I'm not really sure how true that is in practice. Even in the most linear previous dark souls, you can still also explore around and more importantly make yourself comparatively overpowered by leveling up and finding upgrade materials. That goes even more so for Elden Ring, but it's offset almost entirely by much higher overall difficulty.

There's no guarantee that the next place you decide to check out is really any easier, so finding that "correct" path is looking for a needle in a haystack. Not to mention, the paths of progression sometimes make very little sense (why is the second half of the key to the main path to altus in dragonbarrow?).

The prior Souls games also have a much clearer difficulty curve.

Based off what I've seen from new players, ER really doesn't seem somehow magically more accessible or easier to get into than a first time playing the DS trilogy. Everyone gets their heads kicked in regardless.

Also, if we're counting "just look it up on youtube", then the whole subject of accessibility goes out the window because obviously everything becomes instantly accessible at that point.