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Top 5 Badass Video Game Chicks of 2016

Top 5 Badass Video Game Chicks of 2016

It’s 2016, and we’re finally starting to see more powerful, complex, engaging female lead characters in our video games, and that is an incredible thing. The year is halfway over and we’ve already played some fantastic lady leads in our games so far, and there are more on the way in games we can’t wait to play. In celebration, CheatCC is counting down the its top-5 badass video game chicks of 2016.

Kat (Gravity Rush)

Kat (Gravity Rush)

Flying high at number five is Kat from Gravity Rush . She is the best new superhero of this video game generation. If you have a problem with that statement, you can come fight me IRL. Kat is so fun to play. She is headstrong; she’s quick to act; she does acrobatic kung fu; she can freaking fly; she’s a bit of a hopeless romantic; she’s hilarious… She’s basically everything that makes a character fun and everything that makes a hero great. She makes a lot of mistakes, but has a true heart of gold and genuinely wants to help everybody that she can. Gravity Rush 2 looks incredible, and the original Gravity Rush was one of the best action / adventure games on the PS Vita, hands down. If you haven’t played the remaster on PS4 you owe it to yourself to go pick that up right now.

Lara Croft

Lara Croft

Raiding the number four spot is Lara Croft. No, I’m not talking about old-school, polygonal-boobies Lara Croft. That Lara Croft is dead. I mean really, canonically, she is dead. She died in 1999’s The Last Revelation . Games since then have been trying to revive Lara Croft in a way that felt relevant and exciting, but none have actually pulled it off until the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. In that game, and in Rise of the Tomb Raider , we have a lead character that is actually relatable and exciting. The new Lara Croft is cornered, vulnerable, and isolated in an environment that is just as likely to kill her as any living enemy. There’s a sense of desperation and caution in these games that is so compelling, and in the center of it all is a fantastic, remade Lara Croft.

Faith (Mirror’s Edge)

Faith (Mirror’s Edge)

Our three-runner (see what I did there) is Faith from Mirror’s Edge . Faith is criminally underrated as a video game character, mainly because not that many bothered to finish playing through Mirror’s Edge and cared to investigate her backstory. Faith has a fantastic story: her parents were freedom fighters, she and her twin sister (who is basically her polar opposite) both got caught up in something much bigger than themselves. They endured some incredible tragedy and at the age of 16, Faith split to become a petty thief living on the streets. She and her sister work to uncover some seriously weird conspiracies over the course of Mirror’s Edge and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst , and those games feature some of the best parkour gameplay in any video game, period. Faith as a free-runner is a total badass.

Aloy (Horizon: Zero Dawn)

Aloy (Horizon: Zero Dawn)

We’re in the home stretch, and zeroing in on the number two spot is Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn. This is a bit of a risky call because we don’t actually know that much about this character or game world yet – they could still screw this up. So far, though, she seems like a total badass. So much of her mystique is borne from her mysterious past. We have no idea what her origins are, and it sounds like she doesn’t either. She doesn’t know who her mother is, but her tribe seems to think that she is somehow connected to the ancient technology or events that lead the world to be in the state that it’s in. What we do know for sure is that she hunts and takes down giant mechanical dinosaurs with a freaking bow and arrow, and coming from a guy who still throws his shoes at spiders, I have to give her props for that.

Ana (Overwatch)

Ana (Overwatch)

The number one spot goes to Overwatch’s newest hero who happens to be a 60 year-old woman named Ana. Ana is Pharah’s mom, and her whole life has basically been one long track record of badassery. She was already considered the best sniper in the world when she was recruited as one of the founding members of Overwatch. During a hostage rescue mission she was shot in the face by Widowmaker – the whole world thought she was dead. As soon as she recovered, she went back into the fray and is fighting alongside her daughter and all the members of Overwatch once again. She is 60 years old… She should be drawing on her 401K, staying at home, and watching The Price is Right . Instead she’s on the front line sniping fools, and that’s why she’s my number one badass video game chick of 2016 so far.

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