The Top 14 Most Inspirational and Kickass Video Game Heroines

Clementine was mature and capable enough to weather a zombie apocalypse even at age 8, which is nothing to sneeze at. She saved Lee’s life in the very first episode of the first game alone, which a huge feat for any 8-year-old. She matures greatly throughout the series, but still tried to keep morality and hope alive for the people around her, even while facing tons of darkness and death. That alone is impressive. On top of that, the girl’s good with a gun. 

Chell might not say much, but her sheer determination speaks for itself. This is a woman who does not let any obstacle get in her way when it comes to escaping. Waking up from a coma and finding yourself in a horrible prison? No problem, grab a portal gun and bounce around on some special shoes. As side comic available with Portal 2 shows that everything else about Chell is normal, but her off-the-charts tenacity officially and scientifically makes her a nearly impossible test subject to contain.’

A promotion for Portal 2 also gives us a brief look at what Chell looks like in action- she has some pretty slick moves. I wouldn’t want to fight her.

Okay, she’s in the form of a wolf, but she’s still a powerful goddess and protector who saves the entire world from the clutches of darkness. Doggie or not, she’s undeniably cool. She’s also downright majestic, with stunning artistic powers and amazing grace in combat, She.has to both protect the people and win back their faith and she does it with style. 

Bayonetta is a hero whose sexiness tends to be the first thing you notice about her, pretty much smacking you upside the head. There’s a lot of  discussion to be had about how that’s handled. But all that aside, there’s no denying she’s got incredibly skill and power. She’s super strong, can fly and can stop time. She can use her hair to summon demons from hell. She kills angels and even freaking GOD. She’s also funny and confident, snarking effortlessly through a battle and fearlessly facing any challenge, She also goes to Hell to save her best friend, which is both sweet and cool.

Faith had a rough time of it growing up. After the death of her mother, her father sunk into depression and alcoholism. She took to the streets at 16 and learned to survive on her own as a petty thief. Her skill was noticed by the resistance group fighting against her world’s totalitarian government and she became a true asset to them in fighting the power.

Once again, Faith is the product of creators who wanted to create a realistic woman rather than a sexy caricature. Her developers describe her as a “grown-up, minimalist and fashion oriented character”. She has a sleek aesthetic that matches her edgy attitude. The game-makers wanted her to feel “human, not superhuman, inspirational not unattainable, a real hero”. It’s certainly awesome to play as her, running up building, dodging bullets and saving the day. She has what it takes to survive in a dystopian world and her face tattoo is also super awesome looking.

April Ryan is considered one of the most memorable characters in adventure games. Throughout TheLongest Journey, the player sees her grow from an unsure teenager into a heroic adult. She and her personal journey are easy to empathize with. She traverses worlds, kills monsters and saves the day. In the sequel game, she’s a full on rebel working to liberate the oppressed. You can’t get much cooler than that.  

Zoe is another great lead from The Longest Journey saga. Starting out as an ordinary college dropout, she quickly discovers her own resourcefulness, determination and bravery when she starts investigating the disappearance of her boyfriend and then gets called on to save the day. Even when she’s forced to take regrettable actions, she keeps fighting to protect humanity. 

Though a lot of people tend to just think of sex appeal when they think of Lara Croft, she’s still a notable- and notably badass- heroine. Lara could be considered a trailblazer and she’s certainly made her mark in the gaming world. She’s a globe-trotting adventurer-archaeologist and that’s just super cool. She’s intelligent and a fearsome combatant. There’s a lot of complexity to her character too, especially in recent games, where we learn a lot about her struggles and backstory. We even show her first difficulties with killing.

People who play Mass Effect can choose to play as a female or male version of the protagonist, Commander Shepard. While Shepard’s personality can be molded by the player to an extent, she’s still a savior of alien races and an all-around-awesome protagonist. And while players seem to prefer choosing the male Shepard in Bioware’s surveys, the female version has a lot of vocal support and most people agree that Jennifer Hale is the better voice actor of the Shepards.

Jade is an intrepid photojournalist and just all around awesome. Ubisoft developer Michael Ancel wanted Jade to come off like a real person, rather than a generic “sexy action heroine”. The positive reaction to Jade shows that this for the most part succeeded. Jade is presented respectfully with the emphasis of the game being on her actions rather than her looks. She’s smart, competent, adventurous and compassionate.

Even before she stepped up to save the world, she was a stand-up gal, taking care of war orphans. They’re even why she took on her photography job and got pulled into an anti-government movement. From there she preceded to kick ass and take names, showcasing impressive martial arts skills. She’s down-to-earth, righteous and she digs nature. Jade’s an easy heroine to love and idolize.

Chun Li was one of the first female characters to be featured in fighting games and she’s been an icon ever since. She’s even earned the nickname “The First Lady of Gaming”. She might be one of the most well-known fighting characters out there. And the lady is definitely someone to look up to- she joined Interpol to catch the criminals responsible for her father’s death and nothing could stand in her way. You can’t get much cooler than that. 

Samus was one of the first major female protagonists in video games period and she was groundbreaking in showing players they shouldn’t assume it’s a man doing the badass bounty-hunting while wearing space armor. Even decades after her first appearance, she remains an incredibly popular character. She mows down space pirates and blob monsters without breaking a sweat.

She can be argued as having blazed the way for most of the other female characters on this list. After her parents were killed by space pirates, she became a force to be reckoned with and you have to admire her awesome skill and strong sense of justice.

Overwatch has been wildly popular lately, and many have praised the wide range of badass ladies the game offers. By video game standards, the women of Overwatch come in a refreshingly large array of shapes, sizes, races, backgrounds and personalities. We get to see buff women like Zarya, slightly chubby women like Mei and older women like Ana. It shouldn’t be revolutionary, but sadly it’s pretty non-standard to see women like this in video games.

But it’s not just limited to appearance, there’s a fun range of backgrounds and personalities with the ladies, while they’re all supercool in battle. We have a hardened soldier, a doctor and war orphan, an architect who grew up in poverty, a cold-blooded assassin and a bubbly gamer geek, just to name a few. These women are interesting and can kick all the ass.