Sword and Shield feel like the older games to me (I have been playing since Fire Red and Leaf Green, then went back and played Ruby/Sapphire with Emerald being my favorite title). Sw/Sh adds group raids and an area with tons of Pokémon.

I am also playing Violet, which I did not mention here because it is a newer title. Again I enjoy it, but the style is a departure from the older titles as they were going for an open world feel. You can challenge the different story points in any order, but some you still need to be higher level to finish. I think they should have done it where the levels scale.