Women Rule Survival Horror

It isn't a secret that women dominate survival horror at this point. Whether it be on the big screen or on our video game consoles, women always show up and show out for this wonderful genre. There's just something that women bring to the table, something women have that men just... lack. Their expressions, their reactions, the mannerisms, and the way they're written. It makes them perfect in everyway. So here are my top three survival horror girls in gaming just before we get into the Halloween season.

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3. Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)

We'll start with a video game OG. She is the video game final girl (in my honest opinion). Debuting in the first ever Resident Evil alongside Chris Redfield in 1996, she was one of the main protagonists the franchise introduced. Witty and resourceful, Jill knows how to get herself out of sticky situations. Even if it's something far beyond her power, she never backs down.

A former member of the US army, Jill soon finds herself as a member of S.T.A.R.S (get it?). It's Raccoon City's special tactics and rescue service. In other words, a team compiled with some of the most skilled and gifted officers the US can offer, almost all with military backgrounds. In July of 1998, the Bravo team of the organization is sent to investigate a case of missing persons in the Arklay mountains. Except they never return. Leaving Alpha team no choice but to go searching for them.

Upon arrival, Jill quickly realizes that this no normal mission as she encounters more than rabid dogs and is separated from her team. Now in the strange Spencer Mansion, Jill is left to fend for herself. The horrors that she comes across in her search for her teammates and a safe exit from are enough to make a grown man let out a shrilling scream. I'm sure people ophidiophobia would pass out at the sight of the gigantic snake she faced. But she either found a way around or pushed through. She sure as hell pushed through that tyrant at the end of the games campaign, even after finding out her captain double crossed them and was working for corrupt pharmaceutical company Umbrella.

Only a short two months later, after much arguing with RPD's (Raccoon City Police Department) chief, Jill had had enough. She was going to expose Umbrella for what they did to the people in Spencer Mansion and get the hell outta dodge. That was until a huge outbreak broke in Raccoon City, infecting almost every citizen inside. Not wanting to fuck around and find out, Jill made it her mission to escape the town. That was until our beloved Nemesis arrived with one goal in mind. Eliminate all remaining S.T.A.R.S members.

One of the things I love about the 1999 Resident Evil 3 was the option to have Jill choose either fight or flight at specific moments when Nemesis made his presence known. And choosing either option made her a badass. That moment on the bridge when he decides to show up? Do you know how much of a brave psycho you'd have to be to throw your ass off that bridge in hopes that you escape the monster and land safely? Or how much of beast you are to be able to topple the huge bastard over with a push?! She definitely gave boulder punching Chris a run for his money with that one, that's for sure.

Jill was designed to be a force to be reckoned with. Highly skilled in hand to hand combat, knows her way around a knife, athletic as hell, and can lockpick better than anyone in accompaniment - Jill was not to be messed with. And she can play a mean piano. But that didn't mean she was a stone cold, heartless officer. She still had a soft spot for friends, and always put the wellbeing of the vast majority over herself. She proves that in Resident Evil 5 when Chris saves her from the mind control is more than willing to let the world burn to be with her, and she orders him to stop the oncoming disaster.

The bottom line is, Jill very well set the standard for women in the survival horror genre in gaming. Skillful, intelligent, compassionate, and driven. Everything needed to make it out alive when facing deteriorating, walking corpses.

2. Rei Kurosawa (Fatal Frame III: The Tormented)

This character will always hold a special place in my heart because I love this game. It was the second Fatal Frame game I beat, and the one that give me the most memorable jumpscare. I still haven't gotten around to beating the first one because for whatever reason it scares me the most, okay? Going back to Rei, she is kind of a 180 to Jill. She's more soft spoken, and doesn't exactly have the same skill set. But what she lacks in tactics, Rei makes up for in research and goodwill.

We start the game with Rei and her assistant, Miku, as she snaps photos in an old abandoned shrine. As a freelance photographer, she was hired to take photographs of this supposed haunted location. Little did she know, she would be snapping a picture of her deceased fiancé, Yuu. That same night, she would visit that same mansion in her dreams - pursuing Yuu. Now being doomed by the tattoo curse and having to visit the Manor of Sleep in her dreams every night, Rei is trapped and now being led down a rabbit hole she cannot not easily escape.

The prerequisite? Being the sole survivor of a tragedy. Good ole survivors guilt. Which Rei has plenty of since the two were in a car crash that resulted in only Yuu passing away. So this means Rei has one hell of a conscience.

Rei becomes a regular journalist, searching for any information she can find on this mansion and exactly why she's being haunted. She even found the one civilian she encountered in that hellish dream world in reality. That person may have died when all was said and done, but she did find the woman nonetheless. And she was extremely caring, and selfless. When Rei discovered Miku was also cursed, she tried her best to save the young girl. Miku went from a girl she took in, to forming a sister-like bond with her.

I will be honest; Rei is a lot pretty vanilla character. Even when she is scared, her face and reactions don't really show it. But that could also just be a result of her depression. Having to overcome the grief of losing someone she loved and the survivor's guilt may affect how she reacts to the spirits she runs into. Who knows what she was like before that accident? Maybe she handles fear different than the average person. It's what makes her so appealing to me.

That and pure nostalgia.

1. Six (Little Nightmares)

   
   

I love this evil little shit. Even though none of us knew that at the beginning of journey's with Little Nightmares. This game was not only fun, but it was scary, and surprisingly adorable at the same time. It was like Tim Burton and Sloth from the Goonies had a baby. And Six was an amazing protagonist to cling onto for this growing franchise.

We're introduced to Six in a leaky luggage room of a ship. A ship going where? We have no clue. Hell we didn't even know how tiny Six ended up there (at least until Little Nightmares II). But she is shown to us as this helpless little thing at first. All she can do is run, initially. Then we start to see her wit as she finishes off her pursuers. I mean, we saw her purposely chop off The Janitor's long arms. To be fair, he was annoyingly persistent in wanting to kill Six so he probably deserved it.

But what I love most about Six is that while she does something out of the pure will to survive, there are some other... interesting choices she's made along the way. For example, there are these cute little gnomes scattered all throughout the ship that constantly assistant Six, and sometimes even lead her to safety. They even provide snuggles! But Six has a quirk that will prove fatal to one of these poor gnomes. The hunger.

The girl takes a chomp out of a poor little gnome that's already offering her food! It's just straight rude and gluttonous. Nothing like the character we initially think she may be. Then at the very end of our journey on the ship... we encounter The Lady. We had seen her throughout the ship, and know she is kinda the head honcho of the whole operation, which means she is the final boss.

And while beating the final boss is a good thing, I never would've guessed what this little girl would do when the battle was over. SIX GETS HUNGRY AND EATS THIS LADY. It's something shocking, kind of gross, and done out of complete selfishness because after she snacks on The Lady, Six inherits the power that she had. So Six was the little nightmare, pretty much.

I love that Six throws us for a loop. While she is a survivor in a world filled with horror, she is nowhere near a victim. It's everyone else that should watch their back. Six is an evil, treacherous, selfish little thing that does not regret the choices she makes. At such a young age too. This is what makes her number one on my list.