Games where you play as a doll?

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Dynamite Headdy, you play as a puppet who can change heads.

I often forget he's one but I can see that.

One of the characters in Ys IX Monstrum Nox is a doll

Despite the flaws I liked the game, especially compared to X.

 

[trickybus]

Persona 3's Aegis is more robot than doll but I think she fits the bill. IIRC, she has some side content where you can play as her instead of having her as just a party member.

 

[TentaclesMod]

Seriously, how is no one here mentioning Gotcha Force?

Or Custom Robo in the same ballpark?
Chibi-Robo feels very doll-adjacent

How about Toy Story 2?

 

[tempest2k]

Herta from Star Rail comes to mind, if you don't mind gachasView attachment 87111

can't.... become.... a gacha player.....
BUT this is a REALLY good example of a lot of the traits i look for in a doll character. the ball joints and segmented fingers are rendered beautifully here

A recent favorite of mine the game has loads of dolls and you play as one.
View attachment 87132

looks promising! like what i can see of the main character's design a lot :)

Spoiler: story spoiler for PS1 game Threads of Fate

The playable character Rue is a doll

one of the characters in Ys IX Monstrum Nox is a doll

oh both of these seem good! i like that ys ix character... i've never played a ys game before, is that a particularly accessible entry?

Post automatically merged: Jul 5, 2025

Persona 3's Aegis is more robot than doll but I think she fits the bill. IIRC, she has some side content where you can play as her instead of having her as just a party member.

View attachment 87177

oh yes!!!! i realized after leaving this thread last night that aegis was EXACTLY the sort of thing i was looking for! i just didn't want to say "robot" in the thread name because that implies a very different sort of thing. for example i don't think most people would look at the essentia 2000 (pic below) and say "that's a doll" except i would! and i feel essentia was almost certainly inspired by aegis in a lot of ways so it's very fitting i get referred to her

Seriously, how is no one here mentioning Gotcha Force?

Or Custom Robo in the same ballpark?
Chibi-Robo feels very doll-adjacent

How about Toy Story 2?

i was actually playing a lot of chibi robo ds recently and yeah, i can see someone considering him to be a sort of doll. not really what i'm looking for but you get bonus points because i like him :) same with gotcha force even if i've only played about a half hour of that game. toy story is too corporate-feeling and Very Overtly aimed at kids in a way that's too hard to ignore for me though, especially with how popular toy story is. call me a contrarian or whatever but buzz lightyear is also more on the side of "action figure" than doll which is a different thing aesthetically

 

[Morgan Katarn]

looks promising! like what i can see of the main character's design a lot :)

Just a warning it´s a souls like game but compared to Dark souls or Elden ring it was kind of more on the easy side but I do love the ascetics allot of the whole game.

 

[bubbyrude]

oh both of these seem good! i like that ys ix character... i've never played a ys game before, is that a particularly accessible entry?

Ys IX is pretty beginner friendly as Falcom is trying to reach a wider audience, no bump attack-system like in the first few games and a lot of different difficulty levels to accommodate any skill level. the series tends to jump all over the place in terms of timeline so even playing them all in order wouldn't be chronological, but the main character is usually the same one, Adol Christin. there's nothing you need to know from the other games but if they feel like it's necessary they usually catch you up.

 

[TomoyoDaidouji]

I too dream of the porcelain form. I truly get it.

Unfortunately a lot of what I would have recommended has been covered, but if you can tolerate some questionable artistic decisions and character designs, I think Mirage Feathers is worth a try! It's all about robot girls gaining agency and being in love! It's also a super fun game.

EDIT: Oops! Sorry! I almost forgot Crymachina! It's about robotic reincarnations of girls in a post apocalyptic future on an abandoned earth. It's a really fun hack n slash with some neat mechanics! I've really been enjoying it. Unfortunately, dolls like us are underrepresented in gaming compared to other forms of media...

 

[tempest2k]

I too dream of the porcelain form. I truly get it.

Unfortunately a lot of what I would have recommended has been covered, but if you can tolerate some questionable artistic decisions and character designs, I think Mirage Feathers is worth a try! It's all about robot girls gaining agency and being in love! It's also a super fun game.

EDIT: Oops! Sorry! I almost forgot Crymachina! It's about robotic reincarnations of girls in a post apocalyptic future on an abandoned earth. It's a really fun hack n slash with some neat mechanics! I've really been enjoying it. Unfortunately, dolls like us are underrepresented in gaming compared to other forms of media...

calling me outttt!!!!! yeah, i've yet to find a game that truly "gets" the appeal of being a doll, except maybe malcatras' maiden and even then, the service doll thing isn't really in line with how it appeals to me...

 

[trickybus]

i realized after leaving this thread last night that aegis was EXACTLY the sort of thing i was looking for! i just didn't want to say "robot" in the thread name because that implies a very different sort of thing.

I think the wording you're looking for is "mechanical doll" or "gynoid" because just "doll" covers a lot of territory. For example, the Fatal Frame series has so many doll-types in it, the most notable being the Twins—one of them is a spirit and the other is a life-sized doll—but none of them are what you're looking for.

Edit: Jumping back in to suggest Ceramic Soul. It's a short game and a student project as opposed to a full-fledged game but you play as a ceramic doll who can send her detached hand scuttling away to help solve puzzles.

Ceramic Soul on Steam

Within a Victorian manor, wake up as Yu, a porcelain doll, modeled to look like The Mother’s perfect daughter. Solve puzzles with the help of a detachable hand, hide from grievous threats, explore the manor, and search for your past to reclaim pieces of your soul and claim your freedom.

store.steampowered.com

 

[secreto7]

Now this conversation is reminding me of Nier Automata.

 

[trickybus]

Now this conversation is reminding me of Nier Automata.

Honestly, I wish the plot didn't get in the way of the androids looking like androids.

 

[Letule]

If you enjoy on-foot racing games, try Sonic R. It has Tails Doll as an unlockable playable character.

 

[secreto7]

Honestly, I wish the plot didn't get in the way of the androids looking like androids.

The plot or the PLOT?

 

[trickybus]

The plot or the PLOT?

Me trying to focus on the plot:

 

[TomoyoDaidouji]

I too dream of the porcelain form. I truly get it.

Unfortunately a lot of what I would have recommended has been covered, but if you can tolerate some questionable artistic decisions and character designs, I think Mirage Feathers is worth a try! It's all about robot girls gaining agency and being in love! It's also a super fun game.

EDIT: Oops! Sorry! I almost forgot Crymachina! It's about robotic reincarnations of girls in a post apocalyptic future on an abandoned earth. It's a really fun hack n slash with some neat mechanics! I've really been enjoying it.

calling me outttt!!!!! yeah, i've yet to find a game that truly "gets" the appeal of being a doll, except maybe malcatras' maiden and even then, the service doll thing isn't really in line with how it appeals to me...

Oh, to be delicate and cute and brainless but still have free will and some form of determination and awareness...

 

[χKai]

Probably not what you're looking for, but