Never having played a true survival-horror before, I was really impressed by RE0's puzzles and overall presentation.
Though I was always skeptical about the traditional survival-horror set up, what with the prerendered backgrounds, stationary camera and tank-like controls, I was actually really impressed with how RE0 played. Moving the characters actually felt pretty natural to me, and the game always looks fantastic thanks to the prerendered backgrounds and camera. The only real problems with this setup are found in combat situations; combat can oftentimes feel cheap and aggravating, especially when you face an enemy that attacks you faster than you can shoot your weapon or do a quick turn around. Once in a while you may also find that you can't properly guage where an item is on screen and may have to take a bit to actually pick it up (this doesn't happen too often however). Another slight issue is the fact that every room takes a while to load while you watch the door open. Though you think that'd add to the atmosphere, it usually doesn't and in parts of the game where you find yourself back tracking or trying to get somewhere fast, it can get rather annoying. Overall though, I found the setup worked to RE0's advantage; visual presentation and the game's overall atmosphere benefitted greatly from it.
And that's what I found RE0 was mostly about; atmosphere. Yeah, there are combat sequences once in while that you can't simply avoid, but they're often there to add to that atmosphere or to give you a fright or that dire sense of urgency that one would feel in such a survival horror situation. It all fits together in a surprisingly entertaining package, even if the plot and cinematics could've been done a bit more effectively. Some of the voice acting was just plain awful, and overall I think the plot could've been a bit more fleshed out (and some things more explained), but everything manages to work as is.
In between plot points and some boss fights or other combat situations, the bulk of the game has you solving puzzles; ranging from collecting/combining the right items to pushing blocks in the right place. Overall I found the puzzles in the game very satisfying; some really really make you think. That, and they go very well with the game's slow but eerie pace, which kept me playing to the very end.
So while you won't find combat or cinematics quite like RE4's here, RE0 is still a very worthwhile experience for any mature gamer who hasn't yet played a true survival horror game, or for anyone who's looking for an intriguing and atmospheric experience.