One of my favorite games, Below the Root, has not one but two named playable female characters: Genaa and Pomma. It's from 1984, so only 2 years after the game in this article. I played it on a Tandy 1000.

It was a trailblazer in all kinds of ways: a side-"scrolling" adventure type game where you have to explore, talk to people, gather inventory, raise your skills, and solve puzzles. You can play as either of two rival factions. As you play you can really feel the depth of world-building and backstory. There is no set order to do the various things required to win. You can play any of five characters, who have different levels of strength and "spirit skill". And it did it all with four colors and a single joystick button. It is at least as innovative as King's Quest (also 1984), maybe more.

It has an intro sequence that explains the goal, but it's quite terse, so you might want to read the Wikipedia page. The game was commissioned by a fantasy author and intended to be a sequel to one of her books.

You can run it on dosbox. I highly recommend trying it out!