Elden Ring isn't open world so much as it's...

I was so worried that the open world would make some of the vistas and things of the previous games less impressive as the world would be "open." But I really like how they simply made outside areas basically giant rooms with walls or cliffs to keep it as a single "level" would be contained.

Can still go everywhere, or almost everywhere, at any time; but you are very meticulously funneled into just a few specific routes to go from one area to the next.

Yea I see that, I’ve personally just been traveling all over the map finding different things. I like the way it’s setup so it’s easy to get back on track and figure out where to go.