To me it’s the next step forward after Breath of the Wild. It’s similar in many ways but leans more towards D&D than puzzles. The bosses are more varied and designed exceptionally well.

It’s just one of the best crafted games ever imo.

The combat is simpler overall, but weapon choice massively impacts playstyle thus giving it more variety. Whereas breath of the wild encouraged you to try new weapons by breaking them after use, elden ring (like all "soulsborne" games, encourages you to try its arsenal of weapons by simply showering you with them at every possible opportunity. Even weapons in the same "class" such as shorts words can have different movesets, lengths, and weight which makes it completely possible that you may prefer to play with the starting weapon (and armor if you're inclined) the game gives you for the entire game. This type of play is viable.

In addition to being able to upgrade any weapon, you can also attach special abilities to them (this one let's me do a charge! That one makes me flip over attacks and slam my sword! The other one let's me make a magical flame!).

So in the end, while the base system is less complicated than breath of the wild's combat, the customization makes it "wider."

Don't let cries of "it's difficult!" enter into your judgment. Every enemy, especially bosses, are just Megaman battles where you memorize patterns. Due to the rpg elements and how you customize your character, you can ignore entire boss mechanics all the way to the end if you so choose. The difficulty people complain about likely comes from your lack of movement (compared to spiritual ancestor ninja gaiden black) and the fact that there is a noticeable delay between commands and execution coupled with a command queue: if you press dodge you will note your character is not immediately dodging so you press it again: your character then dodges twice.

It is a Dark Souls, that's the whole appeal. And as a Dark Souls game, the story is inscrutable.

It's essentially Dark Souls with a lot of QoL improvements and much larger. Story is relatively interesting, though still very fill-in-the-gaps-yourself.

Its dark souls in skyrim