it's the most accessible game, and the best starting point for new players in the series, but it's hard to not feel like it lacks identity. the grit and the rust that makes DS1&2 what they are is pointedly absent, but it shares the same medieval faux-fantasy direction the other games build off. you're left with a visual and kinaesthetic rehash, which ideally isn't what a sequel should try to offer (and every souls game post-ds3 is incredibly skilful at diverging from this homogenous direction & style, mind you!).

but, i'm kind of ok with it because it ties into the game's themes (rehashing the world by rekindling the first flame over and over ad nauseam until it all grows sick and weary of itself, collapsing inwards into a great dark nothingness.) an incredibly fitting end-point for the mainline games, no matter how much i cope and tell myself i'd ever want anything different

This game always strikes me as the dark horse in the Souls series not because of the unconventional, rhythm-centered combat (which I adore!), or the divergent approach to EXP + levels (which I also adore!), but because of how full of life it is. It's pretty much a staple of Soulsborne games that you, the player, have minimal impact on the plot, the lore, the world around you, how things shake out overall - you are a spunky little pugilist picking fights with the aging, dying husks of once-great heroes, an explorer piecing together what happened and why to make things the way they are.

Sekiro abandons this by placing you at the epicenter of the narrative, the pre-established relationships and familial bonds you've formed strengthening or shattering by your mechanical hand. The final boss Knows Who You Are, and they Hate You. There's gravitas and punch in every cutscene, typical of every Soulsborne, but there's lingering touches of emotion - fury, regret, betrayal - that you can feel and understand without ever having to open a wiki.

An important part of Souls games is not just that they're bleak, placing you as some sort of vengeful Randian miscreant in a dying world, but also that they're deeply funny. Touches of humanity, littered throughout like bonfires of the soul. However, in Elden Ring, with all the creative freedom to put scarlet rot swamps and dragons and tree sentinels wherever he wants, it's usually Miyazaki who gets the last laugh. I love this game so much I beat it at SL1 all remembrances. (my no hit malenia run -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc_aJy2yvs0&t=16s)