You know, burly, boring white men are truly just the greatest, aren’t they? So great, in fact, that we should be playing as them in every single video game ever! Right? Who’s with me?
Unfortunately, it is still all too common that this is the only character we’ll see in video games. Females tend to be relegated to unimportant, side-roles in games. Often, these characters are simply there to provide support to their male leads or fulfill some sort of fantasy for male players. However, many female characters over the years have started to break this trend, and instead take on far more active roles in their games.
While I may not have played every game there has ever been, and thus my views may be different than yours, I have spent almost my entire life playing video games, and am generally pretty knowledgeable about them, and the roles they often force women to occupy.
Thus, as a celebration of all those female characters breaking the mold, I present you with my list of the top ten most badass women in video games
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10. Chloe Frazer- Uncharted Series- Chloe Frazer starts off our list because, I mean, I would do anything to be a fraction of how awesome this woman is. A treasure hunter for hire whose skill is known amongst the underworld, Chloe is a force to be reckoned with.
While she has deep relationships with the people she cares for, she cares about herself first and foremost, and won’t let anyone get in the way of achieving what she desires. However, she’s also sensible and knows her limits.
Chloe has no qualms about taking on risks and challenges, but won’t go to the ends of the earth for what she doesn’t see as viable, something her Uncharted counterpart Nathan Drake is often guilty of. Chloe is strong and independent but cares for the people around her. She has a reputation for being the best at what she does, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of her way.
9. Zelda- The Legend of Zelda Series- If any Nintendo Princess was going to appear on this list, we all know it was going to be Princess Zelda. Zelda is actually not just one individual, but rather is a name given to each princess of Hyrule. They all hold the Triforce of Wisdom, which allows them to be extremely knowledgeable and wise rulers of their kingdom.
Besides that, many entries in the franchise have shown their respective Zelda to be a skilled fighter, and they are sometimes shown to help Link fight off evil forces plaguing Hyrule through hand to hand combat, bow and arrow skills or magical powers. Princess Zelda has also been shown to be a capable heroine through alter egos of hers such as Sheik and Tetra, who have other useful skills of their own.
So, a Triforce wielding magic user who rules over a country, can transform into different versions of herself at will, is skilled in various forms of combat and has the fashion sense of a literal God? Badass is putting it lightly.
8. Kat- Gravity Rush Series- Kat, the protagonist of the Gravity Rush series, literally bends gravity to her will. I mean, how much more badass can you get?
She can walk on walls, travel through the air, deliver powerful blows to her enemies and so much more. Together, Dusty (Kat’s cat who seemingly gives her the gravity shifting powers) and she use their gifts to help people. She is often found helping the oppressed and lower class, and her kind-hearted nature never falters.
She uses her powerful abilities solely for good. No matter who or what the enemy is, Kat is not afraid to take them on, which is why she’s landed on this list.
7. Sombra-
Overwatch- Remember that thing where you're in a terrorist organization but you also sometimes double-cross that same terrorist organization for your own self-gain? No? That’s because it's Sombra doing that, not you. Sombra is an expert hacker, and she uses the ability masterfully to get what she wants.
She also has incredible stealth and speed at her side and can deal massive damage to her enemies. Basically, you don’t want to be on Sombra’s bad side.
Sombra, originally known as Olivia, honed her skills of hacking as a young child when she was left as an orphan after the Omnic Crisis, which destroyed much of her home country of Mexico. She used her skills to survive and get ahead. As her hacking skills grew, she stumbled upon a massive, worldwide conspiracy online about who really runs the world.
The group behind it noticed her, and she had to delete everything about herself, in the real world and online, in order to not be found. She then received cybernetic enhancements, and at that moment, as Sombra described it, the girl was gone, and Sombra was here. Now, Sombra is fully focused on finding out more about the conspiracy she discovered, and has CEOs and government officials from all over the world in her pocket, through some clever coercion. Sombra is cold and devastatingly calculated but believes her actions are good and are in the best interest of the general public.
No matter what her intentions, I think we all can agree, badass indeed.
6. Chun-Li- Street Fighter Series
- Can you briefly take flight solely off the strength of your legs? No? Then absolutely do not try to come for Chun-Li.
The martial arts extraordinaire is the first woman to ever be featured in a fighting game, and (wow!) isn’t sexualized to the most extreme degree possible! Amazing! Chun-Li is an officer of the law, and justice is incredibly important to her. She’s disciplined and takes pride in her work.
As previously noted, she can briefly fly solely off the power of her legs. Anybody who has that amount of raw power at their disposal should be feared immensely. Through her work as an officer, she also seeks revenge for the murder of her father.
Chun-Li is a courageous, kind individual, who at the drop of a hat could beat you mercilessly within an inch of your life. What an icon.
5. Clementine- The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series- Y’all ready to cry? If so, then The Walking Dead by Telltale Games is the title for you.
Over the years, we’ve watched the game’s main character, Clementine, grow from a young, scared girl to a powerful, capable woman, all in the face of a zombie apocalypse. She has shown that she is more than capable of taking care of herself, and while wary, cares deeply for people she has grown close to.
She is constantly forced to make difficult decisions that will have long-lasting effects on the people around her, yet she sticks to her guns no matter what. To survive a zombie apocalypse is awful enough, but to grow up in it is a completely different story. Clementine has managed to do just that and stay strong, all through suffering enough loss to make anyone else break down completely.
4. Bayonetta- Bayonetta Series- Y'all kill hundreds of angels on the day with ease while looking like you walked straight off of a runway? Do you wield 4 guns at once, two in your hands, two on your boots? No? Next.
In all seriousness, Bayonetta speaks for herself. She carries herself with a confidence that I only wish I could one day come close to reaching. She never second guesses herself, and always knows what to do. Essentially, she is truly the definition of a boss and is well aware of it.
However, she also has a deep complexity to her that allows her to be far more than a one-dimensional character. Throughout the first game, she has lost her memories, and as she struggles to regain them and learns more about her past, her character clearly grows in interesting ways. A badass with a deep complexity nailed it!
3. Lara Croft- Tomb Raider Series- The queen of badassery herself, it’s Lara Croft. The raider of tombs has gone through many iterations in her 20 years, and all of them have been pretty awesome in a general sense.
My personal favorite Lara is the 2013 reboot version, as, well for one, she finally got the proportions of a normal human body, so that’s something! We also see her start out as a girl wanting an adventure and watch her slowly transform into the far more powerful woman we all know and love her to be. A survivor.
While Lara’s various different incarnations have all had their own personality (and various degrees of oversexualization) and aspects to them, the basis of her character always remains. Lara Croft is an incredibly intelligent archaeologist and is driven to explore uncharted lands. She’s quick on her feet and knows how to navigate the most difficult of situations.
The 2013 reboot also worked to show Lara as a much more human character than before, and it worked. Lara is someone you care for and want to succeed. And with the skillset of a… I can’t even think of a good comparison, an android maybe? Anyway, with the skillset of an android (that was not the right choice what a horribly awkward sentence), she’s sure to overcome any challenge thrown at her.
2. Samus Aran- Metroid Series- Samus Aran is a bounty hunter that goes after space pirates. Yes, that is exactly as badass as it sounds. Wearing a large power suit equipt with a variety of different powers, Samus was not originally known to be a female in the first Metroid title on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
It wasn’t until you finished the game in either the fair, good or best ending (depending on how long you took to complete it) that Samus took off her suit to reveal that she was, in fact, a woman. Metroid illustrated that a woman could be just as badass as any man, and that gender didn’t inhibit anyone. It was also the first game to feature a playable human female character (there was a relatively unknown game featuring a nonhuman lady before her).
Almost all games in the series (besides the critically panned title, Other M) depict Samus as an independent, badass bounty hunter who answers to no one but herself. She works for herself and is sure of her decisions. No man is in charge of her. And that’s what’s so great about Samus, she broke ground in video games. She was a woman, and, well, at the very least wasn’t as oversexualized as her female peers. Her gender didn’t matter, she was just as capable as any man of getting the job done, being female was simply incidental. Unfortunately, that was not the norm in her time. Thus, Samus Aran was a trendsetter in that sense.
1. Nariko- Heavenly Sword- Let’s start with the obvious here, we’re at our number one spot and you have literally no idea who Nariko is, do you? Let me explain.
Nariko was born of a prophecy. The prophecy was that a man would be born in 23 years that would lead their clan to the promise land, he would be their savior. Instead, Nariko was born as her mother died, and she was considered a curse. According to her clan members, she was a sign that the gods had forsaken them, and thus, they all hated her greatly, including her own father. Only an orphan named Kai from a village slaughtered by Bohan, the tyrant Nariko’s clan fought against, loved her.
The clan was trying to protect the Heavenly Sword from Bohan, a sword that was incredibly powerful, but killed the user within days of wielding it. The sword had been in the clan for generations, and if Bohan got his hands on it, it would spell doom for the rest of the world.
The clan had been on the run from Bohan for months, and it finally seemed like they were cornered and had nowhere left to run. Nariko was the best warrior of her clan, and with few choices left to protect the clan and the Heavenly Sword itself, she drew the sword she knew would kill her in the end, and began an assault on Bohan’s army.
Over the next five days, Nariko and Kai worked together to take down Bohan’s army and save their imprisoned clan members. In the end, it’s Nariko and Bohan face to face, both embodied with powers that essentially make them walking deities. Nariko ends up victorious, yet soon after the sword finally begins to take her life. In her last few moments, Nariko transfers the last of her life force into Kai, who had been fatally wounded previously, to allow her to live.
Nariko was almost universally hated by everyone in her life, yet gave up that life to protect them in the end.
She was seen as a sign that the gods had forsaken the clan, and was treated as such. However, this didn’t stop Nariko from saving them all and protecting the clan’s legacy, the Heavenly Sword. She brought them to the promise land the prophecy spoke of. And in the end, Nariko gives what little strength she has left so that the only person that ever truly cared for her could live on.
Only at her funeral is Nariko is finally regarded as the hero she truly was by her clan, as her body floated away on a river, covered in rose petals.
Nariko was an amazingly skilled warrior who was able to take down an entire army almost single-handedly. She didn’t let the hatred her clan held toward her stop her from saving them all and fulfilling the prophecy they all believed she couldn’t. She was incredibly talented and kind. Her bond with Kai was unmatched, and the two were as close as sisters. Nariko gave her life for those around her and fulfilled the prophecy she was born into. Nariko is truly one of the most complex and powerful figures in all of gaming history.
Unfortunately, it is still all too common that this is the only character we’ll see in video games. Females tend to be relegated to unimportant, side-roles in games. Often, these characters are simply there to provide support to their male leads or fulfill some sort of fantasy for male players. However, many female characters over the years have started to break this trend, and instead take on far more active roles in their games.
While I may not have played every game there has ever been, and thus my views may be different than yours, I have spent almost my entire life playing video games, and am generally pretty knowledgeable about them, and the roles they often force women to occupy.
Thus, as a celebration of all those female characters breaking the mold, I present you with my list of the top ten most badass women in video games
.10. Chloe Frazer- Uncharted Series- Chloe Frazer starts off our list because, I mean, I would do anything to be a fraction of how awesome this woman is. A treasure hunter for hire whose skill is known amongst the underworld, Chloe is a force to be reckoned with.
While she has deep relationships with the people she cares for, she cares about herself first and foremost, and won’t let anyone get in the way of achieving what she desires. However, she’s also sensible and knows her limits.
Chloe has no qualms about taking on risks and challenges, but won’t go to the ends of the earth for what she doesn’t see as viable, something her Uncharted counterpart Nathan Drake is often guilty of. Chloe is strong and independent but cares for the people around her. She has a reputation for being the best at what she does, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of her way.
9. Zelda- The Legend of Zelda Series- If any Nintendo Princess was going to appear on this list, we all know it was going to be Princess Zelda. Zelda is actually not just one individual, but rather is a name given to each princess of Hyrule. They all hold the Triforce of Wisdom, which allows them to be extremely knowledgeable and wise rulers of their kingdom.
Besides that, many entries in the franchise have shown their respective Zelda to be a skilled fighter, and they are sometimes shown to help Link fight off evil forces plaguing Hyrule through hand to hand combat, bow and arrow skills or magical powers. Princess Zelda has also been shown to be a capable heroine through alter egos of hers such as Sheik and Tetra, who have other useful skills of their own.
So, a Triforce wielding magic user who rules over a country, can transform into different versions of herself at will, is skilled in various forms of combat and has the fashion sense of a literal God? Badass is putting it lightly.
8. Kat- Gravity Rush Series- Kat, the protagonist of the Gravity Rush series, literally bends gravity to her will. I mean, how much more badass can you get?
She can walk on walls, travel through the air, deliver powerful blows to her enemies and so much more. Together, Dusty (Kat’s cat who seemingly gives her the gravity shifting powers) and she use their gifts to help people. She is often found helping the oppressed and lower class, and her kind-hearted nature never falters.
She uses her powerful abilities solely for good. No matter who or what the enemy is, Kat is not afraid to take them on, which is why she’s landed on this list.
7. Sombra-
Overwatch- Remember that thing where you're in a terrorist organization but you also sometimes double-cross that same terrorist organization for your own self-gain? No? That’s because it's Sombra doing that, not you. Sombra is an expert hacker, and she uses the ability masterfully to get what she wants. She also has incredible stealth and speed at her side and can deal massive damage to her enemies. Basically, you don’t want to be on Sombra’s bad side.
Sombra, originally known as Olivia, honed her skills of hacking as a young child when she was left as an orphan after the Omnic Crisis, which destroyed much of her home country of Mexico. She used her skills to survive and get ahead. As her hacking skills grew, she stumbled upon a massive, worldwide conspiracy online about who really runs the world.
The group behind it noticed her, and she had to delete everything about herself, in the real world and online, in order to not be found. She then received cybernetic enhancements, and at that moment, as Sombra described it, the girl was gone, and Sombra was here. Now, Sombra is fully focused on finding out more about the conspiracy she discovered, and has CEOs and government officials from all over the world in her pocket, through some clever coercion. Sombra is cold and devastatingly calculated but believes her actions are good and are in the best interest of the general public.
No matter what her intentions, I think we all can agree, badass indeed.
6. Chun-Li- Street Fighter Series
- Can you briefly take flight solely off the strength of your legs? No? Then absolutely do not try to come for Chun-Li. The martial arts extraordinaire is the first woman to ever be featured in a fighting game, and (wow!) isn’t sexualized to the most extreme degree possible! Amazing! Chun-Li is an officer of the law, and justice is incredibly important to her. She’s disciplined and takes pride in her work.
As previously noted, she can briefly fly solely off the power of her legs. Anybody who has that amount of raw power at their disposal should be feared immensely. Through her work as an officer, she also seeks revenge for the murder of her father.
Chun-Li is a courageous, kind individual, who at the drop of a hat could beat you mercilessly within an inch of your life. What an icon.
5. Clementine- The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series- Y’all ready to cry? If so, then The Walking Dead by Telltale Games is the title for you.
Over the years, we’ve watched the game’s main character, Clementine, grow from a young, scared girl to a powerful, capable woman, all in the face of a zombie apocalypse. She has shown that she is more than capable of taking care of herself, and while wary, cares deeply for people she has grown close to.
She is constantly forced to make difficult decisions that will have long-lasting effects on the people around her, yet she sticks to her guns no matter what. To survive a zombie apocalypse is awful enough, but to grow up in it is a completely different story. Clementine has managed to do just that and stay strong, all through suffering enough loss to make anyone else break down completely.
4. Bayonetta- Bayonetta Series- Y'all kill hundreds of angels on the day with ease while looking like you walked straight off of a runway? Do you wield 4 guns at once, two in your hands, two on your boots? No? Next.
In all seriousness, Bayonetta speaks for herself. She carries herself with a confidence that I only wish I could one day come close to reaching. She never second guesses herself, and always knows what to do. Essentially, she is truly the definition of a boss and is well aware of it.
However, she also has a deep complexity to her that allows her to be far more than a one-dimensional character. Throughout the first game, she has lost her memories, and as she struggles to regain them and learns more about her past, her character clearly grows in interesting ways. A badass with a deep complexity nailed it!
3. Lara Croft- Tomb Raider Series- The queen of badassery herself, it’s Lara Croft. The raider of tombs has gone through many iterations in her 20 years, and all of them have been pretty awesome in a general sense.
My personal favorite Lara is the 2013 reboot version, as, well for one, she finally got the proportions of a normal human body, so that’s something! We also see her start out as a girl wanting an adventure and watch her slowly transform into the far more powerful woman we all know and love her to be. A survivor.
While Lara’s various different incarnations have all had their own personality (and various degrees of oversexualization) and aspects to them, the basis of her character always remains. Lara Croft is an incredibly intelligent archaeologist and is driven to explore uncharted lands. She’s quick on her feet and knows how to navigate the most difficult of situations.
The 2013 reboot also worked to show Lara as a much more human character than before, and it worked. Lara is someone you care for and want to succeed. And with the skillset of a… I can’t even think of a good comparison, an android maybe? Anyway, with the skillset of an android (that was not the right choice what a horribly awkward sentence), she’s sure to overcome any challenge thrown at her.
2. Samus Aran- Metroid Series- Samus Aran is a bounty hunter that goes after space pirates. Yes, that is exactly as badass as it sounds. Wearing a large power suit equipt with a variety of different powers, Samus was not originally known to be a female in the first Metroid title on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
It wasn’t until you finished the game in either the fair, good or best ending (depending on how long you took to complete it) that Samus took off her suit to reveal that she was, in fact, a woman. Metroid illustrated that a woman could be just as badass as any man, and that gender didn’t inhibit anyone. It was also the first game to feature a playable human female character (there was a relatively unknown game featuring a nonhuman lady before her).
Almost all games in the series (besides the critically panned title, Other M) depict Samus as an independent, badass bounty hunter who answers to no one but herself. She works for herself and is sure of her decisions. No man is in charge of her. And that’s what’s so great about Samus, she broke ground in video games. She was a woman, and, well, at the very least wasn’t as oversexualized as her female peers. Her gender didn’t matter, she was just as capable as any man of getting the job done, being female was simply incidental. Unfortunately, that was not the norm in her time. Thus, Samus Aran was a trendsetter in that sense.
1. Nariko- Heavenly Sword- Let’s start with the obvious here, we’re at our number one spot and you have literally no idea who Nariko is, do you? Let me explain.
Nariko was born of a prophecy. The prophecy was that a man would be born in 23 years that would lead their clan to the promise land, he would be their savior. Instead, Nariko was born as her mother died, and she was considered a curse. According to her clan members, she was a sign that the gods had forsaken them, and thus, they all hated her greatly, including her own father. Only an orphan named Kai from a village slaughtered by Bohan, the tyrant Nariko’s clan fought against, loved her.
The clan was trying to protect the Heavenly Sword from Bohan, a sword that was incredibly powerful, but killed the user within days of wielding it. The sword had been in the clan for generations, and if Bohan got his hands on it, it would spell doom for the rest of the world.
The clan had been on the run from Bohan for months, and it finally seemed like they were cornered and had nowhere left to run. Nariko was the best warrior of her clan, and with few choices left to protect the clan and the Heavenly Sword itself, she drew the sword she knew would kill her in the end, and began an assault on Bohan’s army.
Over the next five days, Nariko and Kai worked together to take down Bohan’s army and save their imprisoned clan members. In the end, it’s Nariko and Bohan face to face, both embodied with powers that essentially make them walking deities. Nariko ends up victorious, yet soon after the sword finally begins to take her life. In her last few moments, Nariko transfers the last of her life force into Kai, who had been fatally wounded previously, to allow her to live.
Nariko was almost universally hated by everyone in her life, yet gave up that life to protect them in the end.
She was seen as a sign that the gods had forsaken the clan, and was treated as such. However, this didn’t stop Nariko from saving them all and protecting the clan’s legacy, the Heavenly Sword. She brought them to the promise land the prophecy spoke of. And in the end, Nariko gives what little strength she has left so that the only person that ever truly cared for her could live on.
Only at her funeral is Nariko is finally regarded as the hero she truly was by her clan, as her body floated away on a river, covered in rose petals.
Nariko was an amazingly skilled warrior who was able to take down an entire army almost single-handedly. She didn’t let the hatred her clan held toward her stop her from saving them all and fulfilling the prophecy they all believed she couldn’t. She was incredibly talented and kind. Her bond with Kai was unmatched, and the two were as close as sisters. Nariko gave her life for those around her and fulfilled the prophecy she was born into. Nariko is truly one of the most complex and powerful figures in all of gaming history.
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