I've tried playing through AW2 as it was a GOTY contender, but I just... don't like horror games. I managed to get a bit further by lowering the difficulty, but I still wasn't liking the spoopy stuff.
Give Control a shot, it's one of my favourites games for ages due its story and whilst it's creepy, it's not really horror exactly and it is much more action oriented. I don't recall any jump scares either, though it has been a while.
Last time I had free time and was looking for a new game someone told me "Get Control. Just get it. Trust me."
My trust was not misplaced. It's one of the best games I've ever played.
Edit: Later I tried AW1 and didn't really care for it much (mostly because i sucked really bad at it) until I started using "all guns" cheats so I could play it like a horror/action. Then I enjoyed it.
They were pretty well done. Most of the time something suddenly happening is a good scare, and AW2 had several events like that. The first cultist encounter with a big guy bursting through a wall, for example.
But I might agree that some of the full-screen scares that just flashed an image over the screen along with a loud noise were a bit cheap.
I don't believe this to be the case at all. I thought the jump scares were almost perfectly timed and measured in order to build tension, and were a vital part of the excellent tension/release flow of the game.
I think they did them just right. I wouldn't go farther, but I'm very happy with how it was done. That being said, I don't expect them to do it like that again because it would just be too predictable
I have no problem with the in-game "jump scares", but the popup ones were a bit much. I was glad when they added a setting to reduce the intensity of those, makes it much more tolerable.
Side note: I am playing through and loving the new Lake House DLC. Night Springs was fun, but this is the kind of continued AW2 experience I've been hoping for. A highlight was reaching the Floor -3 with
Tap for spoiler
the ATDs and reading about how they're trying to copy Wake's writing style and brute-force new content. Entering the main room with the hundreds of ATDs clacking away really gave a feeling of dread and "the FBC continues to mess with things they don't understand."