Thrill? Not.
The atmosphere of SH3 was designed quite well. There are a lot of surreal and live-active effects that add to experience, and at times even make a player wonder whether what's happening (or being seen) is relevant or not, it may lure it to think the opposite of what should, and may confuse. The graphics are carefully designed, and the use of shadows and light thrills the eye-candy lovers. The scenery swaps in creative manner, gives enough different outside parts that balance-out experience of semi-dullness inside. In all beauty, though, it's just not scaring but I'm sure younger public will be. Cut scenes, although odd as usually, are crisp and without lag, their amount vary depending on the difficulty you choose, so some, apart seeking different endings, might enjoy replaying the game to see one more - and understand the plot better.
If SH3 is the first SH you're playing - apart realizing one small aspect of the game, you won't understand anything, and that could make your game boring. You should play SH, SH2, and even SH: Origins, before you can integrate the plot of SH3 perfectly into the scheme of this world. My additional advise is to replay the game at least once, on a difficult level, and focus on large scale symbolism involved. Depending on what difficulties you choose before starting the game, some things you'll see, some you won't - I don't applaud to this method of making a game look re playable, but I guess people accept it. As for the SH3 plot directly - it gives an accent to the religious aspect of entire serial, unlike SH which designed setting for both, and SH2 which deals with SH's psychology. The characters are very odd and even stranger than those from former (or future) series, to the point of all of them being mad. It does appear that, unlike in other series where all characters are indirectly pulled into world of SH - these are here for quite some time, born in this twisted world, so to say. The level of sexual perversion, extreme point of SH2, is almost non-present, so you won't be seeing that one here.
However, two and a half minuses are puzzles, combat challenge and game length.
It takes half the day to go through entire game, although some may get stuck at times, only because they didn't notice one more door marker on the map, where you'll probably, again, spend most of your time (that is, if you choose to take a map). If you could have an intuitive sense for where to go, you could finish the game in 5 hours, what's disappointing. The puzzles don't add up to the timeplay since they are barely challenging at all, and also lack creativity from the former SH, specially the 1997-one. Main character moves her head as you go through rooms, virtually functioning as a cheating device, once it stops turning head around, you're free to go. It's not avoidable, sometimes it can even annoy. Their settings aren't ruining the atmosphere, though, and fit quite well (unlike "puzzles" in SH: Origins). Finally, the combat is another to-ignore aspect of game, as it, just like puzzles, grants no real challenge. The bosses appear peculiar, yet funny, since apparently the larger they are - the easier they fall. Regular enemies, if you really must fight them - because you can, without problem, avoid each and every one, fall after few hits from anything at your hand, and you can almost never be ganged up. In a sense, for those who want survival challenge - not satisfying.
In a sum up, this title can piss of many for lack of challenging depth, but if you see the game as some sort of storytelling interactive book, it's goes sky-high in comparison. Let's close and call it good, to each his own.