I mean, the open world is not any better or any worse than your garden variety Ubisoft style. You clear camps, you collect stuff (cats in this instance), you fight minibosses, you find chests with loot. I have it as pretty much equal to something like Ghost of Tsushima or the Witcher 3 (minus Gwent - the best part of that game). The loot is pretty decent - there is maybe too much trash loot, but there is still enough actually usable loot that it feels rewarding (unlike something like Witcher 3). The random events that pop up are pretty repetitive, but most of them involve combat so I don't mind because the combat is great. I will say that there is some progression stuff tied to engaging with the open world (skill points from visiting shrines, learning stances from minibosses, more skill points from completing areas etc) so you can't completely stick to the main story only I think if you really hate open world stuff (which is fair - I can only play these games in moderation and will probably wait a while until my next one).

The benefit here to me so far is that the combat is fun enough that I am kept interested regardless. There is a lot more depth and potential to optimise, style and flex on your enemies compared to say Ghost of Tsushima, and there are also a lot more weapons which lets you have more variety if you want to. Honestly instead of trailers you should watch something like this video to see what is possible in this combat system. When everything clicks and you start to utilise your whole arsenal it is super fun and satisfying.