It can be considered an action RPG for the same reasons Dark Souls games could be considered action RPGs: character customization and lots of different builds.
That wasn't the nature of player choice intended by the original poster. We're talking choice that pertains to the story.
I would say Monster Hunter series are their own genres.
Well If that's case then would that make point & click adventures as "RPG" as well?
Yeah I can agree with that, "action game" falls a bit short for them. They are part of the... monster hunting genre.
How much or less role playing is in a game like Horizon seems like some arbitrary and subjectively judged metric.
Well now you're just being obtuse. Of course that'a not the only criterion and that was precisely my point.
Does that make any shooter with character classes and/or different weapon loadouts RPG game? Do you think that Overwatch is RPG?
How many different ways can I build Aloy in Horizon? How can how I built my character allow me to interact with the game world? How can my build open different branches in the main story? I don’t believe these measure are arbitrary, they are the foundation of the genre. An RPG doesn’t need to have all these things, but Horizon doesn’t seem to have any.
Most games have an overarching story and fixed main character, this is not something characteristic of RPGs in particular
The conversation choices in Horizon are not comparable to Deus Ex. They have no bearing on how the story progresses or relate to how you have built your character, they are purely cosmetic in nature and not a real mechanic you engage with in a meaningful way.
So does TLoU Part 2, and I certainly wouldn’t call that an RPG.
Again, this isn’t a characteristic of RPGs specifically.
None of what you described is what makes an WRPG a WRPG, or are false equivalencies. Yes, many of those mechanics do appear in RPGs, but that does not mean that every game that has them is one.
Sure, but there are still specific criteria a game needs to meet in order to fit into the category, which I don’t see Horizon fulfilling.
If you find modern AC games can be classified as RPGs, then I believe you and I have very different standards and expectations for the genre, which is fine of course, and perhaps I’ve come across as more preachy about what I believe the genre to be than I intended, if so my apologies, I’m just trying to explain my viewpoint.
Last AC is as close to RPG game as you can be without committing into making proper RPG game.
Dude please, at least let them release SMT V first.
I agree somewhat; it has all the fluff and gleam of an RPG without any of the foundation, making a lot of that aforementioned fluff pointless.
Atom RPG is basically Fallout 3 we never get.
On paper it has everything that RPG game is supposed to have and yet it somehow not fell like RPG game at all. I can't even explain that.
I've only tried UnderRail and it's great.
True
