Best female characters introduced to gaming in the last decade

[an annoyed writer]

I also liked the female characters in the inFamous games, more the second and third as, y'know, they actually existed in those games rather than the first.

Oh god yes. Lucy Kuo especially. Her story is simply tragic.

Spoiler

Alright. so she starts the game off pretty well put-together. She's an FBI field agent, she's good at her job, and she's brought Cole to their New Orleans knockoff. However, things go tits-up as they're pretty much swarmed by the bad guy's forces, and one of the group is killed. She is dragged off, tortured, and becomes the source of powers for an entire PMC. After she's broken out of her prison, she has to learn to live with her new powers, which is something she, a woman of preparation and order, was never prepared for in the first place. Then, right as she finally begins to live with and accept her new powers, the only way to defeat the beast shows up and shows that it would kill all conduits, including her. She defects at this last moment, betraying her ideals, her friends, and all that she knows just so that she can survive. She's struck down right as she accepts her new self. With that in mind, I couldn't hold it against her when she defected, since I'd probably do the same in such a situation.

 

[Hiigara_Ahead]

Definitely Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.

I'm very fond of Grim from the Splinter Cell series, though I don't know if she counts as "introduced in the last decade"

I'm playing Alien: Isolation now, and I'm sort of liking Ripley so far.

 

[synthetictwist]

I really like Kumatora from Mother 3. Being my favorite game, I guess that's expected, but she's great. She's somewhat boyish but she owns it. She's headstrong and a bit impatient, but she's there for her friends and her abrasive demeanor belies a wisdom beyond what her few years should grant her.

Plus she can snap-freeze and incinerate people with her brain. I can't find any fault with that.

 

[TheGamerElite33]

cant think of anyone else. maybe alyx vance from half life
I like more badass male characters like Agent 47 or Lo Wang

 

[Spudgun Man]

Alyx Vance and Moira Brown for me, maybe a slice of Uthgerd the Unbroken for the hell of it.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

How about the brave female cast of Dead Or Alive. They are strong, independent and they wear clothes with pride others would be ashamed of, they even fight in them. They dare to show up in volleyball games. They are female role models with breast physics, awesome.

 

[Ticklefist]

I cannot think of a more fleshed out and human character than Nilin. Female or otherwise. I'm sure there are plenty at the same level but they're not coming to me at the moment. So yeah, Nilin.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I quite liked April Ryan from The Longest Journey, and Zoe Castillo the principal lead of Dreamfall. Oh Amaterasu of Okami... though the OP was likely looking for strictly human(esque) characters.

 

[Mik Sunrider]

Ellie from The Last of Us
Flemeth from DA:O (not DA 2, I hate the way they changed her look)

 

[drednoahl]

Kaine from Nier
Karin from Shadowhearts Covenant - It didn't get released in my country until 2005 so I'm counting it

Off the top of my head they're the ones that spring to mind although both might get excluded due to "technicalities"

 

[NexT_GeN_EXpeRT]

Nariko and Kai from heavenly sword
Elana from the uncharted series
faith from mirrors edge
Alice from Alan wake
Sheva from resident evil 5
and that's all I can think of right now

 

[go-10]

I bet most answers are Alex, Chelle, and Glados so I'll not mention those. For me personally Ellie from Last of Us and Lara from Tomb Raider

 

[white_wolf]

Faith, Jodi Holmes, Nillin, Ellie, Tess (last of us), Marlene (leader of fireflies), Alyx (half life2), Maya and Lilly (state of decay), Kidd (AC blackflag), Roseline Lettiuce (bioshock Infinite), Bonny McFarlene, Yuna (FFX), Tali, Admirals Rann and Xen (Mass Effect), Dr. Chakwas, Aria (Mass Effect), Fshep, Madam President/FBoss (Saints Row 4), Gladous (if robots can count)

 

[joest01]

Kaine from Nier

Remind me, was there not a penis involved with Kaine?

Anyways, Faith has been mentioned many times. Someone said Borderlands. Let me narrow that down: Maya!

 

[DarkRawen]

Since I can't see anyone having mentioned it... a whole lot of the female cast from the Ace Attorney series. Maya, Mia, Pearl, Athena, Kay, Ema, Lana, Trucy, and so on, all being pretty awesome characters IMO. it's sort of a given, seeing as the series have a lot of characters that you interact with and get to know, but still, they never seem to get mentioned, so yeah.