Examining Horror - As it should be?

After almost a year long hiatus, I've decided to return to Game Design... while in the Army no less. I've learned three MUCHO IMPORTANTE things, probably obvious things to many of you, during my last few attempts:

1. I cannot do everything on my own.

2. Unpaid work = Inevitable Team Turnover.

3. Excessive Team Turnover = Project DEATH.

As such, I'm strapping myself in and planning a paid project, of which I shall keep everyone updated on as it progresses: Including Character Art, Story Structuring and any other information that might help others trying to develop their first complete game.

I now set my sights on the HORROR GENRE. The reason being that, like many, I find modern survival horror games rely far too heavily on the "Kill-it-with-a-gun = survival" standard of game-play. I must have felt the same in College as well, as I've found an old Game Proposal and Design Documents for such a project, and am re-writing that and designing new characters to match the project. I'm also nailing down an art-style, of which shall be similar to my Avatar (Which I drew for use in Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition in one sit-down. ...I Love that game...).

Anyway, Modern day Survival Horror games are actually fulfilled by a very small count of games, like AMNESIA: Whereas the player is hit with incredibly foreboding ambience and an overwhelming sense of "Not knowing", one of the, let's face it, most horrifying things there is. Still, I can't help but feel like the player is being SLAMMED so hard by "not knowing" that things become too surreal after a time.

Maybe the inclusion of other characters would have improved upon this? Even though, yeah, this has a HUGE potential for degrading any sense of horror... especially if combat mechanics of any kind are in place.

What about story-heavy Survival Horror? In the ORIGINAL Resident Evil Games, Horror wasn't achieved through story... hell, the story was kind of silly at times (Mostly because of the Voice-Overs) and like Amnesia, a lot of the horror came from Ambience more than anything else. Still, the inclusion of other characters added to it at times, but again... because of not knowing...

What do they know?

Where are they?

Can I trust them?

But it's a game, so we all know they're set on rails, and changing THAT would be a huge undertaking.
In Silent Hill, we had a prevalent story, specifically meant to literally TUCK you into the Ambience. It proved the most effective means of dragging you in, especially when it tries to give you a convincing character. At the same time, it managed to frighten you without hiding the enemy, but hiding everything about the enemy.

Of course, many Silent Hill veterans argue that past the Second Silent Hill, the series has been in decline. I suspect that might have to do with hardcore fans knowing what they're up against now for the most part, even if the circumstances are different.

So what am I saying? I'm not entirely sure. There's been plenty of evidence to show what works in Horror games: Ambience, Story and Characters. There's been plenty of things that ruin Horror games: Guns, Story and Characters.

These are my opinions, and in the original Resident Evil, guns weren't so bad... but in modern Resident Evil, guns have ruined the franchise as a HORROR franchise. Yes, I know it's the market that's causing this: FPS games are far more popular, and the mechanics are pretty much set in stone.

Well, what if there was a Survival Horror game that prided itself on Surviving the Environment, Axe Murderers and the spiritual, using only the player's wit? What if I focused on Story, Characters and Mechanics? What if that was the game I had in mind?

Would you be interested?