Like the title said, I'm in need of a female protagonist game. It could be an Action, RPG, ARPG, SRPG, etc. As long as the protag is actually involved in the story and isn't a silent character like Pokemon. Games that let you choose characters are fine too, I've been loving Super Robot Taisen OG Portable A.
Thank you so much in advance
Oh this will be easy.
-Princess Crown: fan translated Sega Saturn game from Atlus and Vanillaware before there was Vanillaware. You play as a young princess who takes out bandits and evil forces after her mother's death.
-Muramasa Rebirth: A remaster of Muramasa The Demon Blade with more content exclusive to Vita. Hack and slash action RPG. Half and half between male and female protagonists. Without DLC, it's one each, but becomes 3 each with DLC. The stories depend on who you're going with, but they're all HEAVILY based on Japanese mythology. Hell, the entire game looks like a Japanese painting and that's intentional. Give it a play. The original (Muramasa: The Demon Blade) is exclusive to Wii while the remaster (Muramasa Rebirth) is exclusive to Vita. The latter is available on the Repo right now.
-GrimGrimoire: A RTS game also by Vanillaware (last one I promise) that got a remaster a few years back named GrimGrimoire OnceMore. Protagonist is a young girl in a wizarding school stuck in a time loop. Milage may vary with RTS games though.
-Final Fantasy XIII trilogy: I haven't played these games yet, but the protagonist is Lightning and she has one of the most striking designs in Final Fantasy. People used to hate these games, but the tones are changing, so they very well could be a cult classic on your hands.
-Persona 2: This one's a little weird when it comes to that. Persona 2 is two games: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment. Eternal Punishment is a direct sequel to Innocent Sin. Eternal Punishment is also where you get to play as a female protagonist though as a trade off, she's silent. On the other hand, Maya is very talkative in Innocent Sin. Definitely a duology to maybe consider but I wouldn't be surprised if my description here makes you say "nah."
-Rabi Ribi: A metroidvania that uses patterns from various SHMUPs and bullet hells with a lot of different options. Easily my favorite in the genre but the overly cute anime aesthetic tends to not be for everyone. Please don't give me a side eye for when you actually look at this game
-the entire Touhou franchise is exclusively women. Like no joke, the only semi important male character is Rinnosuke, a minor character who doesn't formally appear in any of the games and is relegated to only albums and manga. The latest game even has a canonical lesbian in Hisami. If you're going anywhere, Touhou's probably the one to check out most of all because the franchise is so lax on copyright that in addition to mainline games, there's a shit ton of fan content that people can sell for money.
-Rosenkreuzstilette duology: Very derivative set of Mega Man inspired indie games with unique game over screens for every stage each based on a completely different game, semi bullet hell patterns, a Castlevania artstyle, and a very interesting story. Cool music too, but the entirety of it is random royalty free songs.
-Muchi Muchi Pork: This is a SHMUP so don't expect a grand story, it's very simplistic. Protagonists are only women
-Arcane Heart: Fighting game with only girls
-Asuka 120%: THE fighting game with only girls. This franchise is pretty much the reason games like Guilty Gear, Blazblue, Melty Blood, etc flourish. That said the story is very simple. Every year there's a tournament between the school clubs and the entire roster specializes in a different thing. You probably didn't expect the very Asuka the game is named after to be into chemistry of all things. I think there's only like one dude in the roster tops, and he was added in in the later games.
-Wadanohara & The Great Blue Sea: Funamusea is a semi niche, semi well known RPGMaker dev and now VTuber apparently. The vast majority of her games are in development, but there's 4 that released. Minus one point and click game, the games all star female protagonists. The best of them by far is Wadanohara & The Great Blue Sea, a mix between traditional RPG, horror, and (somewhat) tragedy.
-The Gray Garden: The other Funamusea game I recommend checking out with a female protagonist is The Gray Garden. I'll even give it bonus points for being a full on lesbian love story. Both games are completely freeware, and can be grabbed off of itch.io. The other game with a female protagonist I neglected to mention is Mogeko Castle. I don't recommend playing Mogeko Castle.
-VA-Hall-A: Another queer game, but this time it's a visual novel. The protagonist is Jill, who works as a bartender in Valhalla. I'd go into details about why I just called this game queer but I really want you to play this game for yourself, so go do it.
-Class of 09 (minus The Flipside): If you like the uber edgy humour that was common in the 00-10s, this duology has a lot of it. The protagonist is lesbian. Don't play the third game though. The Flipside was a result of the creator hilariously enough learning the game had a queer fanbase, crashing out, and making an infamous third game. It has an anime now iirc, and is available on Steam
-Iconoclasts: Ok I know you said you didn't want a silent protagonist, but in this case the silent protagonist isn't JUST there, she has an effect on the ongoing story. Emotes, emotions, the works. Robin is an unlicensed mechanic taking up the mantle after her father died two months ago. She lives with her older brother. A lot of shit happens in this game, and it is not a Pokemon situation where you're just kinda there. PLAY THIS GAME, it got overshadowed from releasing way too close to the worldwide success that was Celeste (Celeste quite literally released two days after Iconoclasts, now call that rubbing salt in the wound)
-Magic Knight Rayearth: You didn't say anything about licensed games. A Saturn Zelda like based off of an anime that SEGA also had a huge stake in. You'd be surprised just how involved SEGA was with anime. Mahou Shoujo btw, Sailor Moon/Precure type shit.
-Popful Mail: Game about a green bounty hunter elf wanting to collect the bounty of some guy named Muttonhead. Hijinks ensue. The international release was made WAY more hard to the point of annoyance, as was common for many games back then. There's an "Un-Working Designs" version of the rom in the Repo. The dub is actually quite good and many prefer it to the sub.
-Phantasy Star 1: Very simple story about a woman going on a quest to avenge her fallen brother
-Black Rock Shooter: The Game: Another licensed game. If you like post apocalyptic gallery shooters starring a robot girl tasked with protecting what's left of humanity, you'll love this game. Exclusive to PSP.
-Celeste: There's a reason this game is a hallmark for queer people. The protagonist of the game is Madeline (confirmed trans) and the game is about transitioning, though in a vague metaphorical way that's subtle.
-Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: Often overlooked Castlevania game with probably one of the best written female characters ever in Shanoa. I'm not gonna spoil the game, all I'm gonna say is PLAY IT. It was originally for DS so you can emulate it, it's also one of the games in the Dominus collection so you can also buy it. Just play the game, I don't care how.
-Pocket Mirror: Beautiful RPGMaker horror game that got a remake named Pocket Mirror Goldenertraum. It's very whimsical and fairytale like. The protagonist has no idea who she is and the entire game is about that. Sounds simple, but the story takes some crazy twists.
-Ib: A little girl is locked into an art museum during after hours and she has to find her way out. The paintings start coming to life and shit, it's a really cool horror game, also made on RPGMaker.
-Lisa The Joyful: Buddy Armstrong is the ONLY woman left in the world. The Lisa games are very dystopian, with the entire populace turning to drugs and becoming mutants. Lisa the Painful is about Buddy's (adoptive) father and Joyful is about Buddy.
-Puyo Puyo: No matter what game in this franchise you're starting with, the protagonist is always gonna be either Arle or Amitie. The games all have pretty lighthearted stories, though Puyo Puyo N tried to tell a slightly darker one.
-River City Girls duology (dunno about whether Zero counts or not, never played the localisation): Beat em up spinoff now mainline games to the Kunio Kun franchise of games, or the River City franchise. RCG stars their girlfriends as the title might imply, and the story is as simple as their boyfriends are kidnapped and they want them back. Both are very talkative, have very different play styles and they're really fun games over all. Give them a shot.
-Mischief Makers: Chances are that even if you've never heard of this game. you may have heard something about it mentioned at some point. Cult classic Square Enix/Treasure game for N64 about a robot girl who's age range you can actually set at the start of the game who goes off to save her creator as he was kidnapped.
