Considering one of the common refrains about the most famous game in the series, Silent Hill 2, is that the combat being crap is an important part of making you feel like a regular guy way out of your depth, I'd say they have right to feel concerned. There's a serious incongruity between "horror game" and "detailed combat system".

I agree, and this was precisely the issue I had with some of the more recent western-developed SH games, like Homecoming. They give the player too much agency, for a franchise that was built on making the most of limitations (both technical and strategical). I have similar complaints with recent Resident Evil games for the same reasons.

That said, SH:F already seems to be a pretty major departure from the franchise, so maybe they're trying to gauge reactions to possible avenues for spinning-off the series to other genres with its own "rules" and design.