Walking sims often center interiority in a way that more mainstream genres struggle with, perhaps another reason the mainstream finds them off-putting or threatening.
Outlandish: Well yes? isn't that why there are so many genres to choose from? if a person thinks that it's not enough then pick something else. Why does there have to be hate and finding something threatening?
The player becomes the intruder in what should be a familiar environment by virtue of returning after long absence, seeing the intimate lives of her family with fresh eyes. The player’s initial fear that they might need to act quickly to defend themselves from some lurking supernatural horror becomes transmuted, by the end of the story, into the inevitable realization that their character has already lost her chance to act,
The way that the player become an intruder in your own home is really crazy to think about. Personally, for me it can't be a home if you don't want to be there and you don't even recognize all the character traits it makes as a home. This "long absence" that's there is something that can make it feel like are an intruder but it should be quick turnaround to feel like you're home. This makes you realize that something is really wrong in this home and that's really the horror aspect of this game.
In the rhizome, one is constantly threatened but also continuously enclosed. The fact that the plot will not resolve means that no irreparable loss will be suffered.
In the rhiozme, as described by Murray, it's a story that never truly ends. It has multiple branches that keep on going no matter if the character dies. In the instance the character dies, you can choose another path and keep on going. So, though you are always scared of what will happen, your future is technically guaranteed and the character will live.