I think the problem with the route designs in the 3D games is that although they feel more like natural paths you would see in real life, the linear nature of them makes the player feel like they're being railroaded down a hallway. I think most of the Galar routes could actually be made more interesting if you simply could control the camera and could walk all over the map a la pretty much every other 3D adventure game/rpg these days. You can keep the path, but let the player leave the path and climb a hill. Maybe a rare pokemon will jump out of a bush at you or an item is hidden in a hard to reach crevice or something. I think even just having some freedom to go off the beaten path even if its not a true "open world" would do wonders for Galar. Because as it is, you don't actually get to interact with 70% of what you see most of the time.