Riposte
Member
I can quite clearly remember such adjectives as "terrifying", "atmospheric", "horrific", "old-school BIO" and so on being blabbered by every producer of the game. Not "high-octane action!"
"Creepy designs" is not a testament to horror. I've seen FPS games with better and creepier designs, but they're still not horror games.
I think the trailer, which is much more of a component of advertising than producer interviews (at least for those without an obsession for the series); the trailer really tells you everything you need to know. Everything you said doesn't exclude high-octane action, the game merely includes both (well as far as "old-school BIO" means anything outside a game like REmake). Highly competent action heroes fight and survive through horror scenarios (e.g., zombie outbreak, being hunted down by a giant snake, locked in a room with an unkillable brain-sucker); whether the outcome is ultimately considered a "horror" game is irrelevant to game succeeding to be fun, if not situational based on what is currently going on. It is up to the player to be scared or not (or be impressed by the monster designs, for that matter). I just don't see the inherit value over being scared over enjoyed well done action scenarios. (I actually think the games that sacrifice interesting interactivity for horror, a la Amnesia or Slenderman, are trash.)
There is also the problem of how people restrict "atmosphere" to either quiet spookiness or rainy depressive settings. But I digress.