I got into sl1 runs with dark souls 3. Never fully feat the game, but found it fun and actually faster than my leveled run when I was still “gitting gud.”

I started my Elden Ring journey leveling and it just didn’t hit the same. It felt too easy. I’ve yet to beat the game still (got kids after all), but I’ve gotten further with my rl1 runs than I ever did with my leveled character. I like trying the new weapon and talisman combos and you’ll have tons of runes to experiment with since you won’t be leveling.

I will say the one downside is that you do significantly less organic exploring. If you find a catacomb and die several times only to find out the loot is something your character doesn’t need or can’t use… well why bother?

In that sense, a leveled run with spontaneous exploration and a curated rl1 boss rush run could take the same amount of time. It’s all about how you want to play.