Horror games, like pretty much every genre, have gone through a lot of changes throughout the years. From the early days of Sweet Home to Resident Evil's action-leaning approach to the psychological horror angle of Silent Hill to the first-person shooter take with F.E.A.R. However, on one of my time-wasting excursions online, I noticed that a lot of games have basically resorted to one type of presentation, that being the walking simulator. I may be generalizing and I don't know all of the particulars of each title, but on the surface, they all seem to be presenting the same set up. You've got the first-person view, a mystery that needs uncovering, an appropriately creepy locale of some sort, and just walking around looking at things and experiencing scripted events. Just from a visual standpoint, there doesn't seem to be much setting them apart. Take a look at these random shots from eight different games and try to distinguish one from another.
They all seem to be following the mold P.T. set, which is confusing seeing as that wasn't even a game so much as a tech demo. Even Resident Evil got in on the first-person presentation action. Nothing against it, per se, but could it be a bit of a creative rut for horror games? Am I reading this all wrong? Are there other waters in the realm of horror games nowadays that are separate from what I'm talking about? What's your take?