Oh no, the 'what makes an RPG' discourse has been reignited, thanks to Bethesda Game Studios veteran Emil Pagliarulo recently opening up that particular can of worms in an interview with GamesRadar+. It's the holidays, not Halloween, Emil, read the room.
Anyway, yes, people have been arguing for years about what parameters specifically define the RPG genre. Leveling systems, skills, customizable characters, those are all hallmarks of an RPG, but it's not uncommon for RPG developers to borrow all sorts of elements from other genres, making it trickier and trickier to nail down an exact definition. That's something, according to Pagliarulo, Bethesda learned at some point between releasing Fallout 4 and Starfield.
"The time between Fallout 4 and Starfield, [...] the one thing we really learned is there is no one definition of an RPG," Pagliarulo says. "Look at Cyberpunk 2077, one of my favorite games. There are some people who don't call that an RPG. So the concept of an RPG is always evolving, but does it mean that your game has traits, it has backgrounds, that it has dialog?
"Does an RPG come from The Outer Worlds 2, where one wrong move in dialog can change everything? That's what some people consider an RPG. So it's really all over the map. And so what we focus on, we want to give players a good story."
Whatever the rules, there's no denying that BGS is one of the world's foremost RPG developers right now, and the upcoming Elder Scrolls 6 will be no different as the long-awaited sequel to one of the best RPGs of all time. I will not be commenting on this discussion any further. It's the holidays and I have eggnog to drink.
Todd Howard says Elder Scrolls 6 "most definitely" has more trees than Skyrim, and now I'm pinning Valenwood to the location conspiracy board
