...So with that said, I'd say RE4 is probably one of the scariest games in the series.
We'll just have to agree to disagree there. I played through Resident Evil 4 two months back and never once felt dread or anxiety, just frustration. I've probably played too many third person action/shooters since RE4's original release and just had a hard time adjusting to the controls, but even when I first tried it back on Gamecube back in 2005 I wasn't feeling it.
Resident Evil 4, and maybe this is because I finally saw it through to completion within the last year and the memories are fresh, was just laughable at times. Seemingly by design, too, I mean. Ramon Salazar, the slow motion flips, the Metal Gear Solid esque plot lines. I never felt a sense of "Oh crap, I really don't want to walk in that room" with RE4. Resident Evil 7 gave me that sensation countless times. I found RE7 to be in a different league when it came to scaring me.
Chalk it up to subjectivity. There's no right or wrong.
Not exactly the end all be all here, but while the overall feel of the game changed slightly, it's still the same game. I simply cannot take the Molded or the Bakers seriously even with the VR gimmicks.
Referring to VR in Resident Evil 7 as "a gimmick" is too reductive for me, sorry.
It's next-level interaction, something I've never experienced before. Feeling like you're
in the room with something physically imposing is something I've never felt before in a video game, let alone the ability to move my head in an analog fashion as I hide from enemies. Peaking through cracks in a wall & physically bending over in my living room to look closer at items on a table are things a simple button press just can't replicate. It's analog, it's happening to me.
I'm there.
Having Marguerite get right up in my face in the basement
terrified me. The fact I could only avoid her gaze by closing my eyes or looking away while still hearing her breath (in perfectly tracked 3D surround sound) was something I'll never forget. It's imprinted on me with some of my favorite gaming memories for the atmosphere, horror, and genuine fun it delivered.
VR in Resident Evil 7 is the definition of game-defining ingenuity. The game was designed from start to finish around virtual reality immersion. It is no gimmick.