When I first got into D&D I didn't know what edition I was playing. I knew there were multiple editions, but I couldn't find the edition number. The box just said Dungeons and Dragons.
It was 4E, and I played multiple other systems before I finally got into 5E.
8 didn't do any retcons. A retcon would be "actually Snoke isn't the main villain, he's just a clone created by Palpatine." 8 was perfectly happy to play nice with all the facts established in 7, and then have Ben kill Snoke as the first dramatic climax of the movie. 8 gets to have two dramatic climaxes because Rian Johnson is a brilliant filmmaker.