It seems harder than the first two - I'm thinking it's the ghosts moving a lot more when they get in close.
With your house serving as a fairly frequent break point between forays into the ghost-world, the game seems more about completing a "mission" while using as few resources as possible, as opposed to an ongoing endurance run.
Even though I didn't like Silent Hill 4, I *did* like the presentation of the apartment and the way it steadily decayed. I'm sure they're going for a similar progression here with your house, but so far it just seems so sterile by comparison... this enormous, immaculately clean house, practically empty except an immobile gothic lolita roommate.
Anyway, I mostly get these games for teh scary, and this one delivers much as the others have. Oh, and it seems to be taking a few notes from that horror movie "Pulse" this time around - certainly not a bad thing in my mind.