Saw someone once say "This isn't "Dark Souls IV", this is Dark Souls IV, V, and VI wrapped into one behemoth of a game". That's the best description of this game I've seen so far. It doesn't use the open world as a place with boring busy work, any dungeons, enemy camps, bosses, or forts you conquer are done by your own volition. Not unlike Breath of The Wild, you only go after the required bosses when your ready, and if you aren't then there's so much to do in order to get stronger. It of course keeps its high difficulty from From Software's other Action RPGs in tact, so theres a lot of incentive to explore. Too many areas that have so much love and artistry put into them that the game never forces you to see them, it's almost baffling how much of this game is optional. The backgrounds in the open world always have something interesting to see, and every one of those places cam be visited one way or another. Probably my favorite moments from this game was getting overwhelmed with bosses and marking them on the map to rematch them later, then 10 hours later coming back and absolutely destroying them.
Saying too much more will ruin the best surprises this game has to offer, please try to play it as spoiler free as possible for the best experience (no shame if you get really stuck as there are some extremely obscure secrets, though they are optional).