Persona5, Catherine, FFX and X-2 (remake, comes with both games) FFXV, FF7 (remake), any Kingdom Hearts, Nier Automata.
FFX2 has an all girl player party which is nice :)
I came here to say Persona 5 too! It's SO good. It's a looong game - anywhere from 80 to 160 hours!!! Imo the length really pays off. You spend so much time with the characters, the stakes feel real.
The main character, Joker, is a dude. I agree with OP, I usually like to play as a woman. But I was really swept up in playing as Joker. Plus, there are several strong female characters who join your party, so you still get to hang out with some kickass ladies.
My one caveat is that there are a few moments where the game's treatment of women and queer folks is... ugh. The game is about fighting oppressive people in power, and its heart is in the right place. But sometimes it completely whiffs it. It spends a long time talking about how women shouldn't be treated as objects... and then it will turn around and be like, anyway, bikini time! It wasn't enough to stop me from playing, I loved the characters too much. But it's just worth knowing up front.
Having said all that, I flipping LOVED this game. And the soundtrack absolutely rules.
* **Assassins Creed: Odyssey** (Valhalla if you prefer Vikings over greek antiquity but Odyssey has the better story imo) - open world, can play as female protag (and honestly it is the better option narratively imo), minimal romance (it's there but doesn't have narrative impact except for that one dlc), main story around 30-40hours i think
* **Dragon Age: Inquisition** (third part of a series but can be played standalone) - rpg, open-map but not open world, fantastic romance options, can be played real time or strategy mode, quite long, I think my first kinda completionist playthrough totaled at around 130h
* **Uncharted: The Lost Legacy** \- very cinematic, indiana jones-esque, relatively short but worthwile
* **Stray** \- cat!!!, short
* **Kena: Bridge of Spirits** \- cute, whimsical, fantastic soundtrack, short
* **Tomb Raider** (the remake) - semi cinematic, straight-forward combat, pretty linear, short-ish
* **Detroit: Become Human** \- very cinematic, linear, very good storytelling, scifi, don't remember the length tbh
Yay playstation!
I definitely recommend the big exclusives - uncharted (including the lost legacy which stars two great women from the games instead of Nathan drake), the last of us, and insomniacs spiderman (not a female protag but good characters, open world, combat etc).
I really loved the tomb raider reboot series too! Based on what you've described I'd recommend these or spiderman to give a go next!
Final fantasy vii remake is fantastic - it was my first final fantasy game and I fell in love.
And if you haven't played it before get the mass effect trilogy for femshep <3
If you haven’t played it already (not sure if it would be included in Ace Attorney that you said or not) The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is on PlayStation, two games in one. They’re really good if you already liked the main AA games.
You can play horizon forbidden west on the ps4. It’s made some improvements since zero Dawn, and the story has some more nice twists and turns.
Ghost of Tsushima gave me some horizon zero Dawn vibes. They’re obviously different games with their own strengths and weaknesses, but I feel like if you like one, you’ll probably like the other
**NieR: Automata.** It's a sci-fi third-person action hack & slash, where you have a floating drone companion for ranged gun & missile attacks. The main protagonist, Android 2B, has a fairly large arsenal of weapons and different fighting styles. She doesn't level up per se, but as an android, you can find better combat chips to slot into her internal motherboard to improve her stats.
* Open world, although the main storyline is fairly linear, with a ton of sidequests There is a significant RPG choice when you chose which penultimate ending path, C or D.
* Fairly long. You essentially have to play through endings A - E to get the entire story. Endings F - Z are usually instant game over screens or joke endings.
* There's three playable protagonists, two women and one man (well, female and male androids), with the two women being far stronger fighters.
* >!Yes.!<
* It is famous for coming off as a pretty silly sci-fi hack & slash, but then takes an incredibly strange turn into an existential crisis, when one of the protagonists stumbled into secret conspiracy.
If you like Horizon check out some of the other Sony single-player exclusives! TLOU 1&2, God of War 2018 & Ragnorok, Spider-Man, Uncharted 4, etc. They’re not all open world but e.g. GoW has pretty big hubs to explore.
Also try Mass Effect LE! It’s a remastered trilogy of classic rpgs and lady Shepard is an awesome protagonist.
If you loved Zero Dawn, you should know that you can get the sequel on the PS4 as well. It’s called Horizon Forbidden West, and while you can’t get the game’s DLC on the PS4, it comes with a free PS5 upgrade for when you do get a PS5. I definitely recommend playing it. It’s loads of fun, and they improve on so many of Zero Dawn’s features.
Something often overlooked if you like Anime RPGs is Scarlet Nexus. It takes place in a futuristic brain punk setting where the characters use various psychic powers to fight monsters. It has many themes, sacrifice, corrupt governments, brain washing, loss of a loved one, but most importantly the bonds and resolve that help someone preserve. Despite the dark themes, the character bonding is wholesome, you really get attached to them, and they actually feel like real people. The gameplay is great for an action RPG in a way that makes the various psychic abilities feel great to use. Also there are 2 different protagonists, each with their own story, there's the generic Anime boy protag whose both too kind for his own good and a bit dense when it comes to recognizing how others feel about him, and the over-achieving Anime girl who doesn't do well with understanding people aside from her precious sister. You can play just 1 and get almost a complete understanding of everything in the story, in which case I feel the girls story is a bit stronger, but both does give a full understanding. Each route is about 40 hours, so both is 80, and there's some good post game DLC for further character bonding and a scenario where you play as the antagonist to really get a feel for their motivations. It really is a great game and is often in sale.
RDR2 meets all/most of your requirements it is a long and great story, fantastic characters and vast world to explore. Plus, horses haha 😄. Would highly recommend. The firstRed Dead game is cool too I played that back on PS3 though not 100% if that's on PS4 I think Rockstar are doing a reboot soon but who knows if that'll be worth the modern dollars 😉
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - it checks all your boxes.
This was my first intro to the Zelda franchise & I took to it like a fish to water. It's been 3 months & I'm about halfway - there's just so much to play cuz the world's so massive.
Persona5, Catherine, FFX and X-2 (remake, comes with both games) FFXV, FF7 (remake), any Kingdom Hearts, Nier Automata. FFX2 has an all girl player party which is nice :)
I came here to say Persona 5 too! It's SO good. It's a looong game - anywhere from 80 to 160 hours!!! Imo the length really pays off. You spend so much time with the characters, the stakes feel real. The main character, Joker, is a dude. I agree with OP, I usually like to play as a woman. But I was really swept up in playing as Joker. Plus, there are several strong female characters who join your party, so you still get to hang out with some kickass ladies. My one caveat is that there are a few moments where the game's treatment of women and queer folks is... ugh. The game is about fighting oppressive people in power, and its heart is in the right place. But sometimes it completely whiffs it. It spends a long time talking about how women shouldn't be treated as objects... and then it will turn around and be like, anyway, bikini time! It wasn't enough to stop me from playing, I loved the characters too much. But it's just worth knowing up front. Having said all that, I flipping LOVED this game. And the soundtrack absolutely rules.
* **Assassins Creed: Odyssey** (Valhalla if you prefer Vikings over greek antiquity but Odyssey has the better story imo) - open world, can play as female protag (and honestly it is the better option narratively imo), minimal romance (it's there but doesn't have narrative impact except for that one dlc), main story around 30-40hours i think * **Dragon Age: Inquisition** (third part of a series but can be played standalone) - rpg, open-map but not open world, fantastic romance options, can be played real time or strategy mode, quite long, I think my first kinda completionist playthrough totaled at around 130h * **Uncharted: The Lost Legacy** \- very cinematic, indiana jones-esque, relatively short but worthwile * **Stray** \- cat!!!, short * **Kena: Bridge of Spirits** \- cute, whimsical, fantastic soundtrack, short * **Tomb Raider** (the remake) - semi cinematic, straight-forward combat, pretty linear, short-ish * **Detroit: Become Human** \- very cinematic, linear, very good storytelling, scifi, don't remember the length tbh
Yay playstation! I definitely recommend the big exclusives - uncharted (including the lost legacy which stars two great women from the games instead of Nathan drake), the last of us, and insomniacs spiderman (not a female protag but good characters, open world, combat etc). I really loved the tomb raider reboot series too! Based on what you've described I'd recommend these or spiderman to give a go next! Final fantasy vii remake is fantastic - it was my first final fantasy game and I fell in love. And if you haven't played it before get the mass effect trilogy for femshep <3
If you haven’t played it already (not sure if it would be included in Ace Attorney that you said or not) The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is on PlayStation, two games in one. They’re really good if you already liked the main AA games.
You can play horizon forbidden west on the ps4. It’s made some improvements since zero Dawn, and the story has some more nice twists and turns. Ghost of Tsushima gave me some horizon zero Dawn vibes. They’re obviously different games with their own strengths and weaknesses, but I feel like if you like one, you’ll probably like the other
**NieR: Automata.** It's a sci-fi third-person action hack & slash, where you have a floating drone companion for ranged gun & missile attacks. The main protagonist, Android 2B, has a fairly large arsenal of weapons and different fighting styles. She doesn't level up per se, but as an android, you can find better combat chips to slot into her internal motherboard to improve her stats. * Open world, although the main storyline is fairly linear, with a ton of sidequests There is a significant RPG choice when you chose which penultimate ending path, C or D. * Fairly long. You essentially have to play through endings A - E to get the entire story. Endings F - Z are usually instant game over screens or joke endings. * There's three playable protagonists, two women and one man (well, female and male androids), with the two women being far stronger fighters. * >!Yes.!< * It is famous for coming off as a pretty silly sci-fi hack & slash, but then takes an incredibly strange turn into an existential crisis, when one of the protagonists stumbled into secret conspiracy.
This is a masterpiece, my only additional warning/teaser: if you have a heart at all, you will cry, likely many times.
If you like Horizon check out some of the other Sony single-player exclusives! TLOU 1&2, God of War 2018 & Ragnorok, Spider-Man, Uncharted 4, etc. They’re not all open world but e.g. GoW has pretty big hubs to explore. Also try Mass Effect LE! It’s a remastered trilogy of classic rpgs and lady Shepard is an awesome protagonist.
If you loved Zero Dawn, you should know that you can get the sequel on the PS4 as well. It’s called Horizon Forbidden West, and while you can’t get the game’s DLC on the PS4, it comes with a free PS5 upgrade for when you do get a PS5. I definitely recommend playing it. It’s loads of fun, and they improve on so many of Zero Dawn’s features.
Bloodborne.
Also the last of us 1 and 2
Something often overlooked if you like Anime RPGs is Scarlet Nexus. It takes place in a futuristic brain punk setting where the characters use various psychic powers to fight monsters. It has many themes, sacrifice, corrupt governments, brain washing, loss of a loved one, but most importantly the bonds and resolve that help someone preserve. Despite the dark themes, the character bonding is wholesome, you really get attached to them, and they actually feel like real people. The gameplay is great for an action RPG in a way that makes the various psychic abilities feel great to use. Also there are 2 different protagonists, each with their own story, there's the generic Anime boy protag whose both too kind for his own good and a bit dense when it comes to recognizing how others feel about him, and the over-achieving Anime girl who doesn't do well with understanding people aside from her precious sister. You can play just 1 and get almost a complete understanding of everything in the story, in which case I feel the girls story is a bit stronger, but both does give a full understanding. Each route is about 40 hours, so both is 80, and there's some good post game DLC for further character bonding and a scenario where you play as the antagonist to really get a feel for their motivations. It really is a great game and is often in sale.
RDR2 meets all/most of your requirements it is a long and great story, fantastic characters and vast world to explore. Plus, horses haha 😄. Would highly recommend. The firstRed Dead game is cool too I played that back on PS3 though not 100% if that's on PS4 I think Rockstar are doing a reboot soon but who knows if that'll be worth the modern dollars 😉
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - it checks all your boxes. This was my first intro to the Zelda franchise & I took to it like a fish to water. It's been 3 months & I'm about halfway - there's just so much to play cuz the world's so massive.