Shenmue is more Shenmue than RE 4 which kiled everything that made Resident Evil the game it was. The changes in Shenmue 3 still fitt into the Shenmue lore and the gameplay.
But yeah that is debatable.
RE 4 was really a RE game though:
1.Tank controls
2.Some enemies that looked kinda similar to previous RE game monsters.(Dogs and those bug monsters.)
3.Scary looking environment and atmosphere in some places.(Like the regenerators lab room)
4.3 characters from previous games alongside continuing the story.(It did a good job setting RE 5 imo)
5.The focus on ranged combat similar to previous RE games alongside only having the knife as a melee weapon.
6.Ability to examine the environment to read the character's thought on them similar to previous RE games alongside having notes that tell more of the background story.
7.Having some easy puzzles and collecting key items like the previous RE games.
8.Having some timed sections where you have to escape from somewhere in a limited time.
9.Having a section in the main campaign where you play as another character.
10.Ability to dodge some attacks similar to dodging in RE 3(But with addition of a QTE to it) alongside this that majority of enemies have this ability to grab your character.(And force you to press movement buttons in order to breaking free.)
11.Having typewriters for saving the progress alongside having some safe rooms.
12.Backtracking in some sections.
Resident Evil needed RE 4 to survive since RE was a dying franchise at the early 2000s.(So much that even Devil May Cry 1 and Onimusha 1-3 were more successful than RE.)
