“The first time was in my room in the middle of the night. I woke up and Lonnie was kissing me. The clock said 3:13. Her face was spectral in the dim red light.”
This is our list of the top 25 female characters of all-time.We’re counting down one by one until we reach the best of the best on Sept. 30.
20) Samantha Greenbriar (Gone Home) – 2 votes/90 points
Joseph: I can honestly say I have no idea who this person is and have never heard of this game.
Chris: And Joseph’s not alone — the majority of our panel had only heard about Gone Home at best. To me, it’s an interesting continuation of the “games as storytelling vehicles” trend. Traditional gameplay will always come first and foremost in video games, but we’ve seen plenty of other titles where button pressing is minimal.
Telltale’s The Walking Dead series redefined the experience by including juuuuust enough gameplay (especially in hectic spots) to keep you engaged. Games like Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls may be a bit overblown, but they fit the mold. Titles like The Last of Us and L.A. Noire tried to have their gameplay cake and eat their story too, with varying results. And then there’s an outlier like Journey, where you experience the story without any exposition at all.
Gone Home is a brief game that still manages to cover a lot of ground in that fleeting time. It could just as easily have been a short story, but that added element of exploring the house to find out what happened tips the scales. Discovering the pieces of Sam’s life and personality and experiences bit by bit adds just enough to the equation to create a compelling reason to play the game. It’s not for everyone, and that’s okay.
Cary: While Gone Home’s story isn’t going to shock probably anyone in this day and age, for me, that game was all about Samantha’s quiet peril. Playing as her older sister Kaitlin who had just returned to a deserted home from abroad, in a matter of hours, you find out year’s worth of backstory on a family, your family, a family you probably thought you knew. Samantha’s story, told by her, doesn’t just guide you through the game, it, she compels you to find out why no one is home.
Though you never see Samantha, save for an old family picture, visions of her appear crystal clear with each new diary entry you find. Having a younger sister myself, I related to her angsty nature and desire for more out of life, despite societal rules and boundaries. I liked that she came across as a real person and not just a figment of a stereotypical adolescent grrrl.
TOP 25 FEMALE CHARACTERS
Introduction/Honorable Mention
Objection Network 