What even is an RPG in 2022? Such has been the cross-pollination of genre elements over the last few generations that where you’d once have described a game with XP, an inventory and upgrade trees as classic RPG material, now those markers only narrow it down to ‘a video game’.
When it boils down to it, role-playing in 2022 is about depth of experience. Games that embark on vast narratives and give you some agency in them, whether that means your protagonist has a new pair of +5 charisma shoulder pads for the next big fight or their dialogue options actually change the course of events in the game world. A great modern RPG should take you on a journey and steep it in interconnected systems. Failing that, at the very least there should be the occasional cuirass or a chest that somebody has inexplicably left one gold coin in.
