I love this post and I'm obsessed with talk of the RE soundtrack

I think the earlier games used a lot of false soundscapes such as RE2's First Floor theme, as well as being perfectly moody there is the sound of ambience like what sounds like a creaking floor and then a smash which would be anything in the distance

Though while this was acceptable in older games, one reason I think games don't do this today is because they go for hyper realism, if you're in an older resident evil you stand still for a few seconds and you begin to hear a loop and you know it's just that room's BGM playing, wheras later games have all sorts of random/overlayed ambient sounds so it sounds like you're actually there - you could stand outside for a few seconds in a later game and between all the distant sounds, wind, character's breathing etc etc it never sounds much like a fabricated loop but more of a simulation - and i think this is one key to everything being forgettable; because we don't hear the same thing over and over again as much - in addition to this, the games give us many more realistic sound effects to go with the music, that the music isn't the only thing we hear once again. You hear the character move, talk, aim their weapon, check items, breathe, footsteps are incredibly realistic now, and I feel the music isn't a loud overpowering main focus that it used to be (sometimes i go in the settings and have the BGM be louder than all other sounds just so it feels more like old school RE)

Of course, there is the definite reason behind the music also being way more generic and orchestral, Darkside Chronicles is a good example of the comparison between older and newer music (though it itself is an old game), the renditions of previous RE2/RECVX tracks are good, but only good in that they are an expansion on what we already know and love, all original elements are pretty generic and as you say orchestral (with one or two exceptions), then you look at something like RE6 and the whole thing is massive orchestrated and distant and not as personal or memorable

This concerns both RE7's atmosphere but also the response to RE2's REmake - an upgrade and recreation is welcome, but I don't want their approach to the music to result in us getting a generic and forgettable albeit higher budget soundtrack once more