Okay, before I start the rant, I just want to clarify that by "girly" I mean games specifically made with a more hyperfeminine art direction/aesthetic in mind, with the intention of appealing to a traditionally female demographic. Anyone can enjoy traditionally "girly" things like pink, sparkles, makeup and fashion. Unlike certain games, being feminine is not a gender-locked feature, just like being masculine or something else is not. With that in mind!
When I was younger I ADORED absolutely anything girly/ultrafeminine, especially in games! Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses, Hello Kitty Roller Rescue, Disney Princesses' Enchanted Journey and many others were the things I played the most in my PlayStation 2. Shout out to the Bratz games! And, of course, I got older, I had my "not like other girls" phase, then I got even more older and got myself into bigger games. And now, for quite some time, I have noticed that there really isn't many of those ultrafeminine/girly games anymore.
Many people called the games I mentioned before shovelware, and that is something I won't deny they kind of are, but at the same time they were things that helped me get into gaming as a whole. Nowadays, after replaying some of them and watching gameplay for others, I realized just how repetitive and even boring they are for older audiences. Half of them are just minigame after minigame with not very thought-out levels, and the others suffer from things like clunky or straight up bad controls or poorly implemented mechanics. Was I surprised by this? No! But I still am SO dissapointed by this! And even more dissapointed with how HARD it is to find modern games with similar aesthetics or appeal!
Everytime I try to do my research on modern girly games I come across dozens of really interesting dress-up games. I like dress-up! It's nice! But why is it so hard to find other things that aren't dress-up? Why is it so hard to find console games with girly aesthetics? I swear it's borderline impossible to find anything for the PS4. I haven't tried out the depths of Steam yet, but I did try to research things from time to time and nothing. Absolutely NOTHING.
I am not saying we should have less dress-up games, because that would be extremely silly and even dishonest on my part! However, I do really want to see what something with the aesthetics of Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses (PS2) would look like with thought-out mechanics, good level design and at least nice player movement. I wish I could just go to my friends and ask them if they saw that one cool RPG about, I don't know, fairies fighting God while wearing the prettiest of outfits. I want to play a game that is SO unecessarily pink and sparkle-y without any shame and come out of it seeing green from color deprivation. Just, I don't know! Something that would make the brain tickle a bit! Something fun!
This is the moment where we all go "oh we KNOW the reason we don't see things like that": Lots of male developers who aren't interested (or if they are, they're ashamed of that!) in these aesthetics, or if they are, they somehow don't or can't put in the time, effort and money to make good girly-looking games. There's an amazing video essay about the topic that I always listen to. It's extremely well researched and it just makes me sad.
I don't want less gritty-looking games, because, again, that would be just mean on my part. Everyone should have fun – I just wish it was easier to find the type of thing that sparkles me joy.
Anyways. Does anyone here have good recommendations of modern "girly" games? I don't mind if it's still in development or early access, I just want to support the people taking that step.
Have you heard of [Infinity Nikki](https://youtu.be/d0oiJJRZF4I)? It is a dress up game IP and now they have a new open world adventure RPG with some parkour and boss fights! I do feel like it is for younger audience but it is indeed super rare nowadays to see girlie games that looks big like this !
I also have a pink-and-sparkly itch to scratch!
It’s still in development, but I’m making a girly FPS called[ Glitter Justice](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2432230/Glitter_Justice/). It’s basically an FPS but with guns that shoot things like hearts, rainbows, or cats, inspired by the magical girl aesthetic. I wanted something shamelessly girly where you could feel cute but also like a badass! There is still a lack of girly games in the action genre (if they are girly, they’re mostly cozy games, which is nice but a bit restrictive). However, with Nintendo releasing Princess Peach and finally making a Legend of Zelda with Zelda as the protagonist, I’m hoping more will follow this trend
I crave the aesthetics of those Barbie and My Little Pony games but for adults
The Princess Peach game was kind of a let down for me because it was obviously intended for a much younger audience than the Mario games and it didn’t have the same polish as a triple A game. I was so excited for it because I finally thought I’d get to live my dreams of playing an hyper feminine game as an adult but….
I am hoping [Totally Spies! – Cyber Mission](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2793950/Totally_Spies__Cyber_Mission/) will be well done, full of action and very very girly. Infinity Nikki and Fields of Mistria are looking amazing as well.
I completely agree! Other than the already mentioned Infinity Nikki, I’m looking forward to Fields of Mistria. It’s a farming sim with a soft pastel palette and lots of pretty and adorable npcs and features.
Definitely want more of these games (as well as movies and tv too)!
I just want to finish Barbie Riding Club for my 7-yr old self
I think that Hades 2 is very girl-y. It’s so witch themed and the characters so far really care about each other, their lines are pretty interesting, the gameplay is lovely and while I didn’t love the final boss it was still a fun fight.
I love girly games, but despise the color pink as my Grandmother consistently shoved it down my throat with awful scratchy and flashy outfits. I love the Bratz games lets me embrace my goth. I really hope that modern girly games will also let us explore being a bubble goth (pastels and black) and not just straight up pink everything.
2 “girly” games I really liked are “long live the queen” and “highway blossoms”, but your milage may vary!
I can’t find a good horse girl game that isn’t packed into a bigger game (rdr2) or heavily monetized to a point where microtransactions dictate your playtime (any horse mobile game with a ranking has too many whales). The rest are either big patreon scams, png pet sims, or both.
Girly games or more girl friendly games are annoying to find; we’re genuinely limited to otome, match-3’s, and gachapon dressup. I miss the days of barbie.com and pollypocket world.
I’ve resulted in sticking to farming sims like stardew valley and terraria and life sims like The Sims (add whatever rendition here) and animal crossing. The rest is genuinely for kids instead of “everyone” as a target audience.
It’s a little sad imo.
When I was doing my masters, I found a group of guys who played Pokémon on the 3DS so I joined them, there was a guy who always told me why would I played cooking mama if I was a strong independent woman. But I do enjoy “girly” games and other kinds of games.
I don’t really have anything to add other than i also LOVED the Bratz games on PS2!! Peak gaming experience ✨️
would needy streamer overload count as a girly aesthetic ? idk but i loved that game regardless (very intense though)
I think Princess Peach Showtime was really good. It wasn’t a masterpiece but like I found it very enjoyable. I’ve seen some disappointment on this game here but I’d say judge it for yourself. It might be for a “younger” audience but it’s not like its reaching for a younger age than Kirby and Yoshi don’t already service. And there’s optional hard content for those who want it that seems to get ignored. I’ve died in the game like about 10 times so its not that bad,
And people get really upset that the game isn’t as hard as Mario games and take this as an insult to girls but listen. This game was made by Good-Feel who has been making games for young kids since the Wii era with Kirby’s Epic Yarn. That is a game where you cannot even die. They made the game like this because they like making easy games for young kids. It’s nothing insulting and they’ve been giving other characters the same treatment for years. They’re just worked with the Princess Peach/Super Mario brand this time.
Trust me. I am waiting for the sparkliest, girliest game asthetic to come in and have such good gameplay mechanics that people are almost forced to play it.
Like a 4x game or something.
The shovelware observation!
I think it’s sad so many girly games are established toy or movies or tv franchises. Who of course are comfortable with shovelware. I wish gaming studios made more girly games from original IP and didn’t have to license brands like Barbie.
YES!!! Shout it from the rooftops, we need more people to hear and understand that so many people of all genders want more overt femininity and girliness.
I do have some recs, a few that were already mentioned, and I just want to second them, and a few that I haven’t seen (maybe I missed them tho).
Princess Peach Showtime, yes it should’ve been more on the level of the Mario games that star Mario, but I had a blast anyway. I’ve wanted a new game where Peach is the star for YEARS, and this one had fun levels, cute outfits, and some challenging modes that did add a little something something.
Infinity Nikki, a 3D open world platformer, with dress up mechanics?? Yes please! The art style is SO pretty, I might die lolol
Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Princess Zelda is finally the main star of a Zelda game! And she gets to use puzzle magic, I cannot wait
Fields of Mistria, the soft pastel 90s shoujo magical girl farm sim of my dreams, need I say more?
Hello Kitty Island Adventure, an Animal Crossing type of game, but starring Sanrio characters, and is apparently quite good. I haven’t played yet, because I don’t have Apple Arcade, but it’s supposed to come out for the Switch next year, and I’m pumped!
Pretty Princess Party (and potentially Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island, haven’t played it yet), it’s a cute, anime styled princess game, where you need to save a kingdom by fixing the rooms in a castle and the bunny villagers’ houses. It’s basically like Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise, but with a princess aesthetic. There’s quite a lot of furniture, and a great amount of clothing, makeup, and hairstyles for you to customize your character. AND not everything is pink! There’s a nice range of colors.
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch, a cute and fun horse game that doesn’t have a million microtransactions! There’s an open world to explore, lots of horses to tame or breed, riding competitions, and a tiny amount of character and horse outfits to wear. (Don’t get Switch version, it is not very pretty)
Lemoncake, a really pretty and soft toned baking game. You create your own character, then you help this little ghost woman restore a bakery, and serve customers your delicious treats. It’s a little too grindy at times for me, but still pretty fun (and others have had no complaints).
Waku Waku Sweets, another baking game, but this one is more akin to Cooking Mama (though significantly less stressful). It’s got cute anime aesthetics, lots of recipes, a bunch of characters, and even some fashion options. The game can be a touch annoying with the constant reminders to “take a break” though, I’ll stop when I’m ready! Haha
Disney Magical World 2 (Switch or 3DS only btw), the precursor to Dreamlight Valley, but with no microtransactions, and combat! It’s very fun, with a bit of everything. You create your character, interact with lots of Disney characters, run a bakery (cook and decorate it), collect items, some rudimentary fishing, clothing and furniture crafting, easy and light combat, and lots of stories to go through.
Calico, a short and cute game with a great character creator, a cozy little adventure that takes you through a pretty island, adorable characters, and a fun and chill way to make desserts for your own cat cafe
Cat Cafe Manager, a cute managment sim where your run your very own cat cafe! I haven’t played it yet, but it’s on my wishlist.
FaeFarm, a magical farming sim about faeries! I love this game quite a bit, the art style is absolutely adorable, the gameplay is addictive, and it’s just so satisfying. There’s farming, fishing, bug catching, mining, potion brewing, decorating, light romance and combat.
Ooblets, a creature collector (like Pokemon or Yokai Watch), with a very unique art style (that I adore), hilarious dialogue, farming, and the most adorable creatures EVER. The “combat” isn’t even real combat, they’re silly and fun dance battles between ooblets. There’s also some nice character customization, and decoration options for your house.
Totally Spies Cyber Mission, there’s not a ton of info yet, but the clips and images I’ve seen look super fun, and honestly I just want more Totally Spies lol
An upcoming Monster High game, even less is known about this one, but I adored Monster High as a little girl, so you bet I’m going to try this out.
That’s all I can think of right now though haha
Edit: I actually thought of a couple more 😅😅🤣
[Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP](http://repop.lollipopchainsaw.com) (it’s a bit edgy, though)