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Portal! Chell may be silent, but it's directly stated that she got as far as she had due to sheer tenacity and resourcefulness
Also, Silksong, if you're willing to wait for its release in 2377 AD
Edit: here's some more (these are all fairly family-friendly):
*Celeste
*Crypt of the NecroDancer
*Spelunky 2
*A Hat in Time
*Slime Rancher
*Webbed
Great suggestions, but Spelunky 2??? I love my daughter, but I also don't hate myself ;)
Hat in Time is perfect for this.
Also to add: Aquaria, quite old but it's kinda nice. EDF if you willing to play as Wing Diver only. Iconoclast if you're into metroidvania. Metroid Prime remaster if you have a switch. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is pretty nice. Transistor but i don't really dig it, maybe you'll like it. Orc Must Die 2 if you only play as Sorcerer. La Mulana 2 if you wanna torture yourself and confuse your daughter 😂
Slime rancher is a fantastic suggestion for a little girl. Great game, female MC, cute little animals and overall graphic style.
I loved it as a relaxing post work game even as a 30yr old man
Ooo ooo I’ve got one.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits. It’s like a Pixar souls like adventure game. Lots of foresty magic, very beautiful, and challenging enough to give you a run for your money while she laughs at your many failures.
It’s a good game.
I scrolled until I gave up shame on all of you. Play Portal, solve puzzles, there is multiplayer songs and cake.
Celeste. It’s a platformer with a nice story about anxiety and overcoming one’s fears.
IDK man I'm a grown adult and I died 2,000 times before completing the game. I know I'm not the best player ever but giving it to a 5yo may lead to problems
It has a variety of assist-mode options. My 8-year-old plays it and enjoys it, and actually can play with no assist most kf the time now.
very very good game, it does get pretty challenging at some points though, idk if a 5 yr old would like it
Idk if this counts as it's not visually obvious, but Amaterasu from Ōkami is a fun female protangonist, on account of her being straight up Amaterasu Ōmikami, the sun goddess (and all around top dog) from Japanese mythology. Graceful and elegant and also she's a big ol' wolf who does doggy things, which I imagine would delight a 5 year old.
The game's artstyle is really stylised and pretty, the story is based on Japanese mythology and legends which I'd think would also interest a kid, it's kinda zelda-like with puzzles and whatnot, and there's a dedicated woof button. It came out way back in 2006 but at the same time it's been remastered pretty recently (it's in capcom's summer steam sale if you're going down that route) so you've got some choice about which route to go down trying to find it. Try and stick to European versions if you can because apparently the American localisations removed most of the mentions of the fact that Ammy is a girl which imo is a really weird choice because like, that's a whole ass mythological figure?
Honestly, Spiritfarer would be perfect. You can play local co-op, it's quite easy. You will understand what's going on but your daughter will just think it's cute. One of you can play as a cat. It's absolutely gorgeous and a very poignant story.
My partner and I have played it all the way through 3 times now.
I love Spiritfarer, would normally agree without a second thought, but in this case, I'd definitely say be quietly prepared to answer some questions about death.
It does excellently to handle its themes in beautiful ways, but kids can be more aware than we give them credit for, even if they don't fully grasp a concept.
any Metroid
I have to recommend CrossCode, since it is so damn underrated.
It's a beautifully crafted 2D / sprite based 16bit / SNES era inspired RPG with a fast paced action combat system and puzzle filled dungeons, as well as big boss fights. Although the trailers do not do it justice imo. It contains one of my favorite protagonists, which is sort of mute, which is also part of the story and cause of some hilarious but also sad moments. Pretty wholesome friendship based storytelling for the most part, although it does contain one suicide towards the end, which gets a little darker too. It's not graphic though and will topically probably fly over her head anyway. The spoiler free premise is that you play in sort of a MMORPG, which is located physically on another planet where they build something akin to a Westworld theme park out of something similar to nanobots, in which you control your avatar remotely made out of the same material. It has tons of accessibility options to adjust the difficulty too, in case something isn't quite your cup of tea.
A hat in time is a wonderful mario style game with a young female protagonist.
You'd recommened AC: Origins for a five year old?
I don't think the special scenes when you kill important targets would sit well with me. In one you smash someones face in repeatedly. You also play at least half the game as a male character.
Plus it's AC Odyssey where you can play as a woman. And yeah, I played her as a walking clap clinic. Not really a kids game.
A Short Hike. Lead character is called Claire. No combat, no death, no resets. Just exploring, puzzles and story.
But deals with family medical issues and a mother daughter coming to terms with one of them being extremely sick.
I also want to throw in Ori and the Blind Forest. I don't know the gender of Ori for sure, but it's a little animal.
It's a beautiful game, with great gameplay, animation, music, story, and I think it would be fun to watch someone else play.
wandersong is a super simple game that she might be able to play. You play a pacifist bard who just is naive, friendly to a fault. The bard is a male, but the villain, supporting cast, it's quite diverse with some strong females cast in. It's got a pretty good story and a lot of sesame street level lessons on life in there too. Even starts a conversation on what strength truly is. Totally something you should look at.
Slime rancher is another super chill, might actually be able to play herself, game where you do play as a female protaganist, but much lighter on plot than wandersong. You basically farm cute adorable slimes and it's genuinely pretty addictive and super relaxing after a shitty day.
Mirror's Edge you play as a female protagonist. Plot might be a bit steep for her.
If you haven't played through portal 1 or 2 yet, I bet it could be fun. Glados is silly, Chell (who you play but doesn't talk) is female and she can help you with the puzzles a bit.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has Toadette and Peachette.
Super Mario 3D World has Peach / Cat Peach.
My daughter beat them both at 5 years old. There's also Mario Kart 8 which also has Peach. You may be noticing a theme here.
There's also the Lego games where you get to choose your character and she always picks the girls.
Miitopia is great because you create your own characters. She makes the entire team girls.
My Friend Peppa is kinda entertaining, but she didn't really care for it all that much.
Kirby is pretty great and both games Return to Dreamland and Forgotten Land are accessible, though both ramp up difficulty later. (Kirby is gender neutral)
There are more games out there, like Kena, Metroid, Celeste, Shantae, but not for her age yet.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart has you play at least half the game as a lady Lombax.
Stardew Valley. They might find that a bit dull though.
Endling if you want to see your child in floods of tears.
Probably be a few years before you can play It Takes Two together. I think my niece is 8 or so, and she played that with her mum. Also tried with her dad, but was less successful because he doesn't listen.
Check out En Garde, it releases on the 16th. Swaggy protag, the fighting is comedy based and sanitized, and it looks like it'll be a blast.
Hmm, some games with a strong female lead that I've played:
A hat in time. Lovely 3D platformer
Subnautica: Below Zero. Sequel to the original Subnautica but enjoyable without having played the first one. Loved both games.
Gris
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
River City Girls: Pixel art beat 'em up
Horizon Zero Dawn
~~The latest Tomb Raider trilogy~~
Portal and Portal 2
It's a five year old, and Lara gets graphically, violently killed in the Tomb Raider games.
Shovel Knight allows you to gender swap all major characters.
Alba and Monument Valley
What about ROM hacks with Zelda replacing link?
Aside from Portal, maybe Mirrors Edge? There's bullets and fighting, but I don't remember too much violence. Maybe Tales Of Berseria?
Once she's older, that opens the door to The Walking Dead telltale series, Resident Evil, Assassins Creed (one of them anyway), Silent Hill, and (the new) Tomb Raiders.
Tomb Raider might not be too bad either considering the focus on stealth and puzzle solving
Transistor comes to mind. There’s comic violence so take that into account but the story really is awesome. I finished it over Christmas a few years ago and has stuck with me. It’s from the studio who went on to make Hades.
My first thought was Never Alone
It is a puzzle platform adventure and the main character is a little girl probably around your daughter's age who befriends an arctic fox. It's an educational game about the Iñupiat people and their culture.
I dont know if there's any scary scenes but since the main character is a child and the main focus of the game is to be educational, I doubt there will be anything too inappropriate. There will probably be things that she won't understand but just about everything will have things here and there she wont understand - she's 5.
I liked horizon zero dawn a lot. It's mild violence, but mostly with mech dinosaurs.
My daughter just turned 6!
She loves watching, in no particular order:
She also likes playing Pokemon and Drawn to Life now that she can read.
Beyond Good & Evil should be amazing. Strong female lead, your companion is a pig and you get to take pictures of pretty things.
I played little big planet on ps5 with my daughter. There are female costumes and such for the characters. She really enjoyed it.
@2tone, Spiritfarer (https://thunderlotusgames.com/spiritfarer/) is pretty dang good and visually would be awesome for a younger kid. Visually it's probably some of the best to watch. Just be aware it's thematically about death. It's very sweet and wholesome, but you might get some heavier questions about it. There's a lot of stuff that might go over her head but will gut punch you. Could be a great way to have those conversations but, you know, sometimes it's a long day.
On the other end of the spectrum, overwatch is free to play and the roster is crazy diverse. That's actually the game where it "clicked" how important that was for me. Games in a rough spot, but there's still fun to be had time to time.
edit: if you want to give em Nightmares, Prey (2016). Pro: A strong female protagonist in a STEM field! Con: They'll never go into a STEM field because they think you'll be eaten by monsters.
edit: Maybe fallout 4? It's Bethesda so the combat animation is about as visceral as a cartoon. An RPG could be fun because you could ask them where they want to go etc. Plus: It's got a dog.
Beyond good and evil seems like a good title with all the antropomorphic characters and isn't too violent. I think the political themes will be lost on a 5 year old however
Costume Quest and Costume Quest 2 would be something you could play together. The player character is the twin of your choice, a girl or a boy, on a mission to save their sibling. You would have to read it to her and probably solve the puzzles, but she would be able to do the fights once you got going since it is turn based. It's very kid friendly.
A Hat in Time. It’s like those classic platformers for N64.
Edit: Rayman Legends might be a stretch, but if I’m not mistaken you can play most of the game (maybe all?) with Barbara.