Of course they can, just don't expect everyone to be receptive to the changes in a positive manner. The more they change the core game loop the more they should expect negative criticism coming their way - especially from the fan base of their previous titles.so developers cannot evolve gameplay
There is also the argument that heavy-handedly pulling mechanics from other genres into your game, which happens to be a completely different genre, is way more than 'evolving' gameplay. It's almost like the developers wanted to make a survival game but the publisher said "no thank you, just make more doom" and they kinda mingled ideas from their survival pitch into this title. It's an ok game but the 2016 release is the better 'Doom' game, by far.