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
- Lara Croft from Tomb Raider series
- Ms Pac-Man from Ms Pac-Man arcade game
- Mona Sax from Max Payne Series
- Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark
- Liara T'Soni from Mass Effect Series
- 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
- Kate Walker from Syberia Series
- Victoria MCPherson from Still Life Series
- Samantha Everett from Gray Matter adventure game
- Kate Wilson from Hydrophobia
- The Scythian from Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
- April Ryan from The Longest Journey adventure PC game
- Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3
- Aqua from Kingdom Hearts : Birth by Sleep
- Lili Zanotto from Psychonauts
- Annah-of-the-Shadows from Planescape: Torment
- Faith Connors from Mirror's Edge
Sexualized Characters
- Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII
- 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
- 'lara E'Lara from Hunted: The Demon's Forge
- Catwoman from Arkham City
- Fall-From-Grace from Planescape: Torment
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
- All girls from Fatal Frame Series
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
- Alice from American McGee's Alice (Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X, PS3, Xbox 360) and Alice: Madness Returns (Windows, PS3, Xbox 360)
- 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 platforms)
- Claudia from Legend Of Fae (Windows)
- Tear Grants 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
- Jodie from Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
- Unknown name, co-hero from Gravity Ghost (indie game for GNU/Linux, Mac OS & Vindows)
- Catherine from Halo: Reach (Xbox 360)
- Bonnie MacFarlane from Red Dead Redemption
- Xion from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days (DS)
- Milla Vodello from Psychonauts
- Scarlet from Venetica (PC Windows, Wine, Xbox 360)
- Zoey from Left 4 Dead series (PC Windows, Linux, Xbox 360)
- Rochelle from Left 4 Dead 2 (PC Windows, Linux, Xbox 360)
- Cynthia from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (Nintendo DS)
Female Options for Lead Characters in Role-Playing Games
- Nancy Drew in Nancy Drew series
- 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 every race in World of Warcraft
- 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 Saints Row series (starting with episode 2)
- Female option in Fable II, and Fable III
- Female option for Persona 3
- Female option in Terraria
- Female option of every clan race in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
- Female option in three characters of Jade Empire
- Female option in Borderlands games
- Tyris Flare in Golden Axeseries
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
- Karrie 'Vandal' Norton from Dead Space iOS
- 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 characters are actually anthropomorphic animals, not human beings)
- at least one teammate/co-pilot in games the StarFox franchise (Nintendo platforms)
- Inspector Carmelita from the Sly Cooper games.
- Amaterasu in Okami
- Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, Blaze the Cat, Rouge the Bat, Wave the Swallow, Vanilla the Rabbit, Shade the Echidna, and Zeena from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. All but Vanilla and Zeena have been fully playable at some point.
Upcoming
- Nilin (main/sole character) from Remember Me (PS3, Xbox, Windows)
- Faith (unique character) from Mirror's Edge 2
- Huang Shuyi (Support Character) From Battlefield 4 (PS3, PS4, Xbox, Xbox one, Windows)
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.
Villains
- GLaDOS from Portal
- Sofia Lamb from Bioshock 2
- Alexia Ashford from Resident Evil Code: Veronica
- Excella Gionne from Resident Evil 5
- Carla Radames from Resident Evil 6
- Misstress (leader of the assasins) from Venetica
- Princess Chiamaka from Venetica