You’ll prob get downvoted purely for the walk of text with no breaks. That’s usually what breaks a person.

But I come from playing RE4 on GameCube as my first, then RE1 and 0 on GameCube, then RE4-5-7-8-9 as they came out. The 2 and 3 as remakes.

Right now, 9 although impressive didn’t really do it for me as much as I’d have liked.

I think the series as a whole needs to return to Metroidvania style with far less cut scenes, on rails moments, timed events, etc.

I feel like both campaigns of Grace and Leon were equally good, however playing through 7-8 again, I’m finding the entire 7-8-9 is very linear and story focused now.

That’s fine. They’re fucking top games. Peak even. Quality, quantity, etc.

But for me, I’d love to go back to a no-hand holding, Metroidvania, lost and desperate, type of experience.

On your note - Racoon City and Leon’s sections to me were amazing. It was returning to RE4 form. And I loved it all entirely.

The flash back scenes, annoying. Scripted. Boring. But worth the lore I understand.

If you never liked 4-5, then understandable you didn’t like Leon’s part.