What games of older generations would you put up? i dont mind the genre really, id would just love to hear yalls suggestions.
Portal!
Calling this game “older” is hurting my soul, though.
if it makes you feel any better, you dealt psychic damage to me as well
Obvious one, but the original Tomb Raider.
How old are we talking? Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid, Resident Evil 2, and the OG Tomb Raider series are all pretty old but great.
Portal, Portal 2, Mirror’s Edge, Alien Isolation, Child of Light, Celeste, Tales of Berseria, Final Fantasy XIII, Slime Rancher, the newer Tomb Raifer games, and A Plague Tale are a few games from previous gens that hold up really well.
A more recent game that flew under a lot of people’s radars is Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and it was a lot of fun. Also, Atelier Ryza and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure are very worth mentioning, too. :)
Don’t forget Parasite Eve!
Atelier Ryza
Don’t forget the rest of Atelier series!
That’s true! There’s a lot of good games in that series, I’ve heard. I have yet to play most of them myself.
I haven’t played a lot, but I did played Atelier Iris 3 as well as Atelier Rorona. Mana Khemia is fun as well
Beyond Good & Evil
i remember when i was a lil gal, i had trouble with the first block pushing puzzle lmao
It’s a cult classic for a reason
I started playing this for the first time earlier today. Only 3 hours in, but I can already tell why it has a very adamant fan base to this day.
But Nietzsche was a boy!!
Some of these aren’t that old, but still…
Blades of Time - fun hack & slash
Crosscode - great SNES inspired action rpg
Gianna Sisters - platformer, has co-op
Icey - another hack & slash
Mirror’s Edge - first person parkour simulator with a great main character and good story
Psuedoregalia - short indie metroidvania, best movement mechanics of any game in a long time
Transistor - awesome story, interesting mechanics.
Ms. Pac-Man, obvs
Magical Diary: Horse Hall was fun
I believe all Elder Scrolls (at least the mainline games: Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim) let you select your character’s gender.
Also, what is “old”? Mass Effect 1 is already 15 years old.
Iji is a free game released in 2008. Sidescrolling shooter with a story, fun boss fights, and a great soundtrack. It’s really a shame it isn’t as well known in these circles, it’s quite good.
Trying to think of some obscure, unknown games: Eien no Filena, a JRPG on the Super Nintendo. The protagonist is a woman pretending to be a man as a lower class citizen forced to be a gladiator. Awkwardness ensues when she is “assigned” a wife and the men around her start being very confused about their sexuality.
now thats a plotpoint i can respect
Zapp: “I’ve never been so happy to get beat up by a woman.”
Leela: “Let’s do it again sometime.”
Fatal Frame
Rule of Rose
Clocktower (the series, but I recommend 3)
Resident Evil
American McGee’s Alice
Fear Effect
Dino CrisisDepending on your definition of “older” you also have:
Alien: Isolation
Fran Bow
What Remains of Edith Finch
Life is StrangeWhat Remains Of Edith Finch is downright amazing.
EDIT: Just remembered Perfect Dark
NOLF huh, thats a new one for me, thanks
NOLF was great, it just had a bad timing with the release
Donkey Kong Country 3 if you count anthro characters. Dixie is also in DKC2 but there she is the sidekick and not the main character, not that there’s much difference from a gameplay perspective.
Final Fantasy 6. There are technically several protagonists, but the one with the better claim to “main protagonist” is a woman.
Also, Heaven’s Vault isn’t an old game, but it’s not very well known or talked about, so I’ll throw it in anyway.
Napple Tale: Arisa in Daydream
A game for the Dreamcast that had a primarily female dev team. It was exclusive to Japan, but a translation patch was released a couple years ago.Atelier series
There are a bunch of these. They’re RPGs based heavily around crafting. Actually, they basically pioneered crafting in RPGs.Um Jammer Lammy
A spin-off of Parappa the Rapper. Lammy has only 15 minutes to make it to her band’s performance, but getting there won’t be easy.
Note that Stage 6 is censored in the North American release. Also as a bonus, completing the game unlocks Parappa mode, with new versions of every song after Stage 1.Athena
Stick with the original arcade version. The NES port is infamously bad.Psycho Soldier
A spin-off of Athena (sort of) starring Athena’s descendant/reincarnation (it depends on the writer), Athena Asamiya (and Sie Kensou as player 2’s character). Athena (and Kensou) would later become staples of the King of Fighters series. The game is notable for being the first game with a vocal soundtrack.Baraduke
An arcade title from Namco. Being on this list is actually a pretty big spoiler because the fact that the protagonist is a woman isn’t revealed until the end of the game. Now that probably sounds like a ripoff of Metroid, but here’s the thing: Baraduke did it first.Koudelka
An obscure horror RPG for the PlayStation.
The game is an unhappy compromise between the creator and the dev team. One side wanting to make a survival horror game and the other going for something like Final Fantasy VII. I’ve never actually gotten very far in this one because I hate the battle system. Also, this game has connections to the later Shadow Hearts series.Literally every game in the Otome genre
Probably not what you’re looking for, but technically fits your criteria of having a female protagonist.I might add more to this post if I can think of something else.
A lot of point-and-click adventure games do feature female protaganists. One that comes to mind that’s not bee mentioned so far is Kathy Rain.
