Dragon age 2 rpg takes place over several years. I like the friendship (or rivalry too, there's a interesting system on how you can influence them) that the three companion characters can develop with you and each other in that time depending on your choices. There's Merrill (a naive mage who makes a deal with demons), Isabela (a promiscuous pirate but who knows very well how men work) and Aveline (a true protector and friend). Even your main character can have 3 different personalities depending on your choices.

Clementine from the Walking Dead series is a stand out. She's not sexualized (She's a young child for most of the series). And, because of her age, playing her relies more on making good choices than being able to fight. And I like the dimension of playing her caretaker initially before she becomes the main character. It makes the player feel more attached to her and invested in making sure she's ok

Offhand I'd recommend:

• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
• The Last of Us 2
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey

And Detroit: Become Human, with the caveat that it has more male gaze than I prefer, but Kara is an excellent character.

GlaDOS is the best female character with a complex personality but I dont think being a mentally disturbed robot is what your talking about is it.

Fallout: New Vegas :) Such an amazing game. All the personalities are fleshed out. So much detail and good plot lines.

They have a couple lesbian characters on there, and one (Veronica) says she faced a lot of shit because she’s a lesbian. You can also choose same-sex (homosexual and bisexual) answers in conversations, and even... hook up with them. Lol. Male characters also have this option.

Many/most female characters are complex, well-acted, and talk about their hardships... especially companions to the player’s character. There are 2 of them that are really well-written. The companion characters up to you over time, and reveal things about themselves. You have to work to get close to them for them to trust you.

It’s worth trying... I think Steam (PC) has it for a decent price now ($20 or under, and sometimes they do sales).

Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West is my no.1 favorite female character. She is just EVERYTHING.

Female Eivor and Kassandra from the last two Assassins Creed games (Valhalla and Odyssey) are in no way different from their male counterparts. Big weapons, heavy armor, smartass answers and dozens of decisions you can make to shape the game.

A plague tale: innocence has young teen in medieval times protecting her child brother (who is somehow linked to the plague) from the inquisition and grows up from being a a carefree wild noble child to a young mastermind of murder and science.

Three Faces of Eve which is prominent in JRPG character writing.

Don't forget being pretty as motivation for mass murder. I will never shut up about this, but JRPGs suck.

Mass effect trilogy is pretty good, esp Tali (if we are to try and avoid female story stereotype as much as possible). Dishonored series; lots good characters in general.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing western games male gaze mosty only lessens when a male-mentor/protector to a child/female adolescent is a major plot point or sidequest. Mass effect has Anderson, The last of us (guy character), Tomb raider (uncle/guy/dead character), Witcher 3 (less than the previous titles, probably cos now there's Ciri), The walking dead, Wolves among us.

I could probably think up more, but eh.

Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn and the sequel. Claire and Jill from the Resident Evil remakes. I haven't played them yet, but I've heard good things about the newest Tomb Raider series. I've also always loved the point-and-click Nancy Drew games from Her Interactive.

Life is Strange?

It has a compellingly mysterious story, unique game mechanics that don't rely on gun violence, and weird and supernatural stuff. It's so sad though, it really hits you in the heart. I still think about it.

Skyrim is pretty good with this. Also, the player character can be male or female, and all relevant NPC dialog lines were actually recorded twice, so your character is always referred to with correct sex-based pronouns.

Ellie from TLOU 1&2

The bog witch in Wytchwood is so charmingly written. I appreciate that she’s not only the protagonist but her practical no-fuss attitude gives the game and the dialogue so much humor and flavor. She wears a feature-obscuring helmet throughout the game but still explodes with personality, highly recommend if you like a pretty and dreamy fetchquest!

I actually really like the Witcher II and III for this (and people can feel free to disagree). I suspect it's because they created a world where the main (male) character isn't always the most important (or most loved) person in it and that emphasizes shades of grey and choosing the lesser evil, and consequently tends to avoid making most characters purely good or bad. Yennefer pisses so many gamer dudes off, it's glorious, because her dynamic with the character you're playing, Geralt, is very switched from the usual male-female romance dynamic in games. She doesn't fawn over him. She has her own agenda and doesn't consult with him before doing it; she's smarter than him and knows it, and frequently doesn't have the time or the patience to try to humor him or explain herself. In spite of the whole fate-binding thing between them, she has her own life. A number of the other sorceresses are also complex characters, and even the ones you find yourself at odds with (such as Philippa Eilhart) tend to not be just cartoony villains (and you are often presented with the opportunity to help them/side with them at various times). The lodge of sorceresses basically tries to stage a coup d'état because men make shitty rulers and they're pretty sure they could do a better job of it, and...they're not even really condemned as wrong about that in-game, but they just aren't ultimately successful at taking over. There's a Joan of Arc-esque character in the Witcher II, Saskia, as well, and she has some interesting character details and very explicitly tells the main character he isn't her type if he hits on her. Witcher III has Cerys, who may be one of the few instances in many fictional stories, period, where women who claim to be able to hold their own against men aren't smacked down in some way for for it, and her strength is in intelligence and ability, not giving her male physical strength. The lore includes characters like Queen Calanthe. There are more.

Many of the female character designs are absolutely intended to be beautiful and sexualized, however (with the sorceresses at least there's the rationale that shapeshifting to be more attractive gives them more influence with the various rulers they advise).