Still enjoyed the first game over this one, but from a technical and gameplay point of view, The Evil Within 2 is better. Different engine this time(still custom ID tech). The shoddy acting and music score holds it back a bit. It's way too melodramatic(like a soap opera in many parts) and moves away from the understated tone of the Lynch-style underdelivery of the acting lines in the first game(even if unintentional, it was a big part of the dream logic feeling of that first entry). Sabastien's character goes from Stoic to overy emotional which threw me off. The music is also much more of a generic Holllywood thriller sound, however, there are still a lot of unique ambiet soundscapes that trigger during alert events that add to the tension. The game's story really starts to fall apart towards the end and there is a lot of B-movie sudden 3rd acts that get randomly thrown in there, including a bait-and-switch mid game where the primary antagonist suddenly isn't the villian anymore. I enjoyed the semi-opened world aspect of the game and there's a lot of really challenging extra difficulties that open up after beating it the first time. Definitely recommend playing on one of the harder difficulties if you want that classic survival horror feel.
