在新单机游戏《骑士契约》中，玩家扮演不死行刑者Heinrich，目标是保护名为Gretchen的女巫。Gretchen是个精于毁灭性攻击咒语的强大女巫，而其由Heinrich抱着回复生命值的方式颇为令人惊奇。

通过休息回复生命值可以理解，但是只有躺在Heinrich臂弯里才能实现，这确实让人难以置信。游戏后面的关卡中，玩家控制女巫并可以将“女巫点数”转化为生命值，此方法在先前的关卡中却无法使用，这是多么荒谬的事。和不死勇士协同作战合情合理，但是回复生命值的方法让人觉得很不舒服，带有男性至上的观点。

《骑士契约》是男性保护女性的最新游戏，着实令玩家生厌。游戏邦觉得，游戏中带有严重的厌女癖，角色间充其量也只是搭档关系，使用游戏机制增强角色间的关系，免得他们孤立无援。

骑士契约

Ninja Theory最新游戏《奴役》剧情设定身体健硕的Monkey保护Trip，后者给前者带上奴隶头箍确保其能够听从她的命令。如果Monkey不服从就会受到惩罚，而如果Trip死亡，Monkey也会死去。这款游戏的背景是全球发生灾难，又是脆弱的女性离开强壮的保护者便无法照顾自己的故事。Ninja Theory并没有把Trip设计成强劲的、无所不能的战士，设计者赋予Trip别样的才能——非凡的智慧。

她不仅聪明机智，懂得设置陷阱，而且还明白自己的短处。当遇到机器人杀手时，她的行为和任何未曾接受过战斗训练的聪明人相同，就是隐藏起来。这样的设置使她很少妨碍玩家尽情体验游戏可玩性，也不像是面临重重困难的落难女子。

《生化危机4》采用相似的手法，在游戏中玩家所扮演的角色Leon花费大量时间护送遭到绑架的总统女儿Ashley。Ashley同样也懂得逃跑和躲藏，但是需要玩家告诉她何时待在原地何时跟随前进。虽然这种形式使玩家可以更自主地掌控局面，但是也不甚受人欢迎，因为这意味着玩家必须时时对其行为发出指令。这也表明Ashley并不能独立思考，于是经常会号哭寻求玩家帮助。

《奴役》和《生化危机4》中的女性选择逃避，《半条命2：第一章》中Gordon Freeman充满勇气的科学家搭档Alyx Vance勇敢地选择战斗。

由于Alyx Vance携带枪支且没有血槽，玩家曾尝试控制主角逃跑，看她能否帮助解决所有的战斗。但这完全行不通，Alyx Vance被杀死，游戏结束。然而，当玩家全力参与战斗时，她似乎完全可以保护好自己。只要玩家不擅离职守，即使只给予最少的保护她也不会死亡。

虽然她在玩家心目中偶像级女孩的位置很难动摇，但其确实与Gordon无异。她不仅与一位从不言语且特别嗜好跳到别人头上的男性逐渐开始建立浪漫关系，而且还会射杀挡在他前面的敌人。相对来说，玩家无需报答此等援助，因为她死亡的可能性很小。游戏邦认为，她的存在对分散敌人注意力很有益处，而且玩家确实希望自己能够给予帮助。援助玩家且讨人喜爱的Alyx是绝妙的AI搭档，让玩家在游戏中与敌人的交火充满感情。

半条命2：第一章

《Ico》选择更为接近传统的方法，其科幻故事使女性主角迫切需要他人帮助。玩家控制小男孩Ico，与虚构的十几岁女孩Yorda合作逃离城堡。Yorda几乎没有保护自己的能力，很可能是盲人。她根本无法离开Ico太远距离，而且她肯定还未从遭受绑架的阴影中走出。然而她可以打开某些用魔法锁住的门，因而Ico也需要她。

类似《骑士契约》，玩家控制的角色战无不胜，但其搭档却并非如此。在某些情况下，她还会给玩家造成麻烦。为了保护她，Ico需要用棍棒与敌人战斗。这种武器在游戏中早已过时，毫无疑问也是游戏的弱点所在。当玩家不得不离开她时，她的存在便成功为游戏过程增添紧张感。有些玩家可能会因此很讨厌让Yorda单独留在某处，因为角色离开她的每一步都会让玩家相当紧张。

对游戏感到厌烦和认为游戏困难之间有明显的界线，Yorda的存在使后者在玩家心中的感觉更为强烈，因为玩家不能时刻待在她身边。而且，Yorda没有血槽加重了这种感觉。只有玩家在敌人对她造成伤害前跑到她面前，才能保证其不因玩家的疏忽而受到伤害。当Yorda被俘虏时这种系统的作用便可达到顶峰，玩家会竭尽全力战胜敌人赢得胜利。勇气和愤怒倾泻而出，这种感觉凌驾于游戏中其他要素之上。或许Yorda很脆弱，但是她的存在带来的感觉确实很强劲。

这些游戏大部分并非为特别体现男性至上，但总体来看却不能忽视男性保护女性的发展趋势。通过精巧的设计和精彩的剧情，好游戏不落俗套，将脆弱的保护对象转变为富有能力的同伴。游戏邦希望能够有更多游戏将女性主角设计得更具可玩性，退一步说，如果游戏中的女性能和常人一样有自己的思想也不错。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Analysis: Sexism In Female AI Partners

In new console title Knights Contract, players assume the role of Heinrich, an immortal executioner tasked with protecting a witch named Gretchen. Gretchen is a powerful sorceress adept at casting devastating attack spells, yet she regains health in the most implausible of ways; being held by Heinrich.

Regenerating health while resting makes sense, but there’s no reason this should only occur when cradled in his arms. This is doubly ridiculous when in later levels player’s control her and she’s able to convert her “witch points” into health — an option that wasn’t available previously. Buddying up with an immortal soldier is a sensible move, but this implausible mechanic gives off uncomfortable, sexist vibes.

Knights Contract is only but the most recent in a long line of games about males protecting females. When this is handled poorly, it can be annoying and offensive. While at worst your charges are a misogynistic burden, at best they function as partners, who use their mechanics to enhance their character’s relationships without being helpless.

Ninja Theory’s recent Enslaved paired hunchbacked hunk, Monkey, with protecting Trip, who’s grafted a slave crown on his head to ensure that he follows orders. If he doesn’t, he gets shocked, and if she dies, he dies too.

This could have been a recipe for disaster leading to yet another story of a whimpering woman who can’t take care of herself without a beefy protector. Rather than make her an empowered, badass warrior, Ninja Theory gives Trip other talents; notably brains.

Not only is she tech savvy and resourceful — creating decoys and hacking doors — she’s aware of her shortcomings and does what any sensible person not trained in the art of combat would do when faced with killer robots; she hides. This way she seldom hinders the player from a gameplay perspective, nor is she a damsel in distress.

Resident Evil 4 took a similar approach in which the player character, Leon, spent much of the time escorting the President’s kidnapped daughter, Ashley. Ashley would also run and hide, but the player had to tell her when to stay still and when to follow. While this gave the player more agency, it wasn’t a welcomed addition as it meant one had to frequently dictate her actions. It also implied that she couldn’t think for herself, a feeling exacerbated by her frequent and shrill cries for help.

While Enslaved and RE4′s female companions choose flight, Gordon Freeman’s spunky scientist pal, Alyx Vance, chooses to fight in Half-Life 2: Episode One.

Since she’s handy with a gun and doesn’t have a health meter, I experimented with running away to see if she could do all the fighting for me. It didn’t work. She was killed, I got a game over. When I tried engaging in the fight, however, she seemed to have no problem taking care of herself. I wasn’t babysitting her in the slightest and she never died, so long as I didn’t go AWOL.

She’s every bit Gordon’s equal, though it’s hard to shake the feeling that she’s a fetishized dream girl. Not only does she strike up a quasi-romantic relationship with a man who never speaks (and in my case has a penchant for jumping on people’s heads), but she’ll shoot enemies heading towards him. By contrast, the player needn’t reciprocate the favor since she’s not likely to die. She’s useful for distracting enemies, and I genuinely wanted to help her. By aiding the player and being a likable character, Alyx is a fantastic AI partner and her presence makes the shootouts more emotionally charged.

Opting for a more archetypal approach, Ico’s fairy tale fantasy makes its female lead incredibly helpless. The player controls Ico, a small boy who partners up with an otherworldly teenage girl, Yorda, to escape a castle. Yorda is incredibly defenseless and possibly blind. She can’t make it very far without Ico and she certainly can’t fend off the shadow spirits set on kidnapping her. She can open specific magically sealed doors though, so Ico needs her just as much as she needs him.

Much like Knight’s Contract, the playable character is invincible, but his companion is not. In some ways, she hampers the player. During battle, Ico must protect her by thwacking enemies with a stick — something that goes on for too long and is arguably the game’s low point. Her presence succeeds when it forces the characters to separate, lending a sense of dread to the proceedings. I hated leaving Yorda alone, and the knot in my stomach tightened with every step I took further away from her.

There’s a fine line between feeling annoyed and uneasy, but Yorda’s presence leaned towards the latter as I knew I couldn’t be there for her all the time. It also helped that she had no health meter. As long as I could get to her before my foes dragged her through a portal in the ground she’d be safe with no damage dealt or lasting repercussions for my negligence. This system worked especially well in the climax — where Yorda’s captured and Ico’s swarmed by shadow spirits — as there’s no way to lose. Being invincible, empowered and angry is cathartic and feels unlike anything else in the game up to that point. Yorda may be weak, but her presence certainly isn’t.

Most of these games aren’t particularly sexist on their own, but when taken as a whole it’s hard to overlook the trend that it’s almost always a male escorting a female. Through smart design and competent writing, the better games downplay their stereotypes and turn what could be vulnerable sidekicks into capable partners. I’d love to see more games starring women in playable roles, but until that day comes it’s at least nice to see women represented as people with minds of their own who can bring more to the table than eye candy. (Source: Gamasutra)