Shack Reels: Top 10 Badass Women in Gaming
Women can be badasses when they need to be. Here's our top 10 list of badass women that have ever been programmed into a video game.
There’s been some seriously badass women in video games over the years,and today,we decided to rank the top 10 badass women.
Back in the day, women were often used as a way to get the game’s protagonist to go on some grand adventure. Girlfriends, love interests, and royalty were all saved in the name of good gameplay, but the women in this list can hold their own.
If you’re curious to learn who we believe the top 10 most badass women in gaming are, then feel free to give our video a look. We’d also love to hear your feedback, especially if you feel we left a badass woman out of our list. So head on over to Chatty to keep the discussion going on who you believe should be among our list, or if you feel our list is spot on.
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replyShack Staff posted a new article, Shack Reels: Top 10 Badass Women in Gaming
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The NOLF series probably has some of the best and smartest writing in games ever. It's pretty hard to take the list seriously without her.
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Although it's impossible to include everyone that deserves a mention. I would have included Jade from Beyond Good and Evil as well.
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Chell Has no personalty she's just an Avatar, That doest not not make her badass, but it does bump her down on the list for lack of speaking, personality, etc etc
Bayonette - I was trying to Stay away from the Over Sexed gaming characters, IVY, DOA girls etc, Yes i know lara craft was on here but shes been sexed down over the last few years.
Alyx - too many Girls in gaming, can't make room for eveyone, if it makes you happy you can say she's number 11
April Ryan - who?-
April Ryan of The Longest Journey. Born of Stark, April is one of the last Shifters, those who can pass at will between worlds.
She who is prophesied to restore the Balance, only to finally break it.
Other names and titles: Kan-ang-la, April Bandu-Embata, Waterstiller, Windbringer, A Wave, Raven, and The Scorpion.
I just replayed it for a game "book"club, first time in 15 years. Still quite good though it is showing age. Her character is one of the best things about the game, along with her journal you get a really good idea of who she is, going from a normal person, then fearing they're going insane, to finally taking up the task given to her and embracing what must be done.-
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I really like Zoë as well, I'm really looking forward to replaying Dreamfall for said club. Both games do a great job at creating relate-able characters, and I'm glad that Chapters is finally being delivered (along with the promise of more) as it was a great excuse to finally get my friends off their asses and play the older games.
Also, the rest of April's story is still to come in The Longest Journey Home.
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They're all avatars regardless if they speak or not. A character doesn't have to say anything to make an impact on a player or the audience. Samus doesn't say shit but she invokes a level of badassery because of her actions.
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^^^ All of this. Yes. Just because a character does not/cannot speak does not make them less of a character or just a simple gameplay pilot. A character can be defined and molded by their actions, and I personally think Chell is a great example of this.
She is a perfect example of "show don't tell" character design. If you think about it, isn't every action you make also made by Chell? So what do we know about her? Well, she is hella smart and fucking courageous if she can figure out those puzzles and fall four fucking stories without batting a fucking eye. She's a trusting person (to a fault) but has no problem overthrowing an authoritative sadistic tyrant. We see all of this character development not through her dialogue or scripted events, but purely through gameplay. The developers even kind of explain why she doesn't speak in the games, it is either to annoy GlaDOS or because she is the Abbot to the crazy Costello world that is Portal.
I think Chell is a damn fine character, although you may have to look in between the lines to see her shine.
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Well... After using this: http://tlj.wikia.com/wiki/Breathing_Polyp April can breathe under water.
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I may prove to be the fool. I'm not certain they'll get any plot elements finished they set out to do in the first place. There's hardly any content in their first installment, and I somehow doubt they're getting the same influx of cash from sales that their initial kickstarter generated. It's DFA all over again :(
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They did just say that Book 2 is aiming at 6 hours and is due out on the 10th. So far the only slightly worrying bit was that they were switching (back) to episodic so as to have something by the planned release date, but that's fine as they seem to be following in Telltale's footsteps, which seems a doable thing.
Though again, not actually played Book 1, so... What do I know, I'm just reading updates from the side-lines.
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Princess Zelda has actually come a long way from her damsel-in-distress days in the NES and SNES Zelda games. In Ocarina and Skyward Sword, her role is significantly more important than Link's; he's basically a grunt who exists to fight off pesky enemies and clear a path for the Princess so she can concentrate on important work like raising a goddess (Skyward) and sealing Ganon away (Ocarina).
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Samus @ 5? gtfo. She's the original number 1 homie
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Would Korra count? I mean, I know she's a character that originated in a television series and the game is just a spinoff of that, but she's pretty badass.
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Nope, otherwise Ellen Ripley would be #1.
I'd like to nominate one of my favorite antagonists in games: Nicole Horne in Max Payne. Great motivation, great voice acting, and the type of adversary needed to keep a Noir storyline going.-
Hah, fair enough. I didn't realize her character had actually been in a game.
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I'm not a fan of this list. The reasoning behind the placements and some of the choice of characters I just don't agree with.
Bayonetta may be some stereotypical basement dweller's fantasy but she also does some pretty incredible and badass moves while she kills demons or angels or whatever. I have never even played the game but from what I have seen would definitely make the list over some of these other picks. Is this list you actually rating female characters according to your own interests or you making a list that you think people want to see that will also take the least amount of flak? It kinda feels forced tbh. -
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Does it have to be a playable character?
I've always enjoyed Grimmsdotir from the Splinter Cell series pre-Convictions. She was a computer nerd who was your field ops support and you only ever hear her on the other end of a comm channel.
But then in Convictions they had to turn her into a red headed supermodel with a gun.
http://www.splinter-cell.ch/ct/pics/grimsdottir.jpg (Original game)
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111211171029/splintercell/es/images/f/f2/Informe_Chaos_Theory_-_Anna_Grimsdottir.png (Chaos Theory)
http://th07.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2013/243/e/0/splinter_cell_conviction___anna_grimsdottir_by_mrgameboy20xx-d6kjolr.jpg (Conviction)
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130106000211/splintercell/de/images/d/d4/Grimsdottir.jpg (Blacklist)
Actually that would be an interesting article with the evolution of female game characters. Especially ones that get crazy makeovers. I remember they did the same for Agent Rosa who was your off screen partner in Condemned: Criminal Origins (she joins you for a bit later in the game), then in the sequel she gets a make over and weight loss.
http://lpix.org/606222/1541139-rosa_before_and_after.jpg
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Fem Shep is #1.
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Not a bad list. Although, I'd remove Leliana. She was certainly badass, but not the most badass of all time. Lightning would replace her, but moved up to the top 3 somewhere. She was a badass before she gained any magical powers. Everybody feared her. She spent an entire game holding spacetime together using sheer will or some such nonsense (if anyone understands FF12-2), and then played your entire team of characters in Lightning Returns. Let's face it. It's what we all wanted.
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Shepard might be male by default, but the best Shepard is the badass female renegade Shepard.
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