Surprisingly, actually a pretty big upgrade from Homecoming IMO. It had the complete reverse problem to what HC did. HC had good combat, and creature design, but kind of a shit story with lazy atmosphere/design of the otherworld and SH ripped straight from the movies (still somewhat scary thanks to that and the creature design though). Also, super linear.
Downpour was more original in design (pretty cool rain motif for the otherworld) and had a fantastic story (that kind of fumbled the end since it retroactively changed facts to make endings fit; this means it only had one actually good ending), but incredibly shit/janky combat (not the biggest sin for an SH game if you've ever played 1-4) and abysmal enemy design (huge sin for an SH game) that kind of drained the fear factor (huge sin for a horror game). Just to reiterate, holy shit is the combat janky. I compared it to 1-4 for you earlier, but I think it managed to be worse.
More positives though: It also attempts to be open world-ish with you having the option to investigate certain buildings and mysteries (kind of like how EW2 did it's sections), which is something I really want to see more of in SH, so points for that too. Also, I like lore expansion, and Downpour provides a solid amount of this, so I give it points here too. Downpour let you explore a new section of SH: a tourist part of the town with bigger buildings and shops and pretty cool architecture that gives the town more personality (and a few other new spots). It also introduces a sentient entity to the town that kind of roams around and isn't hostile (which is kind of a cool take vs the evil gods and whatnot that feed on us and more lore; this is hit or miss but I think most fans actually really liked this entities addition).
It's worth playing once for the story, main character (Murphy is one of my favorite protagonists in the series; poor dude had it rough), and originality (actually building on series lore instead of playing it safe). If you made it through HC and actually liked it, you'll enjoy this much more.
EDIT: Also, the soundtrack from the new composer was fantastic. I'll always prefer Akira, but this dude brought a new feel to it all and nailed it. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago so we'll never get him in another SH. I wouldn't have minded bringing him back for a track here and there. There's a pretty solid snipet of his type of tracks in the E3 trailer below. You might recognize something similar from the Dishonored series. That was also him.
