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Essays 28 August 2021, 20:00

author: Marek Jura

Bow Low, Kratos! Here Are The Most Powerful Heroines of Video Games

While not all of them have entered the pop-culture mainstream, they're all as powerful as Hulk. These gaming heroines are capable of kicking anyone's ass.

Table of Contents

The Boss

Game: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

First appearance: 2004

Developer: Konami

Main weapon: charisma

You may not like Hideo Kojima, but you can't deny his originality. Before he divided the gaming world with the famous Death Stranding in 2019, he spent years working on the Metal Gear Solid series. In the third part, he created one of the best mentor-figures in gaming history. The Boss, as she is referred to, oozes charisma. Even now, despite the outdated graphics and animations breaking the immersion.

A woman with military experience introduces Naked Snake (later Big Boss) to the art of war. Although she is only 13 years older than him, she in a way replaces his mother. In a brutal, military way, she still is significant enough for the mercenary to never forget her. Indeed, The Boss exerts so much influence on her protégé and comrades in battle that it's different interpretations of her ideals that constitute the main propellant of the conflict central to the majority of Metal Gear Solid installments.

Although she gives no quarter when the good of her organization is at stake, The Boss simply cannot be disliked (rumour has it that someone tried – once). The Mother of Special Forces (her another moniker) is so straightforward that it's hard to compare her to any other heroin, even those on this list. Additionally, she's also deadly in combat. It was she and her Cobra unit that largely contributed to the victory of the Allies in World War II (in the game's universe, of course), and then worked out the technique of CQC together with Snake, combining melee combat with gunplay. For fans of the newer installments, she may just be a specter from the past, but if you do play Snake Eater, you will notice just how insanely fleshed-out a character she is.

Zarya

Game: Overwatch

First appearance: 2016

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Main weapon: the looks

Zarya is a certified badass. The female soldier from Russian Krasnoyarsk impresses rules in Overwatch not only with her body, but also her proficiency in combat. She's the character with the undeniably useful ability to create a protective barrier. She converts the damage her opponents would inflict into energy. The more of it she has, the brighter he shines. Cheesy? Perhaps, but also spectacular!

Despite having one of the best ults in the entire game, she's not an easy character to play – although her appearance would suggest otherwise, Zarya unfortunately doesn't boast much resilience. The key to a successful match with her is keeping the energy high. If the energy's low, there won't be much fighting done on our part. However, if we can only manage to prevent this from happening – Zarya will prove an unstoppable tank.

Born in Siberia during the depression, she exhibited remarkable strength and endurance from an early age. She was admitted to a national program for the development of promising athletes and soon won a world cup. Later, she even beat Brigitte herself in arm wrestling. And while the plot ofOverwatch isn't the most complex, such extraordinary characters as Zarya make it a whole more engaging. And let's be honest – there is no other badass like her in the game.

Lilith

Game: Borderlands

First appearance: 2009

Developer: Gearbox Software

Main weapon: mermaid forces

Lilith is – at least for most of the time we spend with her – a mermaid. She's one of the six that still exist, which is, according to the lore, the only possible number of existing mermaids – there can be no more and no less. The origin of their power remains a mystery, but the effects of their actions are very tangible. They can travel between dimensions, block the movements of entities and objects, manipulate electronic devices, and even drain the energy of entire civilizations.

There is even an altar dedicated to her in the starting location of one of the DLCs. But all this divine power wouldn't be so cool if Lilith didn't remain a heroine of flesh-and-blood in the process. She's simply hard not to like. Despite the troubled past (she witnessed her father's death as a child) she knew how to deal with negative emotions. And that's not to say she was a good girl. She can take down anyone who crosses her friends with a single shot, without even resorting to her divine powers. Then, in terms of gameplay, her powers are just so much fun to use.

While the release date for the Borderlands movie is still unknown, it was announced a year ago that Cate Blanchett would be cast as Lilith. Casting an actress from this league shows how important this character is not only for the , Borderlands universe, but also for the entire industry. If the film satisfies the producers, we will probably see Lilith on the silver screen in mid-2022. There's quite a something to look forward to!

Marek Jura

Marek Jura

In 2016, he graduated in philology at UAM. Since then, he has been reviewing prose, poetry, movies, series, and video games for GRYOnline.pl. He took his first steps in the journalism industry as a newsman in a local tabloid. He ran his own company - he designed, created, tested, and sold board games. He published several short stories and is also preparing his debut volume of poetry. Trains martial arts. A feminist, vegan, fan of pineapple on pizza, cat lover, dislikes Bethesda and Amazon, likes Lovecraft, Agents of SHIELD, P:T, Beksiński, Hollow Knight, performance, abstract art, game mods and dumplings.

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