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2021 has been a great year for female character design

Automagical

Automagical

Member
Jun 27, 2020
329
Going over some my favourite games this year and it so refreshing that a majority had great designs for their female leads/main cast.
Biggest stand out was Selene from Returnal, but I also appreciated that Rivet didn't going the way of Lola Bunny.





Don't get me wrong, there is still a long way to go, but I really hope the trend continues in 2022.

Any stands out for you this year?
 
Night

Night

Late to the party
Member
Nov 1, 2017
5,115
Clearwater, FL
I noticed my girlfriend really loves and gravitates towards games with some solid female protags. I've been so thankful for the recent renaissance in female characters but a super awesome bonus side effect of it for me has been my girlfriend's discovery of her love for video games at 31.

They're not from this year I don't think, but she really loved Horizon, Control, and The Medium. She's excited to play AC Odyssey for Kassandra, too.

I just started playing Rift Apart and I just love Rivet and Kit.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
quUfw9f.png

Prime Minister Lidia Sobieska in Tekken 7
 
ciddative

ciddative

Member
Apr 5, 2018
4,629
Not quite the same lane, but i REALLY like Eidos Montreal's take on Gamora, kept her in her default outfit and much prefer her characterization in every way to the MCU version

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HardRojo

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,125
Peru
And then you sadly have Dolores from KoF XV who, when leaked, seemed like a great design until we saw her "pants"… way to ruin a nice design, SNK.
character_dolores.png
 
Bushido

Bushido

Senior Game Designer
Verified
Feb 6, 2018
1,850
Alex Chen (Life Is Strange: True Colors) obviously needs to be mentioned here. And Steph (in the background) as well.

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Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,176
UK
Sable_Sliding.jpg

Sable, has great female and non-binary character design. Very gender neutral. Lots of customisation with the clothes and masks.
Wyrm-Mask-and-Wyrm-Sable.jpg

I made a post about this in the megathread:
Messofanego said:
Just wanted to give some love to Sable with a hijabi-coded protagonist, one of the side-characters being non-binary (Hilal), and women in all kinds of positions and with subtle complexity. Pretty cool to see all the Arabic influences and unlike Dune, be part of the nomad tribe rather than the colonisers. For a second, I didn't realise Sizo was a woman with her build along with cartographer Niaz. It was hard to say goodbye to grandma-like Jadi and the title drop timed with the song is probably the best from this year.

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Thorn

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
85,368
Houston, TX
Just a reminder that some good folks who are no longer at Insomniac had to fight tooth-&-nail against the toxic & sexist work culture of the company to not have Rivet be overly sexualized.
www.resetera.com

Former Insomniac dev: Rivet in R&C Rift Apart almost had noticeable breasts and wider hips to be more feminine-looking Sony

Had to make a thread as we need more spotlight on shit and not just have it get drowned in pre-existing threads. Read the one about their awful treatment of women here. This was just posted yesterday by a former employee of Insomniac going by Xavier, and he goes into quite a bit of detail about...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com

ciddative said:
Not quite the same lane, but i REALLY like Eidos Montreal's take on Gamora, kept her in her default outfit and much prefer her characterization in every way to the MCU version

3897039-marvel%27sguardiansofthegalaxy2021-10-2113-39-15.jpg
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It's actually based heavily on her Bendis design that's more commonly used in Marvel games these days. More comic-accurate versions of the armor exist as Gamora's default in MUA3 as well as MvCI.

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But yeah, I really love her character & design in the Eidos Montreal game. Same for the other Guardians.
 
Sesha

Sesha

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,825
They're alright, but all but a couple of them are young and conventionally attractive. We still have a long way to go.
 
Crumrin

Crumrin

Banned
Feb 27, 2020
2,270
E6YjaJG.jpg


Rivet is great, easily my favorite character in 2021, Insomniac did a good job with her design and characterization. I like Ratchet, but I would love for Rivet to become the main character with her own adventures going forward.
 
Jogi

Jogi

Prophet of Regret
Member
Jul 4, 2018
5,451
I love the design for Meredith. Yes a simple postal worker but still. She just blends in with her setting seamlessly.

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ResetGreyWolf

ResetGreyWolf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,427
Beeblebrox said:
Life is Strange: True Colors
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Agamon said:
Life Is Strange: True Colors
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Patitoloco said:
Life is Strange: True Colors
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Killyoh said:
Life is Strange: True Colors
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Nothing Loud said:
Life is Strange: True Colors
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Aquavelvaman said:
That's the main character from Life is Strange: True Colors
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Keiriks said:
Life is Colorful: Truly Strange

but yeah Alex has a great and striking design
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This is why it's never a good idea to just post a screenshot of a game without mentioning what it is.

Literally a fourth of the posts in this thread are people answering the same question lol
 
Persagen

Persagen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,586
ciddative said:
Not quite the same lane, but i REALLY like Eidos Montreal's take on Gamora, kept her in her default outfit and much prefer her characterization in every way to the MCU version

3897039-marvel%27sguardiansofthegalaxy2021-10-2113-39-15.jpg
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This was the first design I thought of. From what I've unlocked of her other outfits, none of those are overtly sexualized, either. No gratuitous camera angles for Gamora anywhere in the game from what I recall, either. Just a great, respectful characterization all around.
 
Ravelle

Ravelle

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,803
Neoxon said:
Just a reminder that some good folks who are no longer at Insomniac had to fight tooth-&-nail against the toxic & sexist work culture of the company to not have Rivet be overly sexualized.
www.resetera.com

Former Insomniac dev: Rivet in R&C Rift Apart almost had noticeable breasts and wider hips to be more feminine-looking Sony

Had to make a thread as we need more spotlight on shit and not just have it get drowned in pre-existing threads. Read the one about their awful treatment of women here. This was just posted yesterday by a former employee of Insomniac going by Xavier, and he goes into quite a bit of detail about...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com


It's actually based heavily on her Bendis design that's more commonly used in Marvel games these days. More comic-accurate versions of the armor exist as Gamora's default in MUA3 as well as MvCI.

latest


But yeah, I really love her character & design in the Eidos Montreal game. Same for the other Guardians.
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I never really liked the Marvel NOW! Designs but Eidos's is a nice mix of both the modern comics and the MCU.
 
joshcam19

joshcam19

Member
Nov 11, 2017
948
I love all of your picks and I'd throw Kena in there as well. Playing that game now and she is beautifully animated which sells her character design even better.
 
PucePikmin

PucePikmin

Member
Apr 26, 2018
3,754
I have been impressed with the specificity of female character designs this year. I think Resident Evil Village also deserves a nod, if only for its range -- from the extremely dramatic with Lady Dimitrescu to more grounded new mom vibes of Mia.
 
Cipher Peon

Cipher Peon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,823
Shoka from NEO TWEWY is my favorite character of the year and has my fav design.

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She looks so damn cool.
 
Katmeister

Katmeister

Banned
May 1, 2021
2,434
User Banned (2 Months): Concern trolling around Muslim representation
Messofanego said:
Sable_Sliding.jpg

Sable, has great female and non-binary character design. Very gender neutral. Lots of customisation with the clothes and masks.
Wyrm-Mask-and-Wyrm-Sable.jpg

I made a post about this in the megathread:
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I feel kind of conflicted about this. The hijab is absolutely a product of patriarchy so to present it as a positive especially in a feminist context feels distasteful. Sure women in the western world can choose to wear the hijab but let's not pretend this is a choice made in a vacuum.

With that said though, I don't have a problem with character designs like this if it helps serves as representation for Muslim girls and women. They ought to be feel seen even if they do suffer under a patriarchal culture.

Bonus points for pissing off alt-right and conservative dipshits too.
 
Servbot24

Servbot24

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
43,125
Rivet is the only one that stands out to me. Most of the others look like generic designs that are applauded for not being sexualized. They do deserve to be applauded for not being sexualized, but not necessarily for being great character designs.
 
Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,176
UK
kurtmeister said:
I feel kind of conflicted about this. The hijab is absolutely a product of patriarchy so to present it as a positive especially in a feminist context feels distasteful. Sure women in the western world can choose to wear the hijab but let's not pretend this is a choice made in a vacuum.

With that said though, I don't have a problem with character designs like this if it helps serves as representation for Muslim girls and women. They ought to be feel seen even if they do suffer under a patriarchal culture.

Bonus points for pissing off alt-right and conservative dipshits too.
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Ehh this is discounting hijabi progressives and feminists. If you are saying hijab is a product of patriarchy, surely that can go for any piece of clothing designed for women. Bras, skirts, bikinis, tops, they're usually designed by men. And often for the male gaze. It's just often hijab is singled out and patronised (usually by white men) as a piece of female clothing placed outside of feminism. Women in general, not just Muslim women, live in patriarchal cultures.
 
Protoman200X

Protoman200X

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
8,560
N. Vancouver, BC, Canada
A shoutout to Sam, Alva, and Isabel from the indie Action-Adventure game Eastward. In a game where the cast is oozing with character and personality (even silent protagonist John leaves a strong impression), you also have some of the coolest female characters that leave a strong impression long after you complete the game. I would list more, but I would do a great disservice for you to not check out this lovely little game.

Sam_Early_Art.png

Alva_Early_Art.png

Isabel_Early_Art.png
 
dodo

dodo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,997
kurtmeister said:
I feel kind of conflicted about this. The hijab is absolutely a product of patriarchy so to present it as a positive especially in a feminist context feels distasteful. Sure women in the western world can choose to wear the hijab but let's not pretend this is a choice made in a vacuum.

With that said though, I don't have a problem with character designs like this if it helps serves as representation for Muslim girls and women. They ought to be feel seen even if they do suffer under a patriarchal culture.

Bonus points for pissing off alt-right and conservative dipshits too.
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man i don't even know where to begin with this one lol
 
trashbandit

trashbandit

Member
Dec 19, 2019
3,910
kurtmeister said:
I feel kind of conflicted about this. The hijab is absolutely a product of patriarchy so to present it as a positive especially in a feminist context feels distasteful. Sure women in the western world can choose to wear the hijab but let's not pretend this is a choice made in a vacuum.

With that said though, I don't have a problem with character designs like this if it helps serves as representation for Muslim girls and women. They ought to be feel seen even if they do suffer under a patriarchal culture.

Bonus points for pissing off alt-right and conservative dipshits too.
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I don't think this is a fair generalization to make, and it's shitty to not trust women who wear a hijab that they are doing it because they genuinely want to.
 
Super Mega Man

Super Mega Man

Banned
Jun 24, 2021
1,637
Snake Eater said:



then you see something like this....
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Ángel is the most prominent Mexican woman to ever be featured in a videogame and makes me feel represented. She even has "soccer" in her bio under "likes". We've had our small share of Mexican men in videogames but never women so say what you will about her outfit but in Mexico we absolutely love her.
 
Super Mega Man

Super Mega Man

Banned
Jun 24, 2021
1,637
starfoxxxy said:
This is next year but i love this design

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I applaud that she's not sexualized and that she's a woman of color in the lead of a AAA Japanese videogame but that doesn't mean it's automatically a good design. It's forgettable and boring. As iconic as the outfit that guy from Watch Dogs 1 was wearing that Ubisoft was trying to say it was "iconic".
 
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