Do you think RE7 and Vendetta are a soft reboot?

[Noble Alfred]

Cause I think so, due to drastic tone shift, complete redesign of characters, the generally increase interms of brutality(before it was cartoon) and the complete shift in gameplay. Doesn't exactly fit within the definition I am posting:

"You have a classic property, one that's made money hand over fist for you for years, perhaps decades, but now, it's getting a little long in the tooth. Maybe it's dated, maybe recent installments have tarnished its name, maybe it's just bogged down in Continuity Lockout. Resetting the thing to bring in new fans sounds like a good idea, but you're afraid the backlash among existing fans to a Continuity Reboot will be epic in its drama.

What to do? Well, instead of starting over, dip into the Troper Well and pull out a way of explaining you're not really tossing away the classic stories the fans love. No, this is an Alternate Timeline. Or a sequel set sometime after the events of the old series that mentions the things fans loved but quietly neglects or RetCons the things not so beloved. Or a prequel, or even a separate adventure taking place somewhere else so you have an excuse not to mention the events of the original series.

In short, it's an in-continuity remake. A compromise between making a sequel and a remake/reboot."

but still...

Source: Tvtropes

I posted this in reddit and they bring up arguments like RE7 referenced prior RE and therefore not a soft-reboot etc... which still doesn't change anything.

Kind of got annoyed. Then I remembered how Tomb Raider reddit is filled with fans of the newer games and all the tomb raider fans were in tombraiderforums. And so...

Anyway, I consider RE6 to be the end of the original franchise and RE7 to be a soft-reboot. The director waved it off to avoid heat.

So here I am having another go trying to validate my own opinion.

 

[Noble Alfred]

Till now RE series followed upon itself very consistently, characters age and generally show the right progression interms of ingame models. There was a lot of camp and the violence was rather cartoony. Having watched vendetta and played RE7, I feel like it's now following RE1 remake tone which Revelations kind of followed. The new models for Chris and Leon are completely different, infact Leon's hair went from blonde to brown. So on and so forth.

 

[Cure Zombrex]

In a way, yes, RE7 was probably a soft reboot. However, it's more a case that they're pushing forward, without blatantly ignoring everything from past games. RE7 still references Raccoon City and the person who built the estate you explore in the original game.