While the female horror-game protagonist fends off demons and other predators, she is also serving looks. This is the rose-covered cross women are made to bear: We must inspire others with our appearance even while covered in gore. Within the broader scope of patriarchal society, this expectation, which then bleeds into fashionable horror games like Silent Hill 3 and the Fatal Frame series, is unfair. Women actively experiencing horror-game scenarios (a hateful god in Silent Hill 3, homicidal spirits in Fatal Frame, etc.) are already dealing with the stress of needing to do things like craft bullets and practice healthy inventory management. It seems cruel for developers to make them think about how their knee-high socks are rolling down mid-duel, too.
But for women like me, who love horror games as much as they appreciate clean drinking water, horror-game protagonist fashion is also a uniform we can use to show we’re united–both in our pain and in our resilience. Anyway, it takes a bold personality to make sure your hair is brushed and blouse is buttoned before steel-piping an enemy into dust. So I’ve collected eight of the best female horror-game protagonist outfits across major games like Resident Evil 4 and cult-favorites like Koudelka, ranked based on distinctiveness and influence. This is not a place for practicality.
8. Koudelka Iasant, Koudelka (2000)
The psychic Koudelka had incredible fashion foresight: Her horror RPG takes place in a monastery in 1898, but she’s wearing the perfect amount of polyester lace for a goth club in the ’90s. This asynchronicity is just one of the many awkward details that stopped Koudelka from becoming a big deal at launch (GameSpot’s Koudelka review from 2000 complains of “lackluster gameplay”), but it’s also what makes her outfit special. Koudelka wears a jean skirt so short that her Victoria’s Secret panties peek out like a ghost, plus a see-through black corset and brassy bangles that drunkenly gesture at her 19th-century setting. She’s a witch, and confidently so.
7. Jessica Riley, Until Dawn (2015)
Until Dawn is one of the best horror games of the PS4 generation, though its middling 2024 remake and unpopular 2025 movie adaptation has since rusted its reputation. But the appeal of fan-favorite Jess has always been as clean as coal. She wears her winter coat with its faux-fur collar popped out like a lion’s mane, as bitchy as possible, and has her low-rise skinny jeans just high enough on her sharp hips to be practical. Like Jess herself, the outfit is smug in how overly trendy it is. But a woman with a little ego is nonetheless something to admire.
6. Fiona Belli, Haunting Ground (2005)
Fiona was misunderstood for a long time, both by Haunting Ground’s initial audience and the demented men in the game, who chase her around her own family’s castle trying to get her pregnant. But, among new fans who have discovered Haunting Ground 20 years later, Fiona’s outfit has finally earned her empathy–and respect.
