I totally agree about Bloodborne (and Dark Souls) being much more ‘closed in.’ I feel like Elden Ring’s map should be 40% smaller as most of these open areas are completely pointless. There are typically zero items other than the environmental materials or random animals outside of central areas like buildings/towns/boss areas. Why even create all this extra space if there’s no need to go there (which you only find out after wasting your time looking around)?

I think my favorite map layout has been the original Dark Souls. There are numerous paths leading out from the Firelink Shrine meaning you can still explore without all the pointless fluff.