Although it's arguable that females don't receive the proper recognition they deserve in the gaming industry – especially on the development side of things – one would be hard pressed to ignore that some of video games' strongest, and most recognizable main characters are women. For instance, Samus Aran from the Metroid series, Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil franchise, and Tomb Raider's Lara Croft are all indomitable and highly-distinguished protagonists. However, with that said, it doesn't mean the business couldn't stand to have even more positive female representation in its products.

Enter Horizon: Zero Dawn's Aloy. When the game was announced, Sony caught practically everyone off-guard after they revealed the third-person action title's gameplay trailer at E3 2015. And honestly, with the upcoming release's incredibly original blend of hunting, gathering, stealth, and monstrous robotic dinosaurs set in lush, overgrown environments, it would have been even more surprising if nobody was impressed. Not to mention, the reveal of Horizon: Zero Dawn's principal heroine Aloy's intrepid exploits definitely gave goosebumps to virtually everybody watching.

With such a compelling female character in Aloy, it's indubitable that Horizon: Zero Dawn's development team at Guerrilla Games imbued her with qualities of other outstanding feminine protagonists. As a matter of fact, when speaking with Official PlayStation Magazine in regards to the influences behind Aloy, the game's director Mathijs de Jonge divulged that Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley from the Alien film franchise and Rose Leslie's Ygritte from the Game of Thrones series were used as guideposts for the character's foundations.

Regarding the issue, de Jonge says:

“We felt we had quite an original composition and combination of elements with the robots and the nature, so we also felt like it needed an original and strong character to go with that. One of the directions we were very interested in was a character like Sarah Connor in Terminator, Ripley in Alien or, more recently, Ygritte from Game Of Thrones; very strong female characters. That’s where we started.”

Bearing the above statement in mind, due to Aloy's archery skills and primitive fur attire, it's obvious the spirit of Ygritte is certainly the driving force behind Horizon: Zero Dawn's main character. Additionally, since the game features gigantic dino-bots with Terminator's T-800 styled frameworks, Sarah Connor's courage and fortitude comes through in Aloy, as well.

Although the upcoming open world title's inclusion of a potent feminine force is great news for most, if not all gaming fans, Sony was initially worried that having a female character as the lead for Horizon: Zero Dawn was risky for some reason. Apparently the Japanese company hasn't gotten the memo yet that nearly half of the planet's population consists of women. Regardless, since Horizon: Zero Dawn has no multiplayer component, the developers over at Guerrilla Games have surely bolstered Aloy's story with a strong female perspective.

Horizon: Zero Dawn is being developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4, and is set to release some time in 2016.

Source: GamesRadar (via VG 24/7)