Gaming Forgot Women Were Playing, Too
Gaming history has plenty of releases that made women wonder who exactly approved the decision. Sometimes the problem was aggressively obvious character design. Other games reduced women to trophies, stereotypes, or little more than scenery for guys on the other end. Whatever the case, these 20 games became part of a much bigger conversation about how women are portrayed.
1. Custer's Revenge
There really isn't a polite way to describe Custer's Revenge. We’re not going to explain it here, but if you know, you know. The scene was so bad, in fact, that women's organizations and Indigenous groups protested the game, with more than 250 demonstrators gathering in 1982.
2. Tomb Raider
Let’s get something out of the way right away—Lara Croft was groundbreaking in 1996. She was the female action hero of her own game, all at a time when they hardly touched the market. However, her exaggerated proportions turned Lara into a symbol, and later Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett acknowledged that much of the character's earlier design came from marketing.
3. BMX XXX
Most BMX games were happy with bikes and elaborate tricks, but 2002's BMX XXX? It decided that topless women and crude humor were essential to the sport. Major retailers refused to stock the game, and the PlayStation 2 version was altered to remove some of its content. Don’t believe us? Even its character customization allowed players to adjust women’s chest sizes and movement.
4. Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
The only good thing about this game is that it’s hilariously bad. But if you can’t laugh, you’ll just get angry—and rightfully so! Xtreme Beach Volleyball removed the fighting and sent the ladies to a tropical resort in bikinis. There was technically volleyball involved, but the marketing wasn't exactly subtle about which bouncing objects it wanted you to watch.
5. Rumble Roses
An all-female wrestling game sounded awesome in theory…and then we got it. Konami's 2004 release included an entirely female roster, mud-wrestling matches, revealing costumes, and just horrendous character presentation. The wrestlers certainly fight, yes, but the game was way more interested in showing you what they were wearing.
6. Super Princess Peach
Exciting! Nintendo finally let Peach rescue Mario in Super Princess Peach! Then it gave her a power system centered around Joy, Rage, Gloom, and Calm. Just about everyone noticed the implication, and the game has spent years being debated over whether its emotion mechanics empowered Peach or simply repackaged stereotypes about weepy women.
7. God of War
We know it sounds crazy, but the original God of War introduced Kratos as an aggressively violent antihero, and its treatment of women followed the same excessive philosophy. Early installments had optional minigames with scantily dressed women, and later entries in the trilogy continued using women as part of Kratos' adult-rated world. Women worked on those sequences, which adds interesting context, but not everyone was on board.
8. The Witcher
Long before The Witcher 3 hit the scene, the original 2007 RPG gave Geralt collectible illustrated cards after many of his “encounters.” The mechanic effectively transformed women Geralt slept with into collectibles, and even if you don’t think that’s bad, original lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec has since acknowledged that the system ultimately didn't pan out as intended.
9. Fat Princess
As if the name didn’t give it away already. Sony's Fat Princess built its gimmick around kidnapping a princess and feeding her so much cake that she got heavier and harder for the opposing team to rescue. Critics were up in arms before the 2009 release, arguing that the joke relied on prejudice surrounding overweight women.
Church of the King on Unsplash
10. Metroid: Other M
Samus spent decades establishing herself as one of gaming's toughest heroes before Metroid: Other M suddenly ruined her. Her dependence on Adam, emotional storyline, and behavior around Ridley generated years of criticism, and it all came from players who felt Nintendo had regressed a famously independent character.
11. Mortal Kombat
Alright, let’s be honest here: nobody expects Mortal Kombat fighters to dress normally. The thing is, 2011's Mortal Kombat reboot pushed several women into especially revealing get-ups. Sonya Blade, Kitana, Jade, and Mileena became common examples in discussions about the series' exaggerated designs, especially once later games noticeably toned that approach down. It was even more obvious when Mortal Kombat 11 arrived with more practical gear.
12. Duke Nukem Forever
Duke Nukem never pretended to be progressive, but Duke Nukem Forever still managed to find some new lows. Its multiplayer included "Capture the Babe," and essentially, you just carried women back to their base and could slap their rears when they got distressed. Even by 2011, this so-called joke missed the mark.
Russell Bernice from Seattle, USA on Wikimedia
13. Lollipop Chainsaw
Juliet Starling is cheerful. She’s powerful and perfectly capable of carving through hordes of zombies. It seemed like enough to get behind. Then the 2012 game arrived, with its revealing outfits, suggestive presentation, and even a trophy connected to trying to peek up her skirt. Defenders say that trophy is actually poking fun at stereotypical gaming behavior, but that’s a bit of a stretch.
The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek on Wikimedia
14. Hitman: Absolution
Few marketing campaigns have produced an image quite as strange as the Hitman: Absolution trailer. In case you missed it, it was just Agent 47 fighting assassins dressed as lingerie-wearing nuns. Backlash was bad enough that developer IO Interactive apologized and actually adjusted that section of the game.
15. Dragon's Crown
Vanillaware's gorgeous hand-drawn style gave Dragon's Crown a phenomenal look—but one character became more famous than the scenery. The Sorceress arrived with a hugely exaggerated chest and animations that went hard on emphasizing them. Critics called her design juvenile while defenders argued that the entire game's cast was intentionally exaggerated. Whatever side you landed on, the 2013 debate was a big one at the time.
16. Grand Theft Auto V
GTA gets a pass on a lot of things, but women always caught the brunt of its jokes. At the time, critics were peeved that none of its protagonists were female and many prominent women were framed through dysfunction. Well, at least we’re getting a woman now (though that will likely cause even more discourse).
17. Final Fantasy XV
Cindy is an accomplished mechanic who keeps the heroes' beloved Regalia running, and yet here she is in Final Fantasy XV, dressed in tiny shorts, a bikini top, and a cropped jacket. Very practical garage attire. Her design attracted criticism even before the finished game launched, and it was easy to see why.
18. Persona 5
Ann’s introduction deals seriously with a lot of heavy themes, which is what makes the game's later habits so disappointing. The game's treatment of her is especially jarring, and critics were quick to point out revealing costumes and scenes where her discomfort itself becomes material for jokes or fan service.
19. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
We’ll admit that there are genuinely thoughtful women in this one, but it’s not without flaws. Pyra and numerous female Blades wear revealing outfits and feature heavily exaggerated proportions that became a persistent subject of criticism after the 2017 release. There’s nothing like a nice breeze knocking your chest around.
20. Stellar Blade
By the time Stellar Blade arrived in 2024, debates over exaggerated female protagonists had been running for decades, and Eve was another drop in the bucket. Her outfits and emphasized physique only sparked arguments over whether the design was harmless fantasy, outdated objectification, or artistic freedom.
