Alien: Isolation.
I think that's my problem, I'm coming off the back of playing and loving Alien: Isolation into this... and it feels like I've went from, well, watching Alien to some Hammer Horror movie. I think I should have waited a while before playing this in fairness.
I like the general vibe it's putting across with it's strange mix of Silent Hill & Resident Evil, but the gameplay just feels really dated. The melee animation is really off putting, the gunplay feels cheap and the general movement feels very jerky.
I don't have fear of the enemies like I did in Alien: Isolation, where I didn't want to even see the Alien. Whereas in The Evil Within if I see a mob, it's more of a sigh as they're just huge damage sponges and the combat is really clunky, with some of the exchanges being near comical. The stealth kills are nice, but sometimes it's just not possible.
Then when you unleash the horde (sometimes unavoidably so) it's just... ergh.