Quality Games About Girlz and Womenz

[IMPress Polly]

Looking at the top ten blockbuster games of last year...

1. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
2. Destiny
3. Grand Theft Auto V
4. Madden NFL 2015
5. Minecraft
6. WATCH_DOGS
7. Call of Duty: Ghosts
8. Super Smash Bros.
9. Titanfall
10. NBA 2K15

...one cannot but notice that there are only two or three (depending on just how generous you are) that can be described as anything other than one-sidedly male-centric: Destiny, Minecraft, and MAYBE Titanfall if we're particularly generous. And mind you that none of those three games is actually ABOUT women specifically; they're what one might call relatively equal options games; games that provide roughly, vaguely equitable play options for both male and female players, NOT games whose adventures and game play revolve around one or more female characters primarily. Games about girls and/or women are the rarest of all breeds, composing, according to the most recent survey data I have, only 4% of all modern video games, which is to say about 1 out of every 25. (They even compose less than 10% of my own game library for that matter, and I, as a self-respecting feminist, make a conscious effort to find the good ones!) Fewer than that, of course, are worth your time. I have therefore decided to create this thread for the express purpose of promoting the better female-centric games out there. Others may, of course, contribute titles that they would recommend as well. I'll be adding more recommended titles to this thread over time.

The first game I'll be promoting is...

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL (2003)

Like most games that I'll be promoting on this thread, Beyond Good and Evil can be described as a hidden gem, which is a metaphoric way of saying a great game (often well-received by critics, for example) that proved to be a commercial failure due to either a small budget with which to advertise (not in this case!) or (as applicable here for example) a company marketing strategy that revolved around promoting their sequels instead of their new, original titles, as to guarantee a profitable holiday season where the alternative would be to take an unnecessary risk. Either way, most of these games, including Beyond Good and Evil, have proven to be victims of the profit-driven economics of capitalism because they certainly didn't deserve their fate as mere cult hits.

This science fiction and fantasy adventure game (now available in HD as a downloadable for the PlayStation 3) is set on the fictional planet of Hillys, where a military dictatorship has come to power in the wake of the alien invasion by promising to defend your (Jade's) planet. In your work as an investigative journalist for what turns out to be a persecuted, underground organization called the IRIS Network, you gradually discover that, in reality, your government is helping the invaders convert the citizens of Hillys into their slaves behind the scenes of the war, thus perpetuating the conflict indefinitely so that the dictatorship can remain in place forever. You find and reveal more and more evidence to the masses over the course of the game, thus touching off a revolution. The story is told well and seemed timely when it was released back in 2003 amidst the post-9/11 fog that led us to accept the idea of invading Iraq on the basis of lies...and increasingly timely once more today, as we find ourselves once again becoming very paranoid about foreign threats and willing to accordingly accept, and even demand, a permanent state of war and stepped up "security" measures. At its core, this game is about Nietzsche-esque radical doubt, as its name implies. It also invokes Nietzsche in other ways, including at the end when you confront the main villain and nearly lose control of your soul in the process of fighting him, alluding to Nietzsche’s famous quote: “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster…for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” A hardcore Nietzsche fanatic I may not be, but I’ve gotta say that this is the best game inspired by Nietzche’s worldview that you’ll ever play. It’s genuinely thought-provoking, emotionally resonant, and even fun to boot!

Here's a video review of the game for a visual:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72SBdvupwlk

[kilgram]

Well, in 2014 about women there is...

Alien Isolation
Destiny (not exactly as you say)
Dragon Age Inquisition (not exactly as you say, but many main characters are women and they have an important rol of the game - two of the 4 leaders are women and if the character is women then they are 3- )
Bayonetta 2 (woman)
Dark Souls 2 (not exactly as you say)

But I agree with you that very few games are with women as main character, however there are a few games.

But if you think, and it is not a justification, just a proof of a trend, most of the games are action games and if you watch other genres like movies or literature they also feature mostly male characters as the main characters.

So, more than say that there is a failure of making games for women I would say that there is a trend in making action games mostly or sports, and both genres are like it or not for men.

But games story-oriented to a one pre-scripted character usually use male protagonists, instead of female. I hope that in future we are able to see more gams with female protagonists.

For example, I would like to recommend a game that (I've not played but when it is cheaper I will buy) is: Remember Me.

[IMPress Polly]

Thanks for your list and recommendation, kilgram!

Now I'll start by saying that Bayonetta franchise is what I like to call a sexist abomination that's clearly meant to be played by men. It's a frivolous action game where all your moves are stripper moves and your strongest one involves removing all of Bayonetta's clothes. That's kind of a joke, IMO. However, Alien Isolation I've heard is genuinely good. That's one I might try out for myself. Haven't had the chance to play it yet though! I've never heard of Remember Me though, but I will look it up, as the title itself sounds intriguing to me!

Now as to 2014 games about women, there are three I've really liked, all of which are fairly obscure titles, but eventually I'll get around to promoting each one of them here on this thread. I'm trying to do each individual game I recommend real justice though with some kind of explanation of what I like about the game, not just a name.

[Captain Obvious]

The product targets the market, video games are probably overwhelmingly played by guy. Why would that list be a surprise to anyone?

[Captain Obvious]

For the record, I'm an RPG game player, often I'll play femme characters, for the hell of it.

I actually had a lesbian sex encounter in one of them.

[PattyHill]

The product targets the market, video games are probably overwhelmingly played by guy. Why would that list be a surprise to anyone?


a) don't companies want to expand their markets?

and

b) google it - http://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/


The statistic shows the gender split among U.S. computer and video gamers from 2006 to 2015. In 2012, 53 percent of all gamers were men, down from 58 percent a year earlier.

53% isn't "overwhelming"

[Captain Obvious]

a) don't companies want to expand their markets?

and

b) google it - http://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/



53% isn't "overwhelming"

I've seen those stats before and I think they're wrong. Personal experience thing. I wonder if they include chics on Facebook in that category or something murky like that.

Video games are trying to expand, young children are (were) a target, but at the end of the day the crux of what the market is demanding is games with guns, shit blowing up and boobs.

[kilgram]

Thanks for your list and recommendation, kilgram!

Now I'll start by saying that Bayonetta franchise is what I like to call a sexist abomination that's clearly meant to be played by men. It's a frivolous action game where all your moves are stripper moves and your strongest one involves removing all of Bayonetta's clothes. That's kind of a joke, IMO. However, Alien Isolation I've heard is genuinely good. That's one I might try out for myself. Haven't had the chance to play it yet though! I've never heard of Remember Me though, but I will look it up, as the title itself sounds intriguing to me!

Now as to 2014 games about women, there are three I've really liked, all of which are fairly obscure titles, but eventually I'll get around to promoting each one of them here on this thread. I'm trying to do each individual game I recommend real justice though with some kind of explanation of what I like about the game, not just a name.
I've not played Bayonette, but I thought that it was less sexist.

However there is a problem. I believe that the action genre, literature, movies and games has as main target the men,because they are the most interested on it.

Now I am going to invent statistics but I would say that 90% users of the action genre are men.

However, in my opinion the most equal oriented games that I've recently played is Dragon Age.

Also I would add Saints Row that is like non sexist GTA.

[kilgram]

For the record, I'm an RPG game player, often I'll play femme characters, for the hell of it.

I actually had a lesbian sex encounter in one of them.
I like to play polyamorous females. Or that they flirt with anybody, the same with males.

[IMPress Polly]

Well anyway, the second game I'll recommend is...

BEYOND: TWO SOULS (2013)

This PlayStation 3 exclusive is an extremely rare type of game: a story-driven action-adventure for casual gamers and non-gamers. It's the only game with a strong storyline that I've been able to get my mom to play through and enjoy, to give you an idea of what I mean. Think of it as essentially a (really long) movie with interactive elements that are set on Extremely Easy mode. As you can well imagine, such titles as this are divisive in the gaming community. Many feel they dilute the essence of video games by minimizing interactivity and making it nearly impossible to fail any mission. That is because they are thinking of the game in "hardcore gamer" terms.

Why do we play video games? As someone who has been playing video games on a regular basis for going on 24 years now and who considers gaming one of her two favorite hobbies, I've pondered this question many times over the years and so far have been able to come up with only one answer: it's about power. Think about it: What is it that separates video games from other mediums; what's distinct about video games that makes us want to play them? The distinctive feature is the ability to control events on the screen. It is perhaps to that end that psychologists consider and treat video game addiction (which yes is a real thing) as an addiction to power. It probably also explains why there seems to be so much overlap between the hardcore gaming crowd on the one hand and the market for superhero comic books and movies based on those comics on the other (e.g. the fact that Comic-Con is famously also secondarily a video game convention): it's about feeling powerful and in control, which can be an addicting thing for people who don't feel like they have much control over their lives. In order to appreciate this game, you might want to try and set that mentality aside and put your proverbial film critic hat on instead because one's ability to appreciate this game will definitely accordingly depend on their willingness to consider it on its own terms rather than on traditional "hardcore gamer" terms. As much is well reflected in the polarized scores that professional game critics awarded Beyond, which ranged from 4 out of 10 all the way up to 9 out of 10. I am with the latter crowd, personally. That's because I personally believe that video games overall, for the sake of society's health (video games are the fastest-growing medium out there today), and also for that of their artistic development, should really become less about feeling powerful and more about cultivating empathy in the player. That is what this game is in essence about. Try and appreciate it on those terms.

Beyond is an allegorical interactive drama about conquering one's personal demons; about achieving mastery of one's self. It realizes a sustained sense of drama and excitement by telling its story (which dominates the game) in a nonlinear fashion, which in this case means that events are not relayed in chronological order, as ordering the events chronologically would make the first two hours or so of the game rather mundane. The player starts near the end of the story and pieces the background together as it unfolds in the form of semi-random memories. They are memories of love/hate relationships, of exploitation by ironically loving people, this sort of thing. Over time you gain more control over Aiden (the psychic metaphor here for your personal demons) and the game is very much about the process of that and about a key choice at the very end of whether to let go of lost loved ones or live in the world of the dead with them.

I think it's an outstanding accomplishment that successfully blurs the lines between the world of cinema and that of games, which I think is key to further development of both of those mediums. Here are a couple trailers for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9D1N-MHwog

And this second one includes remarks by the actors who played the games two most important characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKmj84BKsyc

[IMPress Polly]

Sorry for just supplying a couple trailers for Beyond earlier. I couldn't find the actual review of the game I was looking for, so that was my fallback. Like I mentioned before, game critics were polarized in their opinions of Beyond, so I really wanted to find one that articulated a view similar to my own. I finally the one I was looking for though, so here's the Game Spot review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-ujnZuXIRI

Anyway, here's my third recommendation:

GONE HOME (2013)

If you've followed my posts on this forum for very long, you've probably noticed that sandbox style adventures don't tend to be my favorite kinds. That's because the freedom that these games offer the player makes it qualitatively more difficult for developers to provide a compelling story, so they usually wind up focusing instead on serving up a bevy of distractions. I don't hate games that have weak or non-existent stories as such, but I do tend to view them as less serious. Anyway, Gone Home is a rare free-roaming exploration title that solves the aforementioned problem. How? By eliminating all distractions. Gone Home has no action elements, no puzzles to solve, and no mini-games to play. This leaves the player with nothing to explore but the story, which is revealed in the form of notes strewn throughout a large house that the player moves freely around in. You are fundamentally tasked with piecing the story together by finding all these notes. One's enjoyment of the game derives from the thrill of discovery. That might sound dull to you, but trust me, it actually works quite well, given the degree of authenticity and the type of atmosphere that Gone Home provides.

You see, the story is not actually about your character, Kaitlin, but rather about the backstory of her sister Samantha and Samantha's friend Yolanda (a.k.a. Lonnie). Set in 1995, the game serves up all manner of nostalgia for that era that people like myself who grew up in and around that time frame can appreciate (VHS tapes, primitive computers, all that sort of thing), but also speaks to the shortcomings of the popular mindset of the time. To divulge certain points of the aforementioned backstory you're tasked with unearthing, it revolves around Samantha and Lonnie meeting and later falling in love. Yes that kind of love. But all manner of problems emerge: you learn of their struggles to navigate disapproving parents who insist that they just haven't met the right boy yet, forcible separation, etc. Only the most callous can walk away from this game unfazed by the depth of their affection for each other, coupled with the sadly believable sort of challenges they face in trying to remain together. It's all brought home with highly convincing voice acting, background music, and the just generally realistic portrayal of the way that era felt. In many ways, the delivery is what makes this a compelling, if unusual, game.

Continuing my theme of fancying that games should move more away from being all about feeling powerful and instead become more about cultivating empathy in the player, this is the kind of thing I think that first-person shooters should generally evolve into. The game uses the same play mechanics as a first-person shooter, after all. BioShock Infinite may have a compelling and dare I say even touching storyline, but frankly I think we've all noticed that the degree of brutality and bloodshed therein kind of takes away from its impact rather than adding to it. Gone Home supplies no such distractions and thus constitutes the more artistically advanced application of the play mechanics, IMO. It is fully driven by its story and atmosphere.

Here's the Game Spot review for Gone Home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7jQ8dveabs

(Yep, by Carolyn Petit, for those who remember that name from another recent thread. :wink:)

[PattyHill]

Gone Home sounds pretty compelling. But - nostalgia for the mid-90s? that wasn't that long ago!!

I guess I'm getting old... (smile)

I really like your writeups.

[Captain Obvious]

Parasite Eve is one I want to play again if I ever get the chance.

http://pgrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/pe.jpg

[IMPress Polly]

Patty wrote:
Gone Home sounds pretty compelling. But - nostalgia for the mid-90s? that wasn't that long ago!!

I guess I'm getting old... (smile)

I really like your writeups.

*sigh* You'd be surprised how easily and how soon nostalgia can set in for people today, myself included. It must be a generational thing because there's a lot of demand amongst people my age for so-called '90s retro stuff. I mean check out Teen Nick on weekend nights, for example, and you'll find a retro block called "'90s Nick" on, where they run nothing but their '90s era shows to satisfy the nostalgia of people my age. Maybe not so much when it comes to Nickeleon, but I find it easy to get sucked into '90s and early 2000s nostalgia already, even at just 30. I can see why older people have a reputation for getting set in their ways and tastes. My childhood was the happiest time of my life by far. When that really is the case for you, it can bias you against new things and new ideas. It's precisely for that sort reason that I try to remain future-oriented in my overall thinking. Otherwise you wind up becoming narrow-minded, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment! :smiley: I am trying to put a decent amount of effort and thought into my comments here.

[GrassrootsConservative]

*sigh* You'd be surprised how easily and how soon nostalgia can set in for people today, myself included. It must be a generational thing because there's a lot of demand amongst people my age for so-called '90s retro stuff. I mean check out Teen Nick on weekend nights, for example, and you'll find a retro block called "'90s Nick" on, where they run nothing but their '90s era shows to satisfy the nostalgia of people my age. Maybe not so much when it comes to Nickeleon, but I find it easy to get sucked into '90s and early 2000s nostalgia already, even at just 30. I can see why older people have a reputation for getting set in their ways and tastes. My childhood was the happiest time of my life by far. It's precisely for that sort reason that I try to remain future-oriented in my overall thinking. Otherwise you wind up becoming narrow-minded, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment! :smiley: I am trying to put a decent amount of effort and thought into my comments here.

Do they run The Hidden Temple?

And I have nostalgia from my childhood in the 90's too. Any time I hear Billy Corgan's voice is the biggest example.

[IMPress Polly]

GrassrootsConservative wrote:
Do they run The Hidden Temple?

And I have nostalgia from my childhood in the 90's too. Any time I hear Billy Corgan's voice is the biggest example.

I THINK they do, but I've never stuck with it that late into the evening. I always switch to Toonami once it comes on. And that's another perfect example of today's '90s nostalgia amongst people our age: the revival of Toonami.

[GrassrootsConservative]

Code Lyoko was the only good thing about Toonami.

[IMPress Polly]

Are you kidding me?? You didn't like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex or Dragon Ball Z??

[GrassrootsConservative]

No. I don't general like Japanese things.

[IMPress Polly]

I'll cross you off my cool list then. :wink:

[Captain Obvious]

I'll cross you off my cool list then. :wink:

I'm not sure I want to know which of your lists I'm on.

:biglaugh:

[PattyHill]

I have no clue what Toonami is. I'm sooo old!

But I may buy that Gone Home game and give it a try... I haven't played any computer game besides FreeCell since late 90s, when I played SimCity, so that will be quite an adventure!

[IMPress Polly]

Patty wrote:I have no clue what Toonami is. I'm sooo old!

But I may buy that Gone Home game and give it a try... I haven't played any computer games besides FreeCell since late 90s, when I played SimCity, so that will be quite an adventure!


You won't regret getting Gone Home. At all. It's excellent. :smiley:

Sim City is a classic for sure. Over the years, I've amassed lots of pretty interesting simulation games. Here's another simulation game (that's also female-centered and thus appropriate for this thread) that you might find interesting:

WONDER PROJECT J2 (1996)

As explained in the video review below, this game was a Japanese-exclusive Nintendo 64 release, which meant that you had to understand Japanese to get very far in the game. Not to worry though: A English fan translation of the game is now available. You can use an emulator to the English version on your computer, but like the reviewer in the video, I too will recommend using an Ever Drive 64 so you can play the game on your actual N64 system the way it was meant to be played.


This game is part parenting simulation, part story-driven, science fiction adventure. It’s divided into two chapters: You spend the first chapter programming an android named Josette by teaching her a range of life skills in any order and manner you want. In the second chapter, Josette must apply those life skills in a quest against an empire. The second chapter is largely hands-off; Josette plays out the bulk of it herself. If you’ve programmed her well, she’ll perform correctly and win. If not, she’ll mess up, leading to all sorts of comical-but-frustrating situations. I like how the game is divided up into those two sections. It effectively communicates the importance not only of raising a child right, but also of the need to ultimately let go (kinda continuing my ongoing theme here of promoting games that are not all about making the player feel powerful). The review below does a good job of filling you in on how it all works.


I think a big part of the reason I find this game so addicting is because it’s probably the only sense in which I’ll ever have a child. http://thepoliticalforums.com/blogs/monkeyqueen/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K3binhMds0


And to my next recommendation...

NEVER ALONE (2014)

This is my favorite game from last year. It's an atmosphere-driven 2D puzzle-platforming game created by independent developer Upper One Games as a non-profit venture in collaboration with Alaskan native peoples for the purpose of sharing their culture with the world. You play as an Inupiaq girl named Nuna who gets caught in an eternal blizzard and rescued by an Arctic fox, who subsequently becomes her companion. The two of you then set out to discover the cause of the blizzard and stop it in order to restore balance to nature. Along the way, you play through a number of native Alaskan traditional folklore tales, including that of Blizzard Man, the Little People, Manslayer, Rolling Heads, and the Sky People. The game's narrative is ongoing throughout the game play and is relayed (with subtitles) in the original language, adding an additional layer of authenticity and atmosphere to the experience. You and the fox have specialized skill sets and have to work together to traverse the game's areas. One player can either seamlessly switch between the two roles or a second player can join in, taking on the role of either Nuna or the fox.

The game definitely succeeds in its mission to educate on native Alaskan tribal folklore and culture. I learned a lot about it from this game and have really come to appreciate its value system. This is a game that's all about sharing, learning, and cooperation. It's appropriate then that there's no competitive mode of play: the only multi-player option is cooperative, wherein one person controls Nuna and the other her fox companion. One does not often find games that are both educationally-focused and genuinely touching, but this title succeeds spectacularly on both fronts and that's why it's one of my favorites right now!

Here's a review of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwcGM6WCnbQ

And here is a trailer for it, which I think is worth posting mostly just because the review above, while good, did not showcase an especially wide variety of the game's areas or any of the game's music, and the game's soundtrack is a big part of setting the mood for atmosphere-driven titles like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnY21Fg5G1Y

[IMPress Polly]

Okay my next recommendation is...

OKAMI (2006)

Yet another commercial flop that definitely didn't deserve to fail (thank you capitalism!), Okami has consistently remained among my top 10 favorite video games of all time ever since its release nearly a decade ago. (For perspective, I've amassed about 860 games over the years.)

The basic premise of this positively gorgeous 40-hour fantasy adventure game set in mythical Japan (the graphical style for which accordingly resembles traditional Japanese paintings) is this: A descendant of the hero Nagi and self-proclaimed greatest warrior breaks the seal of the demon Orochi because he doesn’t believe in the legend behind it and wants to prove it false. Orochi escapes and curses the land, sapping the life from every living being. Sakuya, the wood sprite and guardian of Kamiki Village, calls forth Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, known to the villagers as the reincarnation of the white wolf Shiranui who defeated the demon Orochi a century previous, and pleads for her to remove the curse that covers the land. Only by restoring the faith of the people can Amaterasu and her inch-high artist companion Issun summon the strength needed to seal Orochi away again and restore the land to its former beauty.

This is a game about faith at a time when it's rare for people to be open about such topics. It’s about how the abandonment of faith leads to disaster, including the abuse of nature, and what religion needs to do to restore people’s faith: It needs to help people and bring healing and the game's play structure works accordingly: While Okami has an RPG-like character-building system -- a system whereby your character accumulates experience points that eventually level up their abilities -- unlike in most RPGs, you don't gain experience points by defeating enemy characters. Rather, you gain experience points by completing side quests (that's adventure-game lingo for mini-games) wherein you help people solve personal problems. This makes the side quests actually feel meaningful and pivotal to what Okami is all about, as opposed to how they usually feel in a typical RPG or adventure game, wherein one is simply rewarded for completing them with an unnecessary item or something of this nature, resulting in them feeling like arbitrary padding rather than content central to the game's point. It also has the effect of not rewarding battling, which in turn encourages the player to generally avoid confrontations rather than fight every enemy possible just to grind for experience points and level-ups. Oh don't worry, you'll take down plenty of huge bosses many times your own size and that oughtta help you with that ego boost you may be looking for, but it just won't be as central to the game's core message as in most other games of this nature.

Another really cool and unique feature of this game is the ability to paint your way out of most any problem with the Celestial Brush, which you can control with either a traditional controller or, if you get the PlayStation 3 HD version, alternatively with the PlayStation Move (the system's motion-sensing controller), which makes this a rare core game wherein the use of motion controls doesn't feel like a hindrance or an unnecessary frill, but rather an actual, meaningful enhancement to the game's aesthetic. For example, if you run up to a broken bridge, you can pause the game and use the Celestial Brush to draw the rest of it in and cross. Or if there are boulders blocking your way forward, you can draw a bomb to blow them up. Fighting enemy monsters? Try drawing a line across an enemy character or draw missile dots on them. Need the time to change quickly to complete a certain task? Just draw a sun in the sky to change nighttime into day instantly. You learn more and more of these Brush techniques as you progress through the game.

All this said though, one thing that really and truly stands out to me more than anything else about this game is its amazingly unique and captivating art style and authentic and engrossing soundtrack. It's all designed to capture the feeling of mythical Japan and it just draws you right in and makes you not want to leave! In that sense of truly capturing the feel of another culture -- of a foreign folklore -- it is not unlike what Never Alone does. It's very much in that kind of spirit. If you don't know much about the Japanese Shinto faith, you'll learn a lot about it from this game. Just as importantly though, the dialogue, play structure, and art direction will leave you feeling truly inspired by it! I may not be a religious person, but this game tells its story so elegantly that it makes me want to religious. Therein lies its power. Like Never Alone, it goes to prove that games do not need the world's biggest budgets to be amazing and inspiring in every way, including visually!

There are multiple versions of this game, but the PlayStation 3 downloadable version is the one I most recommend, as it’s in HD and allows you the option of either controlling the Celestial Brush with a control stick or with the PlayStation Move motion controls. Here's a trailer for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFKZzBcI3kY

[PattyHill]

I can't get off the porch in Gone Home. Sigh.

[IMPress Polly]

Maybe this'll help a little: here's a full playthrough of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS5eQmRgBlY

[kilgram]

I want to add a game that this May will be released and is a game that could be male oriented but it has interesting female chars. And also one of the main protagonists is a young woman and very powerful.

I am talking of The Witcher 3 that introduces Ciri as playable character with Geralt of Rivia.

[IMPress Polly]

Okay, my next recommendation will be...

REVOLUTION 60 (2014)

Revolution 60 is an iPhone science fiction adventure game developed and published by the small, independent company Giant Spacekat, which consists of several women and the head-of-development's husband. It's not a big-budget production is what I'm trying to tell you, so don't expect the best graphics in history or the longest game ever made or what have you. That said, Revolution 60 makes mega points with me for its thought-provoking premise. The basic idea is that, at an unspecified time in the future, a cold war has broken out between the United States and China and, as part of a four-member special forces team, you're trying to prevent all-out war. Uniquely combining elements from Mass Effect and Heavy Rain, the action is event-based (i.e. you don't control your character, Holiday, directly), the combat is action-oriented with a slight RPG-like feel due to its experience system, and binary moral choices play a decisive role in both how the story unfolds and its ultimate outcome. Genuinely atmospheric soundtrack and exceptional voice acting (particularly for a mobile game) round out the experience, making this my favorite iPhone game ever, as of yet anyway.

The graphic design draws heavy inspiration from Space Channel 5 and Sailor Moon and IMO constitutes this game's weakest point. Many of the game's more progressive critics feel that the game's numerous female characters have an overly sexualized appearance that's rather insulting as a result. Head of development Brianna Wu says that, in retrospect, she agrees and that the planned sequel, Revolution 62, will use more realistic character proportions. She explains that "Having learned to draw from anime is not a great basis for running a studio that’s held up as a poster child of feminism. To say it bluntly, I screwed up... I think we can do better portraying body types going forward." In spite of faults like this though, the game is still genuinely exceptional and thought-provoking overall, particularly for an iPhone game. Cinematic storytelling and an all-female main cast are both extreme rarities for mobile platforms, and this game's underlying premise has a certain pertinence -- a certain social relevance -- that one doesn't get from many games. Here's the launch trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfa4ErkfttQ

[IMPress Polly]

Hey, I'll be continuing to add more game overviews to this ongoing list (and most, but not all, the games are also will continue to be titles that appear on my favorite games list (here's the current version thereof (http://thepoliticalforums.com/threads/37933-Favorite-Games-By-Year?p=1122928&viewfull=1#post1122928))), but today I just wanted to reinforce how awesome one of these games in particular is: Beyond Good and Evil. To that end, I've posted a new Feminist Frequency video below (hosted by Anita Sarkeesian, as all those vidz are) that both serves as really the best overall review of the game I've seen so far and also focuses in on the main protagonist, Jade, and what makes her such an unusually great female game character:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCsu3YPOw50

[kilgram]

Mmmm... I have Beyond Good and Evil in sales in Steam... considering to buy it XD

[Captain Obvious]

When do the gay and trans-gender video games come out? (pun?)

Seriously, they're all the rage in comic books lately.

[kilgram]

When do the gay and trans-gender video games come out? (pun?)

Seriously, they're all the rage in comic books lately.
Mmm Dragon Age has bisexual and gay characters. If it was what you were asking.

[IMPress Polly]

Captain Obvious wrote:
When do the gay and trans-gender video games come out? (pun?)

Seriously, they're all the rage in comic books lately.

As Kilgram said, Dragon Age: Inquisition is a rare, but great example of a semi-popular video game that provides representation to people of lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientation. It's also more respectful to the differences between these orientations than earlier installments in the series, which had all characters bisexual by default, thus allowing the player to romance whomever they wanted. Inquisition, by contrast, provides a more lifelike degree of nuance and complexity by having certain characters be specifically straight, others specifically gay, and others still bisexual.

Now if you're looking for a game that's all about non-heterosexual romance, I would recommend Gone Home, which is about a tale of strained love between two high school girls.

Unfortunately, such games as these are as yet very rare. Those are the two best examples that come to mind off hand and both are fairly recent, as in less than three years old.


Kilgram wrote:
Mmmm... I have Beyond Good and Evil in sales in Steam... considering to buy it XD

I would HIGHLY recommend it! It's one of my three favorite games of all time. :smiley:

[Captain Obvious]

As Kilgram said, Dragon Age: Inquisition is a rare, but great example of a semi-popular video game that provides representation to people of lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientation. It's also more respectful to the differences between these orientations than earlier installments in the series, which had all characters bisexual by default, thus allowing the player to romance whomever they wanted. Inquisition, by contrast, provides a more lifelike degree of nuance and complexity by having certain characters be specifically straight, others specifically gay, and others still bisexual.

Now if you're looking for a game that's all about non-heterosexual romance, I would recommend Gone Home, which is about a tale of strained love between two high school girls.

Unfortunately, such games as these are as yet very rare. Those are the two best examples that come to mind off hand and both are fairly recent, as in less than three years old.



I would HIGHLY recommend it! It's one of my three favorite games of all time. :smiley:

I look for games I'm interested in playing, not racially, sexually, etc. identifying. Games are a fun occasional passtime for me, not a political talking point.

Tomb Raider is one of my all-time favorite games, the fact that Lara is without cahones isn't an issue for me either way.

I do sometimes play Neverwinter Nights and there's a part of the game where the PC, if the dialogue goes right bangs a hooker. I played a femme character once and couldn't get them to dyke out.

[IMPress Polly]

Captain Obvious wrote:
I look for games I'm interested in playing, not racially, sexually, etc. identifying. Games are a fun occasional passtime for me, not a political talking point.

I understand the sentiment. When you play as many games and as often as I do though, eventually you might just get bored with certain patterns (certain kinds of stories, etc.) and annoyed by tropes, particularly when your demographic is so rarely and poorly represented.

[kilgram]

As Kilgram said, Dragon Age: Inquisition is a rare, but great example of a semi-popular video game that provides representation to people of lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientation. It's also more respectful to the differences between these orientations than earlier installments in the series, which had all characters bisexual by default, thus allowing the player to romance whomever they wanted. Inquisition, by contrast, provides a more lifelike degree of nuance and complexity by having certain characters be specifically straight, others specifically gay, and others still bisexual.

Now if you're looking for a game that's all about non-heterosexual romance, I would recommend Gone Home, which is about a tale of strained love between two high school girls.

Unfortunately, such games as these are as yet very rare. Those are the two best examples that come to mind off hand and both are fairly recent, as in less than three years old.



I would HIGHLY recommend it! It's one of my three favorite games of all time. :smiley:
The first Dragon Age had heterosexual and bisexual. Two bisexual and two heterosexual.

It is common in Bioware to introduce the homosexuality in their games. Mass Effect also had homosexual characters and the online Star Wars has, too.

[kilgram]

I look for games I'm interested in playing, not racially, sexually, etc. identifying. Games are a fun occasional passtime for me, not a political talking point.

Tomb Raider is one of my all-time favorite games, the fact that Lara is without cahones isn't an issue for me either way.

I do sometimes play Neverwinter Nights and there's a part of the game where the PC, if the dialogue goes right bangs a hooker. I played a femme character once and couldn't get them to dyke out.
In the last Tomb Raider there are a few hints that could be considered that her best friend was something more.

Games are going to deeper and more adult topics so treating the sexuality is something normal.

For example the Witcher series are a very deep game series. With many topics being considered.

[Captain Obvious]

In the last Tomb Raider there are a few hints that could be considered that her best friend was something more.

Games are going to deeper and more adult topics so treating the sexuality is something normal.

For example the Witcher series are a very deep game series. With many topics being considered.

There was supposed to be a rape scene in the original final TR series that was edited out.

I kinda stopped gaming shortly before that actually, lost interest.

[kilgram]

There was supposed to be a rape scene in the original final TR series that was edited out.

I kinda stopped gaming shortly before that actually, lost interest.
Yes, there was a rape scene. Well, almost it is.

[Captain Obvious]

Yes, there was a rape scene. Well, almost it is.

Well, I have zero interest in that.

Or characters with gender, sexual or cultural identities.

I have interest in gameplay and this is in large part why I disconnected with games.

[IMPress Polly]

Alright, it's time for a couple new additions! This time we're going retro, at least in feel.

THE GIANA SISTERS (series)

Dating to 1987, The Great Giana Sisters for the Commodore 64 is among the oldest female-centric games I've ever played, but don't let the age of this franchise deter you: Giana Sisters has become a cult classic series for very good reasons!

The origins of the first game date back to a certain game creator's intention to port the original Super Mario Bros. to the Commodore 64 shortly after its NES release. Most all games back then (as today again actually!) were multi-platform titles, so this was a very common thing and Nintendo had acceded to it before, as with the original Donkey Kong's multi-platform release. But with Super Mario Bros., the big N opted to retain an exclusive franchise in what marked the beginning of a pattern not only for Nintendo, but also for many other first party developers over the subsequent two decades. Anyway, unable to port Super Mario Bros., it was decided to instead release an original platforming game similar to Super Mario Bros. on the Commodore 64, as to provide Mario with some real competition. The Great Giana Sisters was the result and, yep, it's very similar to the original Super Mario Bros. in many ways (and it's reminiscent title is only one of them). That's actually really good news though because Super Mario Bros. was a revolutionary classic! Although perhaps not consciously, what the developers successfully showed with The Great Giana Sisters was that there was never a good reason why the classic 2D platformers or modern retro reprisals thereof had/have to revolve around male protagonists. And the game starts to really stand out from Super Mario Bros. by the end when it gradually introduces its own original styles of level design. (Story-wise, you're trapped in a dream world and trying to wake up by collecting enchanted items, but the story is as minimalistic and unimportant as it was in Super Mario Bros. and most other games back then. It's just an anecdote really, in case you need a reason to play.)

Anyway, Nintendo successfully sued and got the game pulled from store shelves for being too similar to Super Mario Bros. That was a really remarkable development back then because game makers just didn't do that at the time! It angered a lot people and ensured that the Giana Sisters cult following has been rather spiteful of Nintendo over this for a very long time. Fret not though: desiring a sequel, fans took matters into their own hands and released a whole range of "new" installments by altering their copies of the original game to change the level designs and such like this. Eventually Nintendo got over its copyright protection obsession during the Nintendo DS and Wii era and allowed The Great Giana Sisters to be released for the Wii Virtual Console and also for an official Nintendo DS remake to come out in 2010 before a Kickstarter-funded official sequel for the PlayStation 3 came out more recently. The video review below covers all three of these official games and also discusses some of the aforementioned fan mods. I'll give you a hint though: all Giana Sisters games are excellent 2D platformers that are at minimum on par with the classic Marios, which really shows that there's no excuse for this genre's long history of being so one-sidedly centered around the adventures of male protagonists. If you, like me, started out on classic 2D platforming (the original Sonic the Hedgehog was my first video game and the title that got me into gaming in the first place!), love that genre, and want to have a nostalgic experience with it that doesn't carry over the sexism, this game is for you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1oUj60oeQI

And speaking of retro-style gaming:

SWORD & SWORCERY EP

In recent years, the question of why Link from Nintendo's classic Legend of Zelda series can never be female has been raised after fans of the franchise caught a glimpse of the new Link from the upcoming Wii U Legend of Zelda game and felt that the new one looked feminine. Franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto quickly stomped on that illusion, clearly saying that Link was still male, but also that Link's gender is actually irrelevant because he's supposed to be personality-devoid blank slate character upon which the player mentally projects themselves. This latter part though begs the question of why Link is always male then if the character's gender is irrelevant to the Zelda series! You see what I mean?

Sword & Sworcery EP is a clearly classic Zelda-inspired (very retro style) indy fantasy adventure game released for computers in 2011 that uses a female protagonist known as the Scythian. The Scythian goes on a quest to save the world by collecting the three pieces of a mysterious triangular object known as the Trigon, which is obviously a play on the Legend of Zelda series' Triforce. The game play is generally similar to the oldest Zelda games as well and has the player exploring and solving environmental puzzles, and also occasionally engaging in timing-based combat with monsters, to complete their quest. However, Sword & Sworcery EP is set apart from the classic Zeldas in ways other than simply the gender of the protagonist: the game also has a weightier storyline, one of the best and most truly atmospheric video game soundtracks ever released, and, in an unusual twist, has the player actually lose strength progressively over the course of the adventure instead of becoming stronger (which actually makes a lot more sense than the prevailing trends in gaming, which revolve around becoming as powerful as possible, increasing in strength over the course of the game by defeating enemies). All of this and more is spoken to in the video review below by Anita Sarkeesian wherein a general discussion of the game itself is a natural part of explaining what makes the Scythian one of the best female characters in the world of games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ)
Bottom line: these games with give you the nostalgia you seek without repeating the "classic" gender roles featured in most all the games of yore.