It took me 10 hours in the Land of Shadow before I begrudgingly faced the Dancing Lion. That 10 hours was spent exploring the new world as thoroughly as I could, finding all but one map fragment, diving shallowly into various dungeons, and feeling that unique joy that comes with exploring a FromSoft world for the first time. The magnitude of the panorama seen after beating Rellana was lost on me, because I had already discovered that part of the world in reverse. Elsewhere, I had already explored most of Shadow Keep before hitting the back door of the Golden Hippopotamus. If we're to take Elden Ring's bosses as the main course—which I think increasingly they are—then I had basically nibbled around the chocolate chips of the cookie.
Those first 10 hours were the most absorbing 10 hours I've spent with any game this year. By that time I had my scadutree blessing level up to eight, and I had respecced away from a shoddily constructed mage into one of those famously OP blood builds that some true Elden Ring heads look upon with derision. I was having fun. The Land of Shadow is stunning; it's one of those game worlds I can barely believe exists. It may be a cliché to make this comparison, but it really does look like a fantasy paperback cover brought to life. I can't imagine a fantasy game ever looking more inviting than this.
