I had a very in-depth discussion about the tone, pacing, and other stuff about the game with a horror-loving friend who got the game early and has played it almost all the way through to completion. He didn't need to talk about how the game plays as I already knew that from the demo, but I want to paraphrase some points of conversation about the game (no spoilers, just general things).
We were talking about Mikami's games up until now, and what they have in similar and what they have in difference. In particular, we talked about Mikami's horror games, probably understandably. Resident Evil 1, REmake, Dino Crisis, and Resident Evil 4. I've always felt that all four/three have some things in common, but all were also very different games that focused on completely different things (except RE1 and REmake, for obvious reasons).
So I was asking as he's late in the game both what he thought of it and what sort of game he thinks it is. His answer was interesting, to the point I want to paraphrase it.
In basic, he says it's like a modern game with old-school tendencies. That was his first reply, and I asked him what he meant by that. He went into it deeper saying that the game at many times has less to do with old-school survival-horror than the game let's on. It has the sort of mechanics that gamers are used too from modern trends; Stealth capabilities and sometimes reliance, crafting things, free movement and camera, some cinematic set-pieces. But it blends these with some old-school game design and theory. Ammo is scarce, the enemies are tough, not everything is trying to be super realistic with things like items are unrealistically large or very game-y situations and environments, the game isn't throwing a ton of enemies at you all the time to keep you entertained. And then this mixed in with the sort of things you expect from a Mikami game, like hammy dialogue, excellent pacing and design, atmosphere.
He also said something interesting. The game shifts tones and moods multiple times through its going time. He's in Chapter 13 right now. He says there's moments that it harkins more to the old school survival-horror of yesteryear, moments that feel more novelty as being designed like old-school horror games. There's moments more designed like Resident Evil 4, with a lot of enemies, encounters and design. But there's a lot of other stuff in there also. There's moments that seem more surreal and like a nightmarish version of the world, ala something like Silent Hill. There's parts that feel more action-y and something in line with Gears of War or F.E.A.R.. And there's other parts too.
He would say that the game doesn't feel exactly like an old-school horror game, but it also feels more like an old-school horror game than most anything that's released recently. He also interestingly says the game shifts more into a horror tone in its second half. There's still action, and over-the-top moments, but he says there's more parts in the second half of the game that tones things down and the game gets weirder. And moments the atmosphere is absolutely oppressive and tense.
However, he said if you want to try and imagine it, basically imagine some recent video game trends (not all, as the game lacks things like QTEs, cover-based shooting, etc), turned it into a horror game that harkens back to various styles it's had in the last 15 or so years, but with Mikami charm.
He likes it a lot, but he thinks the game will be the type people are at first going to want a straight up sequel or something similar to RE4 or REmake and they're going to be disappointed with what is, but if they can let that go there is an excellent, a little janky, but well designed and paced game here that gets better and better the deeper into it you go. He thinks it will find an audience and that it's going to really strike with some players, but is really uncertain how it's going to do with reviewers and mainstream audiences.
