In 1987 the video game Metroid was released in the United States. It featured a masked and armored space adventurer named Samus Aran navigating an alien planet, and it was one of the first games to blend exploration, action and puzzle-solving in a way that has become common. At the end of the game Samus Aran is revealed to be a woman. Her gender surprised gamers, but in some versions this powerful adventurer appeared in a bikini. In games of that era, women were generally damsels, princesses or sex objects, not heroes.

This seems to be changing. There are at least five major releases featuring female protagonists that have recently debuted or will arrive soon for the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One. Among them are well-known titles like Assassin’s Creed and new arrivals like Horizon Zero Dawn and ReCore. Official statistics are hard to come by, but experts see a distinct shift underway.

“There are more female-led titles than ever in games, and I think that’s in large part due to social media,” said Sam Maggs, a game journalist and author of “The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy.” She added that the Internet has allowed women to “form our own communities and given us a platform from which our voices can be heard — and it’s hard for companies to ignore nearly 50 percent of their customers demanding better representation in games.”

The online harassment of women who have spoken out against stereotypes in games has given the issue more visibility.