I've been taking my time with this one to soak in some of the lore, there's honestly so much to do.
You're spot on about the handholding (or lack of), the game lets you approach it in a much more flexible fashion. I can go off and explore elsewhere and level at my own pace.
I also lokw the cooperate experience in most souls games but going solo for my first run in Elden Ring!
Ya, it would be cool to do some co-op at some point, but I have just been going solo this whole game. I heard that it was pretty complicated to get others into your game.
Yeah other souls game were a little fiddly for me ib terms of summons. I've not got into the whole invasion side of things yet either.