Much has been said about women in games over the last few years, usually loudly and with awe-inspiring amounts of vitriol. As the diversity of the gaming market continues to expand and more people take interest in the medium, the call for more women who are more than glassy-eyed dolls or extensions of the main male character (you know, like actual women) has become tense.

Some developers struggle to pull it off, some insist curves and personality are too difficult to do at once, and some are too busy tweaking their jiggle physics engines to notice. But others have made serious strides toward creating believable women who are every bit as heroic and inspirational as their male counterparts, and just as we give kudos to Master Chief and Gordon Freeman for inspiring us to be awesome, these ladies deserve to be celebrated too. Here you have the 20 most inspirational female characters in gaming, who push us to be better by being so great themselves. You go, ladies!

JRPGs love the gentle healer archetype. A quiet and helpful character who lives to support the team, she (and it's almost always 'she') doesn't fare very well on her own, and unfortunately ends up looking weak and useless as a result. Yuna's been slapped with that label before, dubbed a dispassionate damsel with little to offer. Apparently the folks making that claim forget this girl puts the smackdown on anyone who gets in her way, whether it's bands of kidnappers, a diabolical suitor, or a god she's worshiped her entire life. Screw iron, Yuna has a will of diamond, and a desire to achieve her goals no matter what it takes.

Part of her conviction certainly comes from her time as a summoner, when she went through grueling training to make powerful magic beasts appear out of thin air using nothing but her mind. But even when the doctrine she grew up with turns out to be a lie and everyone she's trying to protect turns against her, she chooses to carve her own path and refuses to give up on what she knows is right. As they say, speak softly and carry a big staff, and Yuna does that with flourish. Yes. That's how that saying goes.

Obvious, right? Well, there’s a reason for that. Although Lara started life as a rather generously proportioned Indiana Jones substitute, after her gender was changed part way through development of the original Tomb Raider, she quickly established herself as the go-to female gaming icon. Why? Because of a lack of competition--back in the 90s, women protagonists were rarer than rocking-horse dung.

Since then, Lara has gone through several transformations. Some Tomb Raiders miss the point completely, overly sexualising Lara and making her ‘sassy’, but the most recent reboot showcases the strongest, most modern Lara Croft. It’s this iteration that earns the spot in this feature. Lara’s mental toughness and drive stands out most, although her ability to drive an arrow through her enemy’s retinas is pretty (straightens tie) eye-catching too.

The devout Cassandra takes a serious blow to her faith when she least expects it, and the hits just keep on coming. The death of her dear friend Divine Justinia would've been enough belief-battering for a lifetime, but that catastrophe only sweeps the dust off previously unknown horrors which threaten her very identity as a Templar and Seeker. While the reasonable reaction to that much tragedy would be to abandon one's faith and take up a new career as a bitter mountain hermit, Cassandra doesn't have time for reasonable. She has a Chantry to rebuild, because she's seen the good inside and knows it's worth fighting for.

While Cassandra can often come off as stubborn and unmovable, one of her main strengths is knowing when to hold fast and when to be willing to bend. She's shaken by the rapid decline of the Chantry, but never tries to deny its failings or abandon it, instead seeking to repair what she believes is broken. She's also the first to root out injustice where it lives, and almost single-handedly calls for the Inquisition while everyone else is too dizzy to think. Cassandra's an unstoppable storm, but one with a calm and quiet eye, too.

Like Lara, Ellie is a survivor; a product of her environment. While she could easily have been designed as a damsel in distress, used to reinforce the surrogate father / daughter relationship in The Last of Us, Naughty Dog was smart enough to dodge such simple stereotyping. It’s not Ellie’s capacity to kill that marks her out as a strong female character, but her ability to accept the world that’s falling apart around her.

Ellie is one of the most modern, realistic characters ever designed--regardless of gender. Obviously, there’s no telling how humanity would react in the face of a fungal apocalypse, but as with any situation, those who grow up knowing nothing different will normalise the world around them no matter how alien it may seem to everyone else. Ellie does that with aplomb.

The first lady to bear the title of Main Character in an Assassin's Creed game, Aveline more than lives up to the legacy of the Assassins that came before. A woman of mixed parentage living in New Orleans at a time when that family history could (and almost does) get her sold into slavery, Aveline isn't above putting herself in perilous situations to fight the oppression rotting her city.

One of the ways she accomplishes her goal is through a series of disguises that can get her access to anything she desires, from the holding cells of the downtrodden to the halls of high society. While some players have been quick to point out that this amounts to her playing dress-up, each outfit has strategic advantages and disadvantages, and she uses all three to great effect. While she can easily climb in a target's window and put a knife through their throat, she can also gather information from their household while posing as a slave, or ruin them socially and financially through the family business. She's a triple-threat, and that's before she starts to mix-and-match her skills between personas. You gotta love a lady who can kill someone with a parasol gun without even putting down her drink.

It says a lot when an eight-year-old girl is so much more capable than any of the adults in her general vicinity that they all turn to her for leadership. Fighting through every snarling, decomposing obstacle that gets in her way, Clementine never, ever, ever, ever gives up on the fight to survive, and the Ice Bucket Challenge would probably give you fewer chills than hearing her say, "Still. Not. Bitten."

Not that Clementine's some fearless automaton that exists outside the realm of human emotion and struggle. It's immediately clear in season one how defenseless she is, and while she does contribute to the group, she still relies heavily on Lee to defend her and makes some emotionally-charged decisions that threaten her survival. But that just makes her more inspirational, showing her growth into someone strong and capable over the course of season two. No matter the trials or the odds she faces, she fights through the pain and never lets her resolve waver. Man, I wanna be like her when I grow up.

If Gordon Freeman is the strong silent type, then Alyx Vance is his perfect--more vocal--female counterpart. She’s an exceptionally well realised character that perfectly dodges the simpering support role, while still retaining emotional depth. Sure, she’s seen and done some serious killing, but you never get the feeling that she’s lost connection with her own humanity. There are some wonderfully tender scenes between both her and her father, and Gordon himself.

Not only that, but she behaves like a normal human being. Many female characters are just convenient narrative devices used to push the story forward, making their behaviour seem less than natural, but everything Alyx does and says has both context and meaning. More like her, please.

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for lumping Bayonetta into the ‘male fantasy’ group of female video game characters. She is impossibly-well proportioned, overly sexualised, and tends to get naked. A lot. Thing is, all the sexy stuff is played for laughs, and once you strip that away (haha etc) there’s a well-rounded character lurking beneath it all.

Then there’s the fact that Bayonetta is a begrudging, but caring 'mother' figure. Instead of coddling her offspring, though, she keeps her daughter (well, er, it's not actually her daughter, it's really a younger version of Bayonetta herself, which creates an interesting paradox and oh my I've lost the thread of where I was going with this...) safe without shielding her from the (admittedly bizarre) dangers within the game. Look, no-ones saying Bayonetta is a classic female role model, but she manages to be realistically inspirational in a very unreal game.

Jaina Proudmoore is a lot of things: highborne, headstrong, so skilled with magic she can wipe your entire neighborhood off the map if you give her sass. But one thing she's not is particularly lucky. Her childhood love turns out to be kind of a monster (even before he becomes a shell for an undead demon king), her father seems intent on ruining her attempts at diplomacy, and her dead enemies have a nasty habit of climbing out of their graves. But if only one word describes her, its 'determined'.

While Jaina is certainly distraught when Arthas falls under the weight of his own corruption and her father can't see past his own pride, she refuses to let either define her life or hold her back. Instead, as a sorceress of immeasurable power, she directs her talents toward changing the world for the better, creating safe havens for the oppressed and working with Thrall to build trust between the Horde and the Alliance. She is also an incredible badass, and when the Horde turns on her and destroys what she holds dear? They couldn't run fast or far enough to escape to hell she brings down on their heads. No passive princess here.

It's clear that Celes would've been happy with a simple life in service to the Empire, and it’s hard to blame her. A skilled fighter and decorated general of the Imperial army by age 18, all she had to do was toe the party line, and she'd have nothing but a life of prosperity and esteem ahead of her. She'd have to take part in some incredible human atrocities as the Empire killed its way across the world, but that's a small price to pay for glory. Except she rejects that notion and gives up everything to fight back against the Empire's oppression and protect the people she loves.

Granted, she does retain a degree of loyalty to the Empire even after she's joined the Returners, and does betray her friends on one infamous occasion. But ultimately this just makes her feel more human, and makes her struggle to do what's right even more admirable. How easy would it have been to kill her friends when they're at their weakest and rule the world at the Emperor's right hand? The answer is very, so when Celes turns around and puts a knife in Kefka's chest instead, you know there are no ulterior motives. She just knows it's the right thing to do, and she does it no matter the personal cost.

Cowering in a corner isn’t the typical behavior of an inspirational hero, and since Amanda Ripley spends a whole lot of time doing just that, you'd think that would get her disqualified from joining from the Badass Heroes club. Sorry, let me rephrase: you'd think that if you knew nothing about Ripley and her terrifying adventures in Sevastopol, where staying hidden for a second more can be the difference between making it to the exit and being eaten alive. When Ripley takes cover, it's not a sign of weakness, but a will to survive, and she's got plenty of it to make it through that hellhole.

Not that all Ripley has on her side is non-squeak soles and a compact frame. She also has the intelligence and skills of a master engineer, and knows how to use any scrap of material she can find to her advantage. MacGuyvering weapons and tools on the fly while being mercilessly hunted, she survives on the back of her own brilliance and ability to keep her cool, even when she's staring at a murderous android through the slits in a locker door. The next time you're taking a tough exam or preparing for an interview or defusing a bomb, just ask yourself What Would Ripley Do?

In a way, Shepard is the ultimate example of equality in games. Regardless of gender, Shep is offered the same options and takes the same route towards saving man-kind from the Reapers during the course of Mass Effect’s story. The choices aren’t made on Shepard’s behalf by gender stereotypes--they’re made by the player. Even character design presents a level playing field--each female Shepard is unique.

This equality would be nothing if Shep was a total weasel, but he / she constantly shows strength and endurance in the face of adversity. In fact ‘adversity’ is too soft a term: 'catastrophe' is often closer to the truth. Shepard experiences loss, betrayal, bad press, and even death during Mass Effect, but fights through it to the bitter end. Regardless of gender, Shep is a proper gaming hero.

Most of the wondrous women are on this list because of how much they stand out. Titanfall's female pilots, on the other hand, are here for the opposite reason: they perfectly blend in. In a world where chainmail bras and armor-free midriffs are Still A Thing, a well-dressed and capable soldier who just happens to be female is a breath of fresh ozone, and they can bring the pain just like anyone else.

While that isn't to say that a lady can't be powerful and feminine - I refer you again to Aveline's assassination by parasol - it's all about the context in which she exists. Is she hunting down a mark in a dance club and has to look the part? Belly shirts and high heels all the way! But in a warzone where the bulkiness of your armor is directly proportional to how strong you are, metal go-go boots and form-fitting chest plates just say you're not meant to be taken seriously. Titanfall knows that and outfits its incredible ladies accordingly, proving that what's below your belt buckle has nothing to do with your military skill. It makes you wish you were nearly as cool as them, and isn't that kind of what inspirational means?

“Hang on… who the hell is Major Greenland?” I hear you ask. She’s the commander of the US base in the Old Town (Tashgar) level, and she appears for all of 3 minutes in a couple of separate cut-scenes. In that time, though, she steals the show by demonstrating how completely in control of her own troops she is. She’s probably the toughest, most commanding character in a game full of ridiculously macho men.

It’s not just cheap stereotyping either. Greenland isn’t over-written or grotesquely butch--she’s just an unfortunate officer who has been handed another shitty, under-resourced assignment. The fact that she does her duty with a foul-mouth and lashings of dry humour is the icing on the cake.

While Chell is the female ‘hero’ of the Portal series, it’s GlaDos who stands out as the stronger character. Look, Chell doesn’t even speak. Yes, you can interpret her actions as ‘strong’ given that she defies instruction in both games and acts on survival instinct, but that just makes her human. GlaDos, on the other hand, gives us more to admire.

GlaDos is smart enough to bide her time when she’s turned into a potato-clock by Wheatley, and rebellious enough to go against her programming when it’s needed. Between both GlaDos and Chell, Portal sends the message that it’s only human to challenge norms and authority, and that makes the pair of them a very compelling female duo.

Faith is a character of few words, but plenty of actions… usually involving death-defying free-running that would make most people feel a little . There’s little doubting her physical strength and toughness, and it’s telling that DICE chose to make her gender a non-issue by making the game first-person. While playing Mirror’s Edge, you could equally be controlling a man.

Throw in Faith’s healthy disrespect for a corrupt government, and her willingness to stick up for weaker characters while putting her own life at risk, and it’s safe to say she’s a first-class female protagonist.

One of the greatest tricks Nintendo ever pulled was convincing the world it doesn't exist. Hang on, wrong cultural reference. One of the greatest tricks it did pull was keeping Samus’ gender a total secret right until the end of Metroid. And not just the regular ending either--you need to finish the game under pretty harsh conditions to earn the knowledge. Or you can just look on YouTube, I guess.

Back in 1986, female protagonists were super-scarce, which perhaps explains why Nintendo kept Samus’ gender ambiguous. On the one hand, it could be a statement about how women shouldn’t be treated differently to men in games. On the other, it could well have been a ploy to avoid alienating a group of players accustomed to seeing leading men in games. In reality, it’s probably a mixture of both.

There’s no shortage of ‘girly’ tropes in No One Lives Forever (lipstick explosive devices, anyone?), but protagonist Kate Archer proves that female leads don’t need to ditch their femininity to be taken seriously. She’s a strangely comfortable half-way house between James Bond and Austin Powers, meaning she can quite happily mix the light hearted stuff with more serious terrorist-fragging.

By more modern gaming standards, No One Lives Forever is a little hammy. It’d be great to see the series revived with a more up-to-date reboot, much like the latest Tomb Raider game. Sadly, that’s hugely unlikely to happen.

Given the often goofy nature of the Yakuza series (and a general trend for Japanese games to feature weaker women), it seems an odd place to find a compelling female character. However, while Kazuma Kiryu--series lead, and total badass--is the star of each game, he owes his life and humanity to his adopted daughter figure, Haruka.

While Kaz is away knocking 7 shades of shit out of his enemies, Haruka essentially runs the Sunshine Orphanage in Okinawa. She cares for kids who are barely younger than her, and the resulting ‘mature outlook on life’ she gets from this allows her to offer Kazuma valuable advice throughout the Yakuza series. Sure, she sometimes plays the damsel in distress, but these moments of fragility only arise from her relationship with Kaz and her youth, not the strength of her character.

Samantha is the only character on this list who doesn’t actually appear in a game at all. Players discover her story while exploring the family house as her sister in Gone Home. However, you actually learn more about Sam than your own character during the game, which probably makes her the real star.

And everything you discover points towards a strong female character, struggling against the rather old-fashioned attitudes of her family. No spoilers here (as the game isn’t yet a year old and it has just been confirmed for console), but the way Samantha kicks back against society and the will of her parents is something to be admired.

Want more amazing ladies in your life? Well, not sure how much we can help with that, but you can sure read about them! Check out .

Everyone knows that one surefire way to get people to buy something that is either doomed to fail or otherwise terrible is to bundle it with something people actually want. It's how Hollywood got millions of people (including yours truly) to go see trash like Wing Commander in theaters. No one's going to shell out hard-earned cash to watch a garbage sci-fi movie featuring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard, but when it's the only way to watch a trailer for the hotly-anticipated Star Wars prequel? They'll come in droves.

It happens with games, too. Most recently, Square Enix proved that people are willing to drop money on . It got me thinking about all the times I bought a game solely so I could get my hands on the accompanying demo, and I realized that many of those so-called 'throwaways' have become my favorite games. And so, I've written this celebration of the best free games that came with the $60 demo we really wanted.

The demo: Squaresoft (before it merged with Enix) did this a lot during the original PlayStation era, bundling demos for anticipated games with lesser-known properties. The Final Fantasy 8 demo was probably the most popular one, since it came off of the white-hot popularity of 7, and everyone wanted to see what was up. In the demo, you control Squall and friends as they make their way through their final exam… which just so happens to be the invasion of a neighboring country.

The game: Click on my name up at the top of this article and glance at the right of the screen where my Gamertag is posted. Yeah, this game is rad. It's Square's take on the The Legend of Zelda, featuring the titular samurai as he finds himself in a strange fantasy world filled with magical talking swords and food puns. It's a bit rough around the edges, but it's still totally worth checking out, and it's far cry from the brooding melodrama found in the demo that comes with it.

The demo: Publishers have shied away from releasing demos, instead relying on timed multiplayer 'betas' to draw in pre-orders for less-popular franchises. One of the only ways to get into the Halo 3 beta back in 2007 was to pick up a copy of Crackdown in February and hold onto it until the beta went live three months later.

The game: I mean, sure, you could play the Halo 3 beta if you had the willpower to stop playing Crackdown. Right from the start, the world of Crackdown is your playground, filled with gangs to overthrow, stuff to blow up, and buildings to leap over. Not only was it a sprawling open-world game, but you also have superhero-like powers, and you only get more powerful as you play. Anyone who's heard the low hum of a hidden ability orb knows the alluring pull of Crackdown's gameplay.

The demo: While Epic Games was working on Gears of War 3 for Microsoft, they were also collaborating with Painkiller devs People Can Fly on a new title called Bulletstorm. Originally, the only way to test out the chainsaw-filled waters of Gears 3 was to pick up a launch edition of Bulletstorm on Xbox 360, but that was quickly expanded to anyone who had preordered Gears before the beta started.

The game: Bulletstorm is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater with guns, and it's a spectacular ballet of carnage. Moving through each stage is like running through the world's most complex and creative shooting gallery, only this time, the animatronic ducks shoot back. There are tons of ways to take out each of the mooks you face, from kicking them into cacti, to whipping them off of ledges with your energy leash. Doing so earns you points that you can use to unlock new weapons and abilities, which in turn, let you pull off even zanier kills. It's a shame that even the inclusion of the Gears of War 3 beta didn't improve Bulletstorm's sales, because there are few games like it.

The demo: By the time Nemesis came out, Resident Evil was a household name, so Capcom could have released a demo with sardines on toast and it would have sold. This one follows Jill Valentine as she attempts to escape from Raccoon City, eventually coming across (and running away from) the incredibly persistent undead Nemesis.

The game: Dino Crisis feels a lot like Resident Evil at first glance. It's got the tank controls, the hacky voice acting, and even the same asinine key puzzles of its predecessor. But instead of fending off zombies, you're watching out for (duh) dinosaurs. Only here, bullets are much harder to come by. Now you've got tranquilizer darts, meaning that the reptiles will only stay asleep for a few minutes. And if you don't treat your wounds, the dinos will smell your blood trail and hunt you down. At least you can finally move and shoot at the same time.

The demo: Uncharted getting multiplayer was a pretty big deal when it was announced back in 2009, and the only way to get an early hands-on was to pick up a copy of Sucker Punch's latest game, Infamous. So yeah, part of Infamous' lasting success likely hinged on the curiosity of Naughty Dog fans.

The game: Infamous is a solid superhero comic book-inspired open-world game that has gone on to see quite a bit of success. Play as a good guy and help out the citizens of Empire City, or be evil and blast them away with your electricity powers. Either way you play, you still sound like a gruff asshole. Luckily, that issue was in the sequel. And hey, that one came with early access to the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta, though by that point people were legitimately excited about an Infamous 2.

The demo: This beta doesn't even exist yet. Doom 4 is still deep in development, and the only footage available was privately revealed to QuakeCon attendees. Inputting the code you get with the game will qualify you for the beta, though when that will actually happen is anyone's guess, despite being on the game's cover.

The game: Wolfenstein: The New Order had a lot to prove. Coming off a decently received, if forgettable, reboot in 2009, the latest adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz left a poor first impression during its E3 reveal. Luckily, turned out to be something truly special.. Yes, Wolfenstein is still all about killing Nazis (this time, on the moon!), but The New Order injects a strong dose of humanity into all of the violence, not only showing the evils men are capable against each other, but also the bonds that are formed during those trying times. It's one hell of a shooter, too.

The demo: The most anticipated demo for one of the most anticipated games of all time, the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo featured pretty much everything in the Tanker chapter up to and including the fight against Olga Gurlukovich. It was a tiny slice of the full Metal Gear Solid 2 experience (without a single hint of Raiden's presence), but it was dense, filled with secrets and Easter eggs galore. You played it once to finish the story bits; you played it dozens more just to shoot pots and pans in the kitchen.

The game: The actual game that came with the demo is a brilliant mecha melodrama filled with fast-paced battles and heady themes. Zone of the Enders follows young Leo Stenbuck as he literally stumbles across a powerful weapon, and attempts to use it to defeat an invading rebellion. It's a bit pretentious, and filled with way too many overly-long cutscenes, but it's also produced by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, so that’s to be expected. Interestingly enough, when both Zone of the Enders titles were HD-ified for PS3 and Xbox 360, they came with a demo for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Guess they'll never quite escape the shadow of that original demo.

You might have bought the game just for those few brief moments of what's to come, but take some time to explore the thing you actually bought. You might be surprised. Did you buy any games just for the juicy demo packed in alongside it? How are you enjoying Type-0 (after spending 30 hours inside the Final Fantasy 15 demo, of course)? Let me know in the comments!

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