It's just a popular brand they are sticking on different games. Various times they tried to reboot it with whatever is popular at the time with the absolute low point being RE5 and 6 as far as I'm concerned.
So, admittedly I haven't played RE6, but I disagree with RE5 being a low point, even among the main entries.
RE5 does have problems, but it's an 'evolution' of sorts from RE4. Like, co-op is fun with a friend, but iffy with an AI. The action is fun, but sometimes feels too out of sync for the series. Y'know, where you're firing a gun at motorbike riders, or using a cover system for a minigun. On the flipside, RE5 did wrap up the series's main plotline, in that we saw the final death of Wesker, learnt about Spencer, and see the origins of Progenitor.
Also, if we want to talk about low points, how about Zero? Because after Code: Veronica, Capcom also seemed to be at a loss to what to do with the series as well.
RE7 brought the series back to it's roots and was a great game.
I disagree with both of those assertions, but I'm going to focus on the first one. You're not the first person to say that RE7 took the series back to its roots. To that I say, "how?" Because how it does so is extremely superficial.
RE7 has you wandering the Baker Farm in a manner similar to the Spencer Mansion, and uses a similar structure as well. We go Mansion/Farm>Guardhouse/Greenhouse>Mansion/Farm>Ship/Tunnels>Lab/Tunnels. But the vibe is different. RE7 goes for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe, RE1 went for haunted house horror. RE7 had the trope of "evil little girl," RE1 had a more sci-fi bent to it. RE7 has you playing as an average joe, RE1 has you playing as elite police officers. RE7 has borderline supernatural elements, RE1 is completely devoid of that. RE7 has you fighting a limited selection of monsters that are pretty tough, RE1 has a broad range of monsters that can range from easy to hard. RE7 has psychopath human enemies (the Bakers), RE1 has a sociopath human enemy (Wesker).
These may seem like semantics, but RE1 was the first RE game I played. Hardly my favourite in the series, and the remake's made it obsolete. RE7 has resemblance to RE1, but it's superficial resemblance. And again, it barely feels like it's in the same series.
RE2/3 Remake were fantastic as well(espescially 2). RE2 Remake is one of the finest games of the generation. Don't think they ever put much effort into story other than perhaps the more recent ones.
I agree that the RE2/3 remakes were good/great (even if 3 was disappointing), but that's a moot point. The remakes had a template to build off. RE7 disgards the template entirely.
RE7 in particular had a pretty good story. Atleast it was simple, stood more or less on it's own and it worked immersing you in the game. Loved the 'southern comfort' horror vibe.
Disagree there.
Taking RE7 on its own, I can't really call it a good story. Like, there's nothing that's majorly wrong with it, but there's very little that makes it stand out either. The Bakers are your usual "mad cannibal family" archtype. There's no reason why Zoe couldn't contact someone to alert them that her family has gone crazy (this being a setting where biohazards seem to occur every Tuesday). Mia's role in being Evevie's handler is glossed over (Mia's a terrorist, let's face it). Eveie herself is the same stock "cute evil girl" trope. Now, RE's always relied on tropes, I'll grant you, but there's so little in the game's plot that I could get invested in. The RE2/3 remakes have moments of gravitas, whether they be very solid writing (e.g. when Leon and Ada meet Kendo, and the quiet tragedy that's shown), or downright badassery (pretty much everything Jill does against Nemesis and Nicholai). RE7 has one moment that got to me, and that's at the very end, when Ethan retraces his steps through the side house, and we see how Evelyn was there all along in a sense, controlling Mia. But apart from that? Not really anything.
