It's time for the Tomb Raider to move over, because Chloe's got everything you'd hope for in a heroine - video game or otherwise.
....One of the things that always jarred with me about the 2015 Tomb Raider reboot is that Lara goes from innocent teenager desperately wanting to follow in her father's explorer footsteps to a dual-pistol-wielding mass murderer, with little more than a few tears and an ”oh God, what have I done?"
For Chloe, on the other hand, all of that is old hat. When we meet her first in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, she's already a highly experienced and well-known member of the criminal underworld. You already know her backstory if you've been immersed in the Uncharted series and The Lost Legacy doesn't need to waste time dealing with those emotions, which makes for a much stronger character arc than the revamped Lara Croft.
Naughty Dog doesn't shy away from presenting her as a woman
But despite the fact she is a badass, professional thief, Naughty Dog is careful to explore Chloe's more fragile, sensitive side. But the developer does it in a way that's entirely human, and not just in one fleeting scene either.
It actually starts right at the beginning of the game. Within the first hour, Chloe is exploring the back streets of an Indian town currently in the midst of warfare. Armed soldiers wander the street, beating civilians as they see fit and forcing others into the backs of trucks or their homes.
Although I won't drop any major spoiler bombs here, there are scenes later in the story that see Chloe dealing with some major personal issues. The fact Naughty Dog doesn't fear showing Chloe crying later on in the game shows her sensitivity, and when you contrast that against her sass and bravado... it's incredibly powerful.
She's in touch with her heritage
It's also a delight that the hero of this story isn't a white male, but isn't a white female either. Chloe's half-Indian, half-Australian and a welcome change to the norm. But Chloe's heritage goes further than her skin colour, she's also totally tapped into extensive theology surrounding Hinduism, its Gods, and its rich history. Despite some serious time spent globetrotting in search of the latest mythical something-or-other, she's full of Hindu knowledge, which gets her and Nadine closer and closer to Ganesh's lost tusk.
The religious elements, and Chloe's direct connection to them, only adds to how empowering she is as a character and how believable the story feels - especially in the more emotional scenes.
And the story does go to some dark places, but Chloe is great at bringing humour and a lightness when the going gets tough. In fact, the sassy and sarcastic interchanges between Nadine and Chloe take the jocular dialogue Uncharted is known for up another notch entirely, to the point I found myself regularly chuckling at the hilarity of it all, despite the pair having just survived yet another near-death experience.
