Whether you are a fan of video games or not, these heroines deserve your full attention! Here are our top 5 most inspiring female characters in gaming.
Lara Croft can be proud of the next generation. In recent years, video game heroines have received a serious blow! Whether they're fighting zombies, robots, or just high school girls living out their teenage years, the women found in these brand new games are a real game changer. Forget Nathan Drake, Link or other heroes who rocked the childhood of a lot of gamers. Let’s make way for the female characters who turn the codes of video games upside down.
ELLIE (THE LAST OF US / THE LAST OF US: THE LEFT BEHIND / THE LAST OF US PART II): THE MOST DETERMINED
The story of the game: In a post-apocalyptic world where people have fallen victim to a virus that turns sick people into killer creatures, Joël meets Ellie, a protector of the revolutionary group of the Fireflies. Ellie is, in fact, the only person who is immune, and represents a hope in the search for a potential vaccine.
She will have been the star of the year 2020. Ellie is a heroine first known in the first opus of the universe The Last Of Us in 2013. Even if, at the time, we played the character of Joël, she has always been the focal point of the story. With her big green eyes, the strong-willed girl quickly became one of the most iconic characters in video game history. A success which only increased 7 years later in Part II. This time, we play the young woman, who, we can say it, has evolved well since we left in 2013 when she was only 14 years old.
Why does it mark the spirits so much?
Ellie is the heroine who we identify with, who makes us cry, for whom we suffer throughout history. Because, we have to admit, The Last Of Us seriously plays with our feelings. This character marks a turning point in the evolution of gaming for many reasons, especially in the LGBTQIA + community. In 2014, the DLC called “Left Behind” made us discover the way in which Ellie was bitten by an infected, some time before the first game. Then intervened the character of her late best friend, Riley, of whom Ellie was finally. in love. Openly lesbian, our heroine finally breaks the cliché of the video game designed by straight cisgender men, for straight cisgender men. It should also be noted that Part II highlights subjects such as homoparentality, something rather new in an action game scenario. Ellie is also a fighter. We rediscover the badass character that we could find in Queen Lara Croft, but, this time, with more depth. Because The Last Of Us is above all about humanity, friendship and love. Ellie is given an important psychological stake and therefore a most poignant story. First placed as a protégé in the first game, she is given a whole new role in Part II: that of avenger. The young woman is constantly swinging between her mad desire for justice, and that of keeping her sensitivity. Her ferocity translates into her humanity, not a willingness to include a strong woman in a game. The complexity of Ellie's character is quite unheard of in a 2013 action game and that's why The Last Of Us remains a precursor in gaming.
CLEMENTINE (THE WALKING DEAD): THE ONE WE HAVE SEEN GROW
The Story of the Game: In the post-apocalyptic universe of The Walking Dead, the dead come to life, they are called prowlers. 8-year-old Clementine faces a dangerous new world. During 4 seasons, she goes through all kinds of ordeals leading her from one group of survivors to another. We then follow the young heroine from her childhood, until her adolescence.
Everyone knows the television series (taken from comics), at least by name. But its interactive series adaptation from Telltale Studios is, meanwhile, much less popular. Yet she deserves credit for creating one of the most successful female characters in video games. Continuing in the theme of the survivalist game, we have chosen to highlight the much too little known Clementine. The Walking Dead being a choice game, the player has the power to change part of the scenario according to their choices, actions and responses in the dialogues.
Clementine: a remarkable evolution
The story begins when Clementine is 8 years old. In 2012, the Telltale company introduced us to this character, an African-American little girl, who we would follow for several episodes, and then, several seasons. The Walking Dead has also contributed to changing the representation of racialized people in video games by not featuring any white character among its 3 heroes and heroine incarnated: Clementine, Lee and Javier. Clementine, like Ellie, fits into the warrior category. She is also a character that we have seen growing up with mentors but who has also evolved on her own. She is presented to us as a fearful and reserved little girl, we leave her 3 seasons later as a young woman, leader of a community, leading her troops into battle. We also note Telltale's more than remarkable decision to allow gamers to decide Clementine's sexual orientation in Season 4. So you can choose between two romantic stories: Louis or Violet.
While, during season 1, we play Lee, who represents a real fatherhood figure for Clementine, season 4 allows us to play the latter, who has, in turn, become an authority figure for little AJ, as she is just entering her teenage years. How do you allow him to be a little boy in a world where you have to kill to survive? Therein lies all the thoughts of Clementine, who herself did not live her childhood to the fullest and finds herself raising alone a toddler who is not her own. Why do we love Clementine so much? Because she is at the same time impressive, menacing and human and has been seen to grow up to be this incredibly inspiring woman. She is a true leader with unparalleled empathy. Everyone would want her near them in a post-apocalyptic world!
CHLOE PRICE (LIFE IS STRANGE / LIFE IS STRANGE: BEFORE THE STORM): LA REBELLE AU COEUR TENDRE
The Story of the Game: Young Max Caulfield returns to her hometown to study photography. She has a great reunion with her childhood best friend, Chloe Price. After years of no contact, the two teenagers reunite as if they had never left each other. But some things have changed: Max discovers that she has the power to go back in time and Chloe desperately seeks to find her friend Rachel, missing. Together, they decide to investigate the case. What dark secrets are they about to unravel?
Life Is Strange is surely one of the most successful choice games, as our actions dramatically change the storyline of history. It’s also a game suitable for people less familiar with the console. He has the immense quality of having brought to life an iconic duo: Max and Chloe.
Why is Chloe so endearing?
In the first game, we play Max and not Chloe, who we play only in the prequel to Life Is Strange, in which Max is absent. Chloe is therefore the only character of the firm that can be found in two entire seasons, (she is even mentioned in season 2). Which is why she wears the game so much. Chloe is a teenage girl shattered by the death of her father, who disappeared in a car accident when she was only 13 years old. As she struggles to mourn, the young girl sees her best friend leave for a distant city overnight. On top of that, her mother remarries a man she despises. She is the character that comes close to the reality of many teenage girls, the one they can identify with. She just tells them that we don't have to be strong when our world seems to fall apart. Chloe shows her anger before her sentence. She screams, she insults, she disobeys. She is quite simply a young woman seeking to rebuild herself before she can even build herself at all. Where Max will intellectualize, Chloe will feel. He is an extremely touching character thanks to his sincerity, authenticity and sensitivity. She is the rebel with a big heart and her generosity is indisputable. Even though no news or support has been given to her from her best friend in the hardships she's been through, young Chloe feels nothing but love when she finally finds her. . Chloe is also a source of pride within the LGBTQIA + community. Whether you prefer his bond with Max or the powerful chemistry born of his relationship with Rachel, the three young women are solid queer figures in video games.
MAX CAULFIELD (LIFE IS STRANGE): THE QUIET FORCE
Continuing in the universe of Life Is Strange, we are now talking about the main character of Season 1, Max Caulfield. Max and Chloe are a striking duo symbolizing sorority, friendship, nostalgia and even, as we choose, love.
Max: the friend we all need
In the Life Is Strange prequel, Before The Storm, we realize that Max was not very present for Chloe. Returning to their hometown of Arcadia Bay makes her realize that she hasn't always been the perfect friend. This is also what we love about this video game. The characters are very close to what you would expect in the real world, including some flaws and realistic personalities. The reason Max and Chloe are such a strong duo is firstly because their love for each other is incomparable, but also partly because of their differences. Unlike Chloe, Max is a quiet teenager, a good student and abiding by the rules. She is the candid character of many fictions. While heroines who exemplify purity and innocence have often been treated with a lot of stereotypes and little depth, Max makes a hell of a difference.
She gets the label of the perfect student, the girl who doesn't bother anyone, basically, the weird girl who prefers books to joints. But because she chose him. Max is a confident young woman, who knows what she likes and dislikes, who has never been swayed by what a girl her age should or shouldn't be. She says loud and clear to teenage girls (and teenagers) who would like to play her, that shyness is a great quality. Being a quiet and withdrawn young woman is cool too. She is, moreover, a model of sorority. She's not shy about taking great risks for Chloe, and trying to find a girl she's never known. In the game, teenage girls also face situations so familiar to young women. It deals with the subjects of harassment, sexism, violence and social pressure towards women of their age. The apprentice photographer is also an important support for fragile characters and victims of all kinds of violence like Kate and Warren. In short, Max Caulfield is, quite simply, the friend we all need (beyond the fact that she can turn back time).
ALOY (HORIZON ZERO DAWN): THE ONE THAT TAKES ITS PLACE
The story: In a world of prehistory and futurism, young Aloy grows up apart from the Nora tribe. Considered an outcast, she must pass the trials of the Hatching Ceremony to be finally integrated. Thus, she will be able to have answers concerning the mysteries which surround her origins.
So we're going back to the more spectacular games by introducing you to the character of Aloy. A little girl rejected by the tribes, she was brought up in the mountains by Rost, another outcast. The birth of this heroine is a well-kept secret, which we try to uncover during the game. The story takes place in a world where humans live in primitive conditions, while being surrounded by autonomous technologies. Indeed, the tribes share their territory with imposing savage machines. It is impossible for humans to control these monsters. What no one suspects is that Aloy is the only one with this ability …
Aloy: pure feminine power
Why is Aloy the character to admire since the release of the first Horizon Zero Dawn? Quite simply because she represents a great force in the world of video games. At the beginning of the story, Aloy is a rejected young woman who, to prove her merit, will have to compete with people of her age in the most violent trials. She has to deal with both social judgment and sometimes patriarchy, which she puts down to earth from the start of the game, thanks to her physical strength and repartee. She creates her own place and integrates herself where she has been forbidden to venture her entire life. Aloy is clearly the character who avenges the condition of women in an extremely archaic universe, without claiming to be the carrier of any message. Aloy is only there to have his questions answered. The Guerilla Games studio first sought to represent a person in search of his identity. Her curiosity takes precedence over the notion of a strong woman. Thus, Horizon Zero Dawn does not claim anything, it simply brings to life one of the most powerful heroines of the video game. We also appreciate the young woman's lack of sexualization, which is what we tend to see in action games. To conclude, in the world of gaming which is still very sexist, a character like Aloy marks a real change of course. She wasn't created to be a fantasy, she wasn't even created to represent a quota of strong women. She is a determined, fierce woman with a goal that does not include her feminine status. He is a character who will mark many future generations.