It certainly wouldn't have the universal appeal of SW as it is now, however, I've always likened the 2018 Los Angeles to Coruscant or any other futurist metropolis, with it's "used future" look, and Rick Deckard to some struggling private investigator on Coruscant, maybe hunting down assasin droids.
Or even a mining vessel recieving a distress call in the deepness of space, and then picked off one by one by a monster, some result of a failed cloning experiment or something.
It's the stories that Scott directs so well, he's very good with actors, unlike old George and I only find it's superficial differences between settings that set them apart.
True. But then Ridley si also about a very layered style of storytelling. Some movies feel very superficial, while they are not. Take Gladiator with its many subtleties below the surface. That really makes the characters and the story come to life. Same with Black hawk Down, that movie wasn't that interesting te first time I saw it, but it has many subtle layers built into that, which do make the movie interesting.
But SW is not about layers, it's baout straight forward storytelling... or supposed to be anyway.