The Spectrum of Female Strength in Video Games
I’ve been streaming Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice on my gaming channel, and I have to admit — the story is compelling for various reasons. While streaming, one of my viewers mentioned the complex discourse about “there not being any strong female characters in video games.”
I said, “I don’t know what they’re talking about. Senua is a strong female character in a video game that literally deals with psychosis in real time.” And he agreed.
But I understand why that was mentioned in the chat. We’re taking in how rich Senua’s story, as a fixed female protagonist, was crafted. She’s a well-written character within a rich story of overcoming mental health issues, especially after losing her lover in a brutal massacre of her tribe.
The Discourse Isn’t What It Seems
When people keep saying there are no strong female characters in video games… that’s not actually what the discourse is about.
It’s a layered problem regarding representation, writing quality, cultural power, and who gets to be visible.
We live in a male-dominated world where the majority of gamers are male versus female. And a lot of video games are made with a male protagonist in mind to cater to the male consumer. Therefore, we have a minimal number of fixed female protagonists in video games — especially in action-oriented games.
I’m not counting the customizable avatars that some games offer, because they’re considered a blank slate. They don’t carry the weight of representation, because the story doesn’t treat them as women — it treats them as an avatar to play.
The real issue is that we need more fixed, narrative female protagonists in video games, particularly in action games.
There are narrative-driven games, such as the Life is Strange franchise, that have fixed, strong female protagonists — Chloe Price, Max Caulfield, and Alex Chen, as some examples.
And yes, we do have action-based female protagonists: Aloy from the Horizon games, Senua from Hellblade (who I’m playing at the moment), Ellie and Abby from The Last of Us, Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield from the earlier Resident Evil games, Lara Croft, and, as of recently, Grace Ashcroft from Resident Evil Requiem. I mean, if you want to add her in, Rosemary Winters from Resident Evil Village: Winters Expansion.
These characters are written with a worldview, a history, a psychology, and a narrative arc. They give a gendered experience — being female protagonists in video games.
Streaming Hellblade Reminded Me: Female Strength Isn’t One-Dimensional
It’s psychological, even mythic, strategic — and not just physical. Physicality is the least prioritized aspect of female strength.
Three Discourses That Keep Getting Merged
1. The Representation Argument
There are fewer female protagonists overall — especially fewer fixed, narrative-driven ones. Customizable avatars don’t count as representation.
Most industries have a risk aversion that keeps male leads dominant, whether in games, film, or TV.
2. The “Strong Female Character” Trope
Women are often written as overly stoic, trauma-heavy, or the emotionless “badass” archetypes, or the “cool girl”.
They’re written through the male gaze — treated as objects to fulfill desire.
There’s too much focus on physical strength over psychological depth, here.
We need more well-written female protagonists who prioritize psychological depth over physical strength. A female can be physically strong, but her motivation must be front and center.
3. The Bad-Faith Gamer Take
Some people say, “Female characters are forced diversity.” That statement is sexism — plain and simple. When women say it, it’s internalized misogyny. We call them “pick-me’s.”
Or they say, “She’s unrealistic.” Still sexism. These people just hate women. They have no concept of fiction and function on biased ideas about women that aren’t rooted in truth.
You’d be surprised how people project bias onto sapphic characters too — misunderstanding representation, censorship, and regional storytelling limits.
There’s also gatekeeping disguised as critique, usually from people who don’t play narrative games at all. It’s rooted in discomfort with women taking up narrative spaces.
How I view female characters is a spectrum. Who knows more about being female than being one herself?
The psychological framework of a female functions differently than the male counterpart. Strength isn’t just physical — it’s emotional, strategic, psychological, and even mythic.
It’s about overcoming things internally, not just prevailing outwardly.
Some games flatten that spectrum because they’re still written through a masculine framework.
What better example of this argument than The Last of Us Live-action Adaptation
The Last of Us series weakened many of its female characters in the TV adaptation.
It’s hard not to see the misogyny behind creative decisions — men given rights to stories who still desire women to be a certain way.
It’s obvious through podcasts and commentary that they favored the actress who played Dina, and I can see that they rewrote the character to match her personality. But in doing so, they flattened Ellie’s character.
It’s the same issue across media — games, film, TV. Different mediums, same problem.
I did mention the Spectrum of Female Strength
I’m gonna put it like this, into archetypes.
(Ellie, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield)
Strength through endurance.
Trauma doesn’t erase softness.
Emotional literacy is power.
Strength through intelligence, intuition, and choice.
Navigating systems, not overpowering them.
Strength tied to cosmology, identity, and internal trials.
Her psychological landscape is her battleground.
We follow her grief, her perseverance, her mythic journey through Helheim to save her lover’s soul.
Senua’s vulnerability is part of her myth. She’s by far the strongest character I’ve played — battling psychosis throughout the game. Heartbreaking, yet hopeful.
Strength that challenges beauty norms.
Bodies that disrupt the male gaze.
Power that makes people uncomfortable.
Abby’s body image is her motivator — revenge through discipline and fire. She trained herself to crush anyone under her boot. She doesn’t just look strong; she is strong. Andcapable, through focused training, to be that way.
Strength through connection.
Her defining trait is loyalty.
She displays grief and moral complexity.
She’s not passive — she’s an emotional catalyst.
Seeing her again in Life is Strange: Reunion was such a treat.
The point I’m making is that strength is not one shape.
The Industry Problem: Why Fixed Female Protagonists Matter
Okay, it’s time to address the elephant in the room.
There’s an industry problem: there are not enough fixed female protagonists when it comes to video games.
And why is it a problem… Because they matter. Representation matters.
Customizable avatars are not representation. They’re gender-neutral templates with stories that don’t treat them as women. They don’t carry cultural weight or challenge norms — they in fact avoid them.
Fixed Female Protagonists Carry Narrative Power
They have gendered experiences.
They shift culture because they’re authored, and not optional.
They force the industry to write women as people, and not as skins.
Market risk (male-dominated gaming space)
Misunderstanding what players actually want
But Representation does require authorship. But authorship that understand the female experience and how complex they are, especially when it comes to strength.
The Cultural Backlash Pattern I’ve seen…
A female protagonist is announced.
Male gamers complain she’s “unrealistic.”
They hyper-focus on appearance.
They accuse studios of “forced diversity.”
It’s sexism and racism at its finest.
The discourse turns toxic, and the character becomes a symbol of bullshit arguments, instead of a person.
That’s why Abby, Aloy, Ellie, and Senua matter — they’re fixed female representations that hold cultural weight.
“Female strength is not about domination. It’s about endurance, clarity, strategy, and emotional truth.”
“Games that understand this — Hellblade, Life is Strange, The Last of Us — feel different because they treat women as layered beings with fleshed-out inner worlds.”
“We need more of that. More authored women. More fixed female protagonists. More stories that let women be complicated and oppose misconceptions about women as a whole.”
Those who’ve made it to this point in the video — you’re amazing.
Please, share your favorite female protagonist in video games and tell me why in the comments below.
