Female Protagonists in Indie/Freeware Games

I know it's a bit of a narrow category, but can anyone think of/recommend indie or freeware games that feature a female main protagonist?

So far I've played and enjoyed Iji, and I'd want to play Eternal Daughter and Aquaria

Level up?

Spiritonin has a few...though I am not sure anyone who knows them ever gets past Robot Unicorn Attack.

edited 15th Apr '13 6:37:17 AM by Cider

I'm rather fond of Yume Nikki, although there isn't really a storyline to it as such.

Recettear and Chantelise

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Offspring Fling, They Bleed Pixels and Fortune Summoners.

edited 14th Apr '13 9:10:43 PM by Talby

Touhou.

Hey, it's indie!

edited 14th Apr '13 9:24:02 PM by Clarste

Recettear, Sanctum

edited 14th Apr '13 10:36:27 PM by onyhow

Most Carpe Fulgur titles will fill your need, Recettear is about a young girl who runs an item shop and let's capitalism reign, Chantelise is about two sisters going on awesome adventures and Fortune Summoners is about a heroine and her two, also female buddies going on awesome adventures.

Would also recommend They Bleed Pixels, a hard as balls platformer staring a girl with claws for hands.

There's also Cart Life, a fascinating retailer simulator, one of the playable characters is a single mother.

Ben304's ~airwave~ is the first part of a traditional point-and-click. I dunno if it'll get continued or not, though, unfortunately. I think I recall him making other games with female proragonists, but I don't remember which ones.

Super House Of Dead Ninjas

Can't believe no one has mention Iji yet.

It was mentioned in the OP.

Yeah I've really grown to appreciate Iji. She seems like a relatively simple protagonist but I think the concepts which define her make her interesting, not really a matter of gender. I know the trope page already says this but I liked how it handled the whole "chosen one" situation; she's just there trying to fight back but she's not really a straight up hero

Doujin games tend to have female protagonists doing everything that a male protagonist would do (with the exception of how romances tend to play out). The issue there is that it's often a matter of fanservice or trying to take something from a commercial release (e.g. female SHMUP MC because ZUN or Cave do it so often).

The Grumpy Knight is a short and sweet RPG.

Momodora and its sequel and Legend of Princess are also good.

I'll suggest a few:

Does Gray Matter count as indie? If so, then I recommend it: Interesting characters, lovely graphics classic point-and-click adventure gameplay and Jane Jensen's writing, which continues to be strong, I do believe.

The Path: Strange, interesting and perhaps thought-provoking.

Eternally Us (a little unsubtle, perhaps, but I found it moving) (Fair warning: there seem to be unmarked spoilers in the trope list, so I recommend downloading the game and trying it before you read past the description. The game is short, and freeware, I believe, so you shouldn't be risking much.)

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! (Fun and cute!)

Spooks (Fun and cute, featuring a little dead girl and a goldfish. Strange, too.)

edited 15th Apr '13 4:24:21 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

Basically every one of the Knytt Stories features a female protagonist, and many of them give her at least some characterisation in the story told.

Gretel And Hansel is very good.

Infalliable Liar mentioned VideoGame.Level Up already.

edited 15th Apr '13 9:37:11 PM by Noaqiyeum

Ib... a fantastic experience so long as one doesn't mind a more horror oriented bent.

Vanguard Princess.

edited 19th Jun '13 6:35:21 PM by Raidouthe21st

RosenkreuzStilette.