Finally got around to The Evil Within. I'm on chapter 7 and it's been really good so far. A lot better than recent Resident Evil games but still not quite a return to true survival horror. It honestly feels like a mixture of Resident Evil 4 and Revelations 2, which is a very great combination, but a lot more tense and with a much better atmosphere. Enemy a.i. is a lot better here as well, since the enemies don't just charge and make long stops for me to shoot them. They're a lot more intimidating, especially in larger numbers.
Ammo isn't necessarily scarce either, but the game limits how much you can hold, which is a whole lot less than the stacks of ammo I usually end up with in modern RE games. There's also no cheap exploit like the knife and melee kill. Though, so far, there hasn't been an encounter that I haven't been able to comfortably overcome with the supplies I have. That's not to say that I feel overpowered, but that there's plenty of opportunity to conserve ammo by playing smart, which keeps the gameplay tense but also rewarding.
However, it's also very linear just like Resident Evil 4 and the whole checkpoint thing kind of kills the idea of fearing death. I'm also not the biggest fan of the upgrading system in survival horror games. I may not be a tank now, but after all the upgrades, I'm sure the game will turn into a cake walk. I mean, it's fine to increase the amount of stuff you can carry, but making yourself stronger just kills the idea of you being weaker and afraid of these monsters. While it's a shame The Evil Within didn't go full on survival horror, I think it's gotten pretty close. I still love the look, mechanics, and atmosphere of the game, and it's just as fun as any modern Resident Evil game.