I'm about 90 minutes in, exploring things at a leisure pace, getting used to it. So far my curiosity about the setting and what's going on is piqued, and that's a pretty important for me in FromSoft's games.
Mechanically, the game plays well. It feels a lot like Dark Souls 3 with a bit of Sekiro (jumping, being able to run away easily with the horse). I'm a bit iffy with how little stamina attacks and rolls consume, and how big the starting bar is. This might push people to roll spam, but this might be a balancing for the open world format. We will see.
I'm liking Elden Ring's stealth, though, at least more than Sekiro's. Sekiro's encounters felt... formulaic? They were too much like precious little puzzle boxes that could be unraveled. And the grappling hook trivialized the escape moments. Meanwhile Elden Ring feels more like Metal Gear Solid V with more of a strategic spin to it, with letting the player pick the angle of approach.
The fashion is absolutely amazing. Loving it, the warrior set might be one of the best-looking starter costumes in all of Soulsborne games.
I'm optimistic. But I do agree that the open world sacrificed something. All open world games do. We'll see how it goes.