Summary
- Adventure heroes aren't just men—Samus Aran, Kassandra, Chloe Frazer, Aloy, Faith Connors, and Lara Croft break the mold.
- Their strength lies in curiosity, resilience, and charisma—unraveling mysteries, surviving danger, and seeking truth.
- These women redefine the adventurer archetype—inspiring awe, forging their path, and proving they're forces to be reckoned with.
Adventure doesn’t just belong to the whip-cracking, gravel-voiced archetypes. Some of the most unforgettable treasure-hunters, explorers, and action heroes in gaming have been women with grit, brains, and the ability to leap from collapsing temples without breaking a sweat.
8 Most Relaxing Indie Adventure Games
These relaxing indie adventure games will immerse you in their distinctive atmospheres and serene environments.
But what makes a great adventurer? It’s not just the combat skills or the stamina to climb anything—it’s the curiosity, the hunger for truth, and the willingness to get covered in mud for answers nobody else is asking.
6 Samus Aran
Metroid
Metroid
- Released
- August 6, 1986
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E for Everyone: Mild Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Entertainment System
For someone who barely speaks, Samus Aran says a lot just by showing up. First introduced in 1986, she shattered expectations when players found out the armored bounty hunter they’d been controlling in Metroid was a woman. Since then, she’s gone from an 8-bit surprise twist to one of the most enduring and quietly influential protagonists in all of gaming.
15 Best Metroid Clone Games, Ranked
These are some of the strongest clones of the iconic Metroid franchise that fans have seen.
Samus’s adventures are about isolation and survival. There’s no chatter, no sidekicks—just her, her Power Suit, and hostile alien environments that don’t want her there. From the labyrinthine tunnels of Zebes to the parasite-ridden halls of the B.S.L. Research station in Metroid Fusion, Samus thrives where most characters wouldn’t last ten minutes. And in Metroid Dread, she moves with such cold efficiency it’s almost surgical, facing off against unkillable robots like it's a Tuesday.
She's also more than a walking arsenal. Her story is one of resilience—of being raised by Chozo warriors after her colony was annihilated, and becoming something more than human in the process. Every time she rolls into a ball and drops into the unknown, it’s a reminder: this galaxy may be dangerous, but Samus is worse.
5 Kassandra
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- Released
- October 15, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Quebec
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Open-World
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Kassandra isn’t just good at surviving impossible odds—she makes it look like a minor inconvenience. As the granddaughter of Leonidas and a misthios (mercenary) in a war-torn Ancient Greece, she cuts through armies, mythical beasts, and family drama with the same level of nonchalance. And while Assassin’s Creed Odyssey lets players choose between Alexios and Kassandra, most who played both know she’s the canon face of this journey.
Kassandra’s strength isn’t just in her combat prowess—though being able to Sparta-kick enemies off cliffs is extremely satisfying—it’s in her sheer charisma. She’s a talker, a flirt, a fighter, and occasionally, a walking wrecking ball who gets results. Whether she’s sailing across the Aegean or storming cult strongholds, she always feels in control, even when everything around her is falling apart.
Her journey stretches far beyond one lifetime. Thanks to the Staff of Hermes, Kassandra becomes an immortal observer of history, watching the world reshape itself for over two millennia. In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, she even shows up in the modern era, still kicking, still charming, and still not done exploring.
4 Chloe Frazer
Uncharted: Lost Legacy
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- Released
- August 22, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Naughty Dog
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Chloe was always the wildcard in the Uncharted universe—the morally gray foil to Nathan Drake’s reluctant hero. But Uncharted: The Lost Legacy proved she didn’t need him to steal the spotlight. Set in the Western Ghats of India, her solo outing alongside ex-mercenary Nadine Ross offered up some of the series' best banter, tightest pacing, and most beautiful vistas.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – The Best Weapons, Ranked
As part of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Lost Legacy is now on PS5. What are the best weapons in Naughty Dog's game?
Unlike Nate, Chloe isn’t chasing legacy—she’s chasing profit. But as the story unfolds, her motivations get tangled up in personal history and national identity, especially when the quest for the Tusk of Ganesh forces her to reconcile with her father’s death and her own sense of place in a world that's always shifting under her feet.
Her traversal and puzzle-solving skills are just as sharp as Drake’s, but what makes Chloe a standout adventurer is how grounded she feels. She’s messy, impulsive, and often lets emotion drive her decisions—but that just makes her victories feel even more earned. And let’s not forget that incredible train sequence at the end—peak Uncharted chaos, powered by two women who are absolutely done taking orders from anyone.
3 Aloy
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Horizon: Zero Dawn
- Released
- February 28, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
In a world overrun by mechanical beasts, Aloy stands out not just because she can shoot a Thunderjaw in the face and live to talk about it, but because she’s one of the few who bother to ask why the world is the way it is. Born as an outcast in the Nora tribe and raised by a man who couldn’t explain why she wasn’t allowed in society, Aloy’s quest starts with personal identity and ends with her unraveling the cause of an apocalypse.
Her Focus device lets her scan environments, uncover hidden data, and pick apart machines like high-tech puzzles. She doesn't just survive the post-post-apocalypse—she deciphers it. By the end of Horizon Zero Dawn, she’s uncovered Project Zero Dawn, GAIA, and the grim truth about how Earth was sacrificed to give humanity a second chance.
And through it all, she remains relentless. Not out of vengeance or greed, but because someone has to care. Someone has to piece together the old world’s mistakes to stop them from happening again. She’s not interested in being a hero. She just wants answers—and maybe, along the way, to find a little peace.
2 Faith Connors
Mirror’s Edge
Mirror's Edge
- Released
- November 11, 2008
WHERE TO PLAY
Faith Connors isn’t a warrior in the traditional sense. She doesn’t carry guns, she doesn’t drop from helicopters with explosions behind her. Instead, she runs. Across rooftops, through tight corridors, over deadly gaps, always one misstep away from falling to her death in a city that looks like it’s been scrubbed clean of soul.
In Mirror’s Edge, Faith is part of a network of Runners—freelance couriers operating outside a dystopian surveillance state. Her job is already dangerous before her sister is framed for murder, kicking off a story that’s half conspiracy thriller, half urban obstacle course.
What makes Faith iconic isn’t just her parkour mechanics, though they were revolutionary in 2008 and still feel incredible—it’s her defiance. She’s a physical protest in a world obsessed with control. Her every rooftop leap is a rejection of the system. The sequel, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, expanded on her backstory, showing a city built on social credit scores and tech-fueled inequality, and a protagonist who refuses to play nice with it.
She’s the kind of adventurer who doesn’t need a whip or a bow—just a good pair of running shoes and a reason to keep going.
1 Lara Croft
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider
- Released
- November 14, 1996
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Animated Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Core Design, Aspyr
- Publisher(s)
- Eidos Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
If there’s a Mount Rushmore of video game adventurers, Lara Croft’s face is carved in granite right at the center. From her blocky beginnings in 1996 to her modern reinvention in Tomb Raider (2013) and its sequels, Lara’s been at the heart of buried secrets, cursed tombs, and more trap-filled ruins than anyone should survive.
Her 2013 reboot didn’t just modernize her—it rebuilt her. Instead of the polished, unflinching archaeologist of the early days, this Lara starts out scared, bruised, and unsure of herself. By the end, she’s scaling burning towers, crafting explosives out of household junk, and using her bow like an extension of her will. It’s not a glow-up—it’s a crucible.
But whether she’s fighting a death cult on Yamatai or chasing whispers of immortality in Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara never loses that core trait: obsession. She has to know the truth, no matter how much it costs her. And the world she uncovers isn’t always kind, but that’s never stopped her from diving headfirst into its darkest corners.
Without Lara, there wouldn’t be a genre of globe-trotting, danger-hugging, trap-dodging adventure games as we know them. She didn’t just blaze the trail—she mapped it, looted the artifacts, and sold the rights to the film adaptation.
The 5 Best Tomb Raider Games
With the release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider only a few days away, The Best War Games has compiled a list of the top five Tomb Raider games in the series' history.