10 Best New Female Video Game Characters Of The Decade

This decade has seen a boom in narrative driven games, and with that came some fantastic characters. Right now, we’re focussed just on the deadlier side of our species: the females.

Having been trophies and eye candy in the early days of gaming, the turn of the century saw women really come into their own. With the decade coming to a close, now is a great time to look back on the best women of the last ten years.

Female characters who existed before 2010 have beeb disqualified, even if they’ve been rebooted like Lara Croft. It’s strictly newcomers only here. Based on the impact of their game, their influence on the story and popularity, their own narrative and just them as a character in general, these represent the best of the new girls.

Sticking to one entry per series, some of these ladies are representative of a whole generation of characters, while others are here just for themselves. In some games, personal preference definitely comes into it, but ultimately bigger names get the nods over niche favourites.

The 2020s will no doubt bring even more fantastic characters, but we definitely haven’t been starved in the 2010s.

Isabelle has become a huge cult hit this decade, and with the impending launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, looks set to enter 2020 strong as well. Though Animal Crossing already had a niche popularity since its beginning, it was Isabelle’s arrival in 2012 which injected new life into the game.

Your bright and helpful assistant, Isabelle is your guide throughout the game, and quickly becomes one of your villagers’ closest friends too. There’s just nothing unlikeable about her, and yet she’s never boring.

Though Animal Crossing doesn’t look to have a huge story from the outside, once you’re in the world you very much feel a part of that reality. Isabelle is crucial to this, and her unwavering popularity almost eight years after she appeared is a testament to how important her introduction was.

With the unexpected arrival of Isabelle in Smash, she’s been introduced to an entirely new group of fans, and seems to have won them over too.

Plucky little Animal Crossing might not be topping any ‘best of the decade’ lists, but through Isabelle they’ve certainly left a mark on the 2010s.