Why reinvent the bicycle? There is no need. The bicycle is perfect - all the parts do what they're supposed to do, and that's that. So... How do you re-sell a new bicycle to someone who already owns and likes the previous one?
You make it bigger. You give it an armored frame. You put self-charging flashlight on it. You paint it red so that it goes fastah and maybe. Maybe a gun holster, i don't know.

This is how i see FromSoft making the same game for 10 years... And i'm perfectly fine with it.

• 100+ hours of another explorative adventure. My completionist first blind playthrough run took me 150h;
  
• Certain improvements on the classic Dark Souls combat formula: proper combos instead of spamming same 2 swings over and over, counters give shields a reason to exist, characters can actually jump now like normal game characters, etc;
  
• I know some people don't care but: LoRe. The world of Elden Ring and how everything ties together is exceptionally fascinating. This is especially potent to me after DS3 left a confused, incoherent taste in my mouth.
  
• Basic crafting system which allows you to make up some makeshift arrows and bombs on the go if you need them in a pinch.
  
• Introduction of random resources to support said crafting system really feeds into my Compulsive Obsessive Looting Disorder. I know i don't need the Herb x257, but its RIGHT THERE, how can i not?!
  
• As always - some very lovely and rememberable bosses, including those that push your sh*t (in a good way).

• Optimization: allegedly the game struggles to run properly on old gen CPUs. I've upgraded my GPU while playing the game - and it BARELY made a difference, the game doesn't even utilize it that much - all the hardship goes straight to CPU, especially the trillions of particles.
  
• There are inherent issues with Open World games, and ER is no exception: getting lost, trying to remember every optional path i didn't take so that i could go back to it later, simply taking WRONG turns. I accidentally skipped the "tutorial" early area of the game and came back to it by accident later way too overpowered for it, commencing an indiscriminate genocide on the local population for the sake of "i bought the whole game - i will play the whole game";
  
• Some attacks by certain opponents feel rather cheap: way too often i had to ask myself "How was i supposed to dodge that?", quickly transforming into "How am i supposed to dodge that?", and then finally "Am i supposed to dodge that?...";
  
• Dogs. They're still here. They still suck.
  
• Ash Summons are OP and frankly kinda ruin the challenging aspect of the game, which is why i had to avoid using them unless i just REALLY didn't want to go through that one area again. Although probably not that different from summoning cooperators in the old games, so... Eh.

Overall i'd give it 8/10 tops. The issues i encountered did not ruin my experience in any meaningful way - i still got my little big adventure, just as i was hoping to. Frankly - this is an Apex form of that "i wonder what i'm gonna stumble upon next" feeling that you find in the previous FromS titles.
That's gotta be worth something.