Horizon and Spiderman (original and Miles Morales) are both great gameplay wise. Spiderman is more of a button smasher but still a little tactical, Horizon on hard difficulties really makes you think on your feet while still being an rpg.
Outer Wilds is one of the best things I've played in years. I don't want to spoil anything because it's main appeal is exploration but think walking/space sim mixed with a platformer and a puzzle game. That doesn't do it justice because emotionally it's an incredible experience but unlike name rpgs the story is told through exploration rather than cut scenes. Best £20 I've spent all year.
I haven't tried Doom Eternal but it sounds like he's looking for a story-rich, choices-matter game, like The Wolf Among Us, or Life is Strange, or these tags on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/search/?tags=1742,6426 (People really liked Disco Elysium but I didn't much)
If somebody likes Doom, that’s basically the polar opposite of "story-rich, choices-matter game” — in the opening scene of Doom (2016), an NPC attempts to deliver some plot via video call; to which the player character responds by punching the computer screen and immediately going back to shooting demons in the face :P
Ok, but one of his main complaints was that he was completely bored by the story and that it was short and meaningless. Sounds like he wanted more and better story.
Outer Wilds is one of the best things I've played in years. I don't want to spoil anything because it's main appeal is exploration but think walking/space sim mixed with a platformer and a puzzle game. That doesn't do it justice because emotionally it's an incredible experience but unlike name rpgs the story is told through exploration rather than cut scenes. Best £20 I've spent all year.