Oh no, the ‘what makes an RPG’ discourse has been reignited, thanks to Bethesda Game Studios veteran Emil Pagliarulo who recently opened 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 discussing for years what parameters specifically define the RPG genre. Level systems, skills, customizable characters, these are all hallmarks of an RPG, but it’s not uncommon for RPG developers to borrow all kinds of elements from other genres, making it increasingly difficult to pin down an exact definition. That’s something Bethesda learned sometime between the release of Fallout 4 and Starfield, according to Pagliarulo.
“The time between Fallout 4 and Starfield, […] all we really learned is that there is no one definition of an RPG,” says Pagliarulo. “Look at Cyberpunk 2077, one of my favorite games. There are people who don’t call this an RPG. So the concept of an RPG is always evolving, but does that mean that your game has features, has backgrounds, has dialogue?
“Is an RPG coming out of The Outer Worlds 2, where one wrong move in the dialogue can change everything? That’s what some people consider an RPG. So it’s really all over the map. And so what we’re focusing on is we want to give players a good story.”
Whatever the rules, there’s no denying that BGS is one of the most important RPG developers in the world right now. Elder Scrolls 6 will be no different as the highly anticipated sequel to one of the best RPGs of all time. I will not comment further on this discussion. It’s vacation 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
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