Returns
- Jade from Beyond Good and Evil (ps2,Windows, Xbox 360, GameCube)
- Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2 (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X , Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3)
- Lucca from Chrono Trigger (SNES, PlayStation, NDS, mobile phones, Android, iOS, Virtual Console (VC))
- Samus Aran from the Metroid series (most Nintendo plateforms)
- Claudia from Legend Of Fae (Windows)
- Tear from Tales of the Abyss (PS2, 3DS)
- Crystal from Dinosaur Planet (unreleased game designed for N64 that was later adapted into Star Fox Adventures on the Gamecube, where she became a sexualized damsel)
- Nariko from Heavenly Sword (PS3)
- Ellie, co-protagonist from The Last of Us
- Unknow name, co-hero from Gravity Ghost (indie game for GNU/Linux, Mac OS & Vindows)
- Catherine from Halo: Reach (Xbox 360)
Female Options for Lead Characters in Role-Playing Games
- Female Commander Shepard from Mass Effect series
- Female Hawke from Dragon Age II
- Female option of elven, human or dwarven background from Dragon Age: Origins
- Female option of every race in the five-part Elder Scrolls series
- Female option of main character in all Fallout games.
- Female option for Pokemon games after 1999
- Female option for Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns
- Female option in Fable II, and Fable III
- Female option for Persona 3
- Female option in Terraria
Miscellaneous
- Eleys Mue from Galactic Civilizations 2
- Jenna Casey from Galactic Civilizations 2
- Wu Zetian from Sid Meiers Civilization V
- Queen Elizabeth I from Sid Meiers Civilization V
- Catherine the Great from Sid Meiers Civilization V
- Isabella from Civilization V: Gods and Kings
- Dido from Civilization V: Gods and Kings
- Maria Theresa from Civilization V: Gods and Kings
- Theodora from Civilization V: Gods and Kings
- Boudica from Civilization V: Gods and Kings
- Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite
- an unidentified woman from Dead Space (iOs version of the game)
- a tough-minded leader - name that may contains spoilers from The last Of Us
- Anya Stroud, Sam Byrne and Bernie Mataki from Gears of War 3
- Robin, Lark & Kiwi, the three female characters out of 6 pilots from PilotWings 64 (Nintendo 64) and perhaps also for each of the two other installements of the franchise (Super NES / 3DS)
- Selina Kyle/Catwoman, playable character in Batman: Arkham City.
Anthropomorphic and other various human-like characters
- several fully-playable female characters from Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64, all playable chararacters are actually anthropomorphic animals, not human beings)
- at least one teammate/co-pilot in games the StarFox franchise (Nintendo plateforms)
- Inspector Carmelita from the Sly Cooper games.
Upcoming
- Nilin (main/sole character) from Remember Me (PS3, Xbox, Windows)
- Faith (unique character) from Mirror's Edge 2
Hope in upcoming games - to be checked
- an unidentified woman soldier from Titanfall
- an unnamed woman from Dragon Age: Inquisition (autumn 2014)
Reminder: Characters who's names are bolded are characters that were protagonists or were playable for most of the game in the first game that they were featured in.