Gaming

Chorus is a space dogfighting game that's quite fun. Has good storytelling. Doesn't pad time with repetitive/recycled quests so progression always feels unique. Some people find the inner monologue of the protagonist annoying but it's fine imo

By NOLF you mean No One Lives Forever? If so a quick search gave me this "revival" site, seeing the Windows targets i bet that runs on Wine

Just an FYI on the NOLF bit...

http://nolfrevival.tk/

Extremely retro, but currently available on the Mac App Store: Mess O' Trouble. It was a WorldBuilder game--think Infocom, but with static pictures you could interact with. I believe your choice of Daredevil Dawn or Fearless Frank had some impact on the gameplay if you got far enough, but child me never did.

Great lists already. I'll add What Remains of Edith Finch

Not seeing Transistor but if you want a female protagonist that will make you cry your eyes out at the end, I recommend her.

Games As Literature 101 has a documentary that goes into a deep dive about Red as a character.

Also some people used Red's song from Transistor as a wedding song 😃

I just started playing Asscreed Odyssey last week, having fun so far. A bit of a departure for the series, more of a Witcher-style open world action-adventure game in ancient Greece. You can select between player characters Alexios (male) and Kassandra (female), I picked Kassandra, I like her, she seems decently written and the voice acting is great.

Elden Ring is incredible, although it's silent protagonist (aside from grunts etc), and might be too difficult. I know many women who love it though.

CrossCode is an excellent neo-retro overhead 2D action RPG. Great combat system, puzzles, and story.

Valheim isn't very story heavy but it's an incredible exploration/survival/crafting game, one of my all time favourites.

Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Parts 1 & 2 (and sequels Part 3 and Part 4): Masterfully crafted interactive "choose your own adventure" videogame, pretty much a video-book with an immersive story and wonderful illustrations. Highly recommended, I've been enjoying Jerma985's streams of it. You're constantly making choices that will completely change the outcome of the game, there is a rewind button if you need it.

Control has already been mentioned by others, I also recommend it. Great writing, graphics, lots of humour in the environment. Especially if you're a fan of SCP. Honestly the combat got a little monotonous towards the end but it didn't overstay its welcome. The documents you find around the world are hilarious and well worth a read.

Night in the Woods

One of the three protagonists in Day of the Tentacle is female, tho one could argue that Bernard is sort of the primary protagonist.

Sonic Origins Plus lets you play as Amy Rose, as well as the upcoming Sonic Superstars

Lollipop Chainsaw

The Metroid series

Ms. Pac-Man, quite possibly the OG female protagonist

The tomb raider Trilogie

Soul Hackers 2 is a nice little palette cleanser of an RPG. Not as expansive as other Megaten games but it kept me engaged all the way through. The main party are all adults too which is a nice change of pace.

Skullgirls!

there's a demo for a game on steam called Laika: Aged Through Blood which has a badass motorcycle mom

Metroid: Fusion is pretty fun!