Gaming Needs Better Women Leads—And Gen Z Isn't Settling

We Need to Talk About Female Protagonists in Games—And Why Gen Z Is Done Settling

Okay, I’m just gonna say it: not every female protagonist is a win just because she’s wearing armor and talks in sass. Sure, we’ve moved on from the early 2000s era of janky body physics and “I’m not like other girls” one-liners—but barely. Gen Z is watching the gaming industry claim it’s “empowering women,” while still delivering copy-paste characters with trauma-based plotlines and a whole lotta nothing going on underneath the surface.

As someone who grew up button-mashing through stories where the only playable girl was the “healer” or the “hot but silent sniper,” I can confirm—our standards have risen. And the bare minimum isn’t enough anymore.

Let’s talk about the good, the cringe, and the straight-up confusing state of female protagonists in modern gaming—and why Gen Z isn’t settling for half-baked representation in 2025.

🧍‍♀️ "Strong" Isnt a Personality, Babe

This is where it all starts. Game devs keep tossing around the word strong like it’s a personality type. But guess what? Being able to wield a sword or shoot lasers out of your fingertips doesn't mean your character has depth.

Let’s break it down:

• Frey from Forspoken had all the ingredients of a compelling heroine—a complex backstory, dope magical powers, a unique world. But her personality? It felt like the devs watched a few Marvel movies and said, “Cool, make her quippy and emotionally closed-off. Done.”
• Eivor from Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla was iconic if you played the male version. The female version? Not nearly as fleshed out or voiced with the same conviction.

Now contrast that with:

• Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn – a complex, curious, thoughtful warrior who questions her world and doesn’t have to be “edgy” to prove her worth.
• Ellie from The Last of Us – flawed, fierce, vulnerable, and more emotionally layered than most male leads out there.
• Cassandra from AC Odyssey – honestly, she was the game. Smart, powerful, funny, and believable.

These characters didn’t just fight well—they were written well. And that’s the difference Gen Z sees right away.

🌟 Let's Give Flowers Where They're Due

When a game does get it right, it’s a whole different experience. It hits you in the gut, stays with you after the credits roll, and makes you wish you could send the writers a thank-you card.

Let’s celebrate some absolute queens:

• Clementine – The Walking Dead Series
  From scared kid to hardened leader, Clementine’s evolution felt earned. Her choices carried emotional weight, and her story was never about being perfect—it was about surviving with integrity.
• Max & Chloe – Life Is Strange
  Whether you loved or hated the ending, Max’s character arc hit hard. The mix of emotional vulnerability, responsibility, and time-bending chaos gave us one of the most human female leads in gaming.
• 2B – Nier: Automata
  Yes, she's in thigh-highs. Yes, it was a choice. But under the aesthetics? Depth, sorrow, existential dread, and a genuinely unique take on identity. She’s more than a hot android—she’s an emotional wreck with a sword, and we love her for it.
• Bayonetta – Bayonetta Series
  Is she over-the-top? Yes. But she knows it, owns it, and struts through every boss battle with god-tier energy. Camp, power, and charisma—it’s performance art, not objectification.

🧠 Gen Z Can Smell Lazy Writing from a Mile Away

Here’s the thing: our generation was raised on a steady diet of Tumblr discourse, Twitter hot takes, and TikTok breakdowns of character design. We’re media-literate AF. So when you slap a female lead into your game and think that’s “good enough,” we notice.

We want more than just:

• “She’s tough because her family died” (every origin story ever)
• “She’s different because she doesn’t want to be a hero”
• “She’s badass but secretly sad” (yawn)

Give us characters who are messy, soft, powerful, scared, funny, awkward, selfish, generous—give us people, not just tropes in boots.

💬 Real Gamers, Real Talk

I asked a few of my fellow gamer friends what they thought about female protagonists in 2025, and here’s what they had to say:

“I want a girl protagonist who isn’t defined by what happened to her. Can she just want something for herself that doesn’t involve revenge?”
— Maya (22, Chicago)

“If her whole personality is ‘traumatized and sarcastic,’ I’m out. We deserve women in games who feel real, not just edgy.”
— Leo (25, Seattle)

Gen Z gamers aren’t just players—we’re critics. We love a good story. But we’re not afraid to call out lazy character writing wrapped in “diversity” branding.

🎮 The Real Problem: Who's Telling These Stories?

Here’s where it gets serious. The lack of depth in female protagonists often starts in the writers’ room—or lack thereof. Despite progress, women still make up a small fraction of game dev teams, especially in narrative roles.

📊 ICYMI: According to the IGDA Developer Satisfaction Survey (2023), only about 23% of game developers identify as women—and even fewer are in leadership or storytelling positions.

That means the people designing these characters often aren’t women, and it shows. You can feel when a character was written by someone who’s actually lived the experiences they’re trying to portray.

The solution? Hire more women. Hire more queer folks. Hire more BIPOC. Let diverse voices tell diverse stories.

🧭 What Gen Z Wants in a Heroine

We don’t need every female protagonist to be a moral icon or a tragic antihero. We just want range. Here’s what Gen Z is asking for:

• 🎭 Complexity – She doesn’t need to be likable. She needs to feel real.
• 🏳️‍🌈 Queer representation – Not just “implied,” but actual storylines that reflect real queer identities.
• 🧠 Mental health storylines – Done with care, not used as a character gimmick.
• 🎙️ Voice acting that slaps – Flat delivery kills even the best script.
• 🕹️ Control over her choices – We want decision-making that matters, not just plot rails.

Games like Celeste, Oxenfree II, and Night in the Woods are doing this right—especially in the indie scene, where characters feel raw and unfiltered in the best way.

🚀 What's Next?

Look, we’re not asking for every protagonist to be a perfect feminist icon. But we are asking for honesty. Thoughtfulness. Depth. A little humor. And maybe some good combat moves too, because we do love to throw hands.

Female protagonists should be more than just a checkbox or a brand asset. They should be as complicated, flawed, and fascinating as any guy with a glowing sword and a tragic past. And if studios can’t deliver that? Gen Z will keep calling it out—and supporting the ones who do.

🎤 Gen Z's Verdict

Gaming doesn’t need more female protagonists. It needs better ones.

We’re over the aesthetic-only approach. We want stories that stick, characters that live in our minds rent-free, and leads that aren’t afraid to feel something other than rage or sarcasm.

And when we see games do it right? We notice. We stream, we buy, we stan.

So here’s your side quest, game devs: write women who are worth the main quest.

Stay fierce, stay opinionated, and stay pressing X to call out bad writing—only at Woke Waves Magazine.

#FemaleProtagonists #GenZGaming #RepresentationMatters #GamingCulture #WokeWaves

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