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When it comes to video games, prominent Black characters are still an underrepresented group compared to their their Asian & white counterparts, even despite the recent surge of Black characters in video games.
Furthermore the number is even lower when you only count Black female characters. Regardless of the fact, there have been quite a few notable Black female game characters who have appeared in mainstream games over the years.
These characters were picked due to being well written, having a strong character design, or for simply being iconic video game characters with a dedicated fanbase .
Just so you know, for obvious reasons, this list won't be including racially ambiguous characters like The Walking Dead Clementine, nor heroines who have mixed ethnicity such as Assassin's Creed Aveline and Half Life Alyx.
Just so you know, for obvious reasons, this list won't be including racially ambiguous characters like The Walking Dead Clementine, nor heroines who have mixed ethnicity such as Assassin's Creed Aveline and Half Life Alyx.
Now without further ado, it's time to take a look at some of the greatest Black women to appear in video games throughout the years. Feel we missed someone? Then you're more than welcome to express yourself in the comments.
10. Tekken 7 - Master Raven
This fighting game character got stuck with the most unflattering name, didn’t she? But to give credit where credit is due, Master Raven is a futuristic ninja and high ranking official who works for the United Nations, with plenty of subordinates under her thumb, who operate in the field on covert, dangerous missions.
Making her playable debut in Tekken 7 (2019) as the first Black female fighter in the series, she would replace the Tekken veteran and Wesley Snipes look alike Raven. A character mind you, who is her subordinate and she shares the same fighting style with.
10. Tekken 7 - Master Raven
This fighting game character got stuck with the most unflattering name, didn’t she? But to give credit where credit is due, Master Raven is a futuristic ninja and high ranking official who works for the United Nations, with plenty of subordinates under her thumb, who operate in the field on covert, dangerous missions.
Making her playable debut in Tekken 7 (2019) as the first Black female fighter in the series, she would replace the Tekken veteran and Wesley Snipes look alike Raven. A character mind you, who is her subordinate and she shares the same fighting style with.
Honorable mention: Mortal Kombat 11 - Jacqui Briggs
9. Left 4 Dead 2 - Rochelle
In the 2009 survival horror first person shooter, L4D2, Rochelle is one of the four playable human Survivors who attempt to shoot their way through hordes of fast zombies, known as the "infected". She is also one of the few humans with immunity to the disease.
Rochelle is a low-level associate producer for a popular news station in USA, who is sent to Savannah, Georgia to report on a widespread disease in the midst of a zombie outbreak. Which is fine, because she’s a physically and mentally skilled woman, with a heart of gold, who won't be going down without a fight.
Introduced in Chapter 2: Season 5 (2020), many Fortnite fans will agree that Dr Slone is the type of villain which you can't help but root for. Sure she's a evil mastermind and the leader of Imagined Order, a diabolical organization who is intent on destroying the world.
But at the same time, she oozes charisma, is very easy on the eyes and is essentially one of the most interesting Fortnite characters introduced in the game's storyline.
Honorable mention: Apex Legends - Lifeline or Bangalore
In the 2009 survival horror first person shooter, L4D2, Rochelle is one of the four playable human Survivors who attempt to shoot their way through hordes of fast zombies, known as the "infected". She is also one of the few humans with immunity to the disease.
Rochelle is a low-level associate producer for a popular news station in USA, who is sent to Savannah, Georgia to report on a widespread disease in the midst of a zombie outbreak. Which is fine, because she’s a physically and mentally skilled woman, with a heart of gold, who won't be going down without a fight.
8. Destiny 2 - Ikora Rey
Destiny 2 was released in 2017 and introduced multiple characters, though none more memorable than the bald headed woman, Ikora Rey, a Warlock Vanguard who serves as one of the main characters in the game and is very important to the central plot.
Whether fighting in the Crucible or taking on solo missions, Ikora is a determined warrior who will survive against all odds. Her experience on the battlefield earned her an abundance of knowledge and newfound respect among her peers. Nevertheless, she has a reputation for being scary, including a rumour that she can turn people into frogs.
7. Fortnite Battle Royale - Dr Slone
Destiny 2 was released in 2017 and introduced multiple characters, though none more memorable than the bald headed woman, Ikora Rey, a Warlock Vanguard who serves as one of the main characters in the game and is very important to the central plot.
Whether fighting in the Crucible or taking on solo missions, Ikora is a determined warrior who will survive against all odds. Her experience on the battlefield earned her an abundance of knowledge and newfound respect among her peers. Nevertheless, she has a reputation for being scary, including a rumour that she can turn people into frogs.
Introduced in Chapter 2: Season 5 (2020), many Fortnite fans will agree that Dr Slone is the type of villain which you can't help but root for. Sure she's a evil mastermind and the leader of Imagined Order, a diabolical organization who is intent on destroying the world.
But at the same time, she oozes charisma, is very easy on the eyes and is essentially one of the most interesting Fortnite characters introduced in the game's storyline.
Honorable mention: Apex Legends - Lifeline or Bangalore
6. Horizon Dawn Zero - Sona
Horizon Dawn Zero (2017) has no shortage of badasses, but the kickass war-chief of the Nora Tribe Sona takes the biscuit, as she hacks her way through the brutish thugs of the Sacred Lands with a scowl, Nora steel, and more honor than any opponent she faces.
Horizon Dawn Zero (2017) has no shortage of badasses, but the kickass war-chief of the Nora Tribe Sona takes the biscuit, as she hacks her way through the brutish thugs of the Sacred Lands with a scowl, Nora steel, and more honor than any opponent she faces.
Not only is Sona a strategic warrior with an entire force of Nora Braves at her disposal, but she is also a loving mother to two other side characters in the game, Varl, and a deceased daughter Vala, who was one of the many victims killed in The Proving massacre.
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Like many women of the Wild West, Tilly Jackson's life is shrouded in mystery and legend. Yet what is known about her life before she joined Dutch's gang, is that she is the offspring of a former slave and became an outlaw from the age of 12, initially running with a gang of Black outlaws in the old west called the "Foreman Brothers".
After breaking away from her abusive situation with The Foreman Boys, sometime later she would eventually join Dutch van der Linde and his Wild Bunch. Many of those men died by the gun, but Tilly Jackson gave up her life of crime after the gang disbanded, and married a lawyer, who she would have a child with shortly afterwards.
4. Resident Evil 5 - Sheva Alomar
In Resident Evil 5 (2009), as the sidekick to Chris Redfield, Sheva shows time and time again that she is not only a formidable fighter, shooter, and soldier, but she also means well and does everything she can to protect the impoverished and forgotten residents in her hometown of Kijuju.
Never one to back down from a fight (against both zombies and humans), Sheva is one tough cookie and provides a solid lead for Resident Evil 5. Throughout the game, a determined Sheva insists on gunning down hordes of her ill-fated people for the greater good.
3. Uncharted series - Nadine Ross
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As a former South African mercenary who was raised in war, and later pursues a career as a treasure hunter, Nadine Ross obviously knows how to hold her own. She's an amazing fighter who is also intelligent, pretty and just an all around badass woman.
Naturally she doesn't let anyone intimidate her, least of all Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4, and has even survived some seriously close calls. If you're in a bind, you want her on your team. Nadine was an antagonistic force in Uncharted 4, but would return as a deuteragonist in the 2017 Uncharted spin-off which added layers to her character development.
2. League of Legends - Senna
Accursed and tormented from a young age by the paranormal Black Mist, Senna joined a sacred order called the Sentinels of Light, and desperately fought back, only to lose her life in the process, while her soul became trapped in a lantern by the heartless wraith Thresh.
But refusing to give up, inside the lamp Senna taught herself how to use the Mist, and re-emerged to new life, forever changed. Now wielding light along with darkness, Senna sought to end the Black mist by turning it insane, with every blast of her relic weapon, freeing the souls trapped within. At some point, she would also fall in love with a grim hunter called Lucian.
Honorable mention: Paladins - Imani
1. Mafia 3 - Roxy Laveau
Accursed and tormented from a young age by the paranormal Black Mist, Senna joined a sacred order called the Sentinels of Light, and desperately fought back, only to lose her life in the process, while her soul became trapped in a lantern by the heartless wraith Thresh.
But refusing to give up, inside the lamp Senna taught herself how to use the Mist, and re-emerged to new life, forever changed. Now wielding light along with darkness, Senna sought to end the Black mist by turning it insane, with every blast of her relic weapon, freeing the souls trapped within. At some point, she would also fall in love with a grim hunter called Lucian.
Honorable mention: Paladins - Imani
1. Mafia 3 - Roxy Laveau
Unless you played the Mafia III DLC, "Faster, Baby!", you probably won't know who Roxy is, but now you do. Ms Laveau is a statuesque beauty who is equally skilled at handling her business and taking the fight to the enemy.
She selflessly joins her radical father's uprising to fight for civil rights and equality for the oppressed people in New Bordeax. A cross between Assata Shakur and female Blaxploitation movies, Roxy's hair never falters and she's as good with a gun as any man.
Honorable mention: Mafia 3 - Cassandra
She selflessly joins her radical father's uprising to fight for civil rights and equality for the oppressed people in New Bordeax. A cross between Assata Shakur and female Blaxploitation movies, Roxy's hair never falters and she's as good with a gun as any man.
Honorable mention: Mafia 3 - Cassandra