Ok that's fair, we can discuss it but you're original comment seemed to deliberately be reductive about aspects of the game love and you commented that it's just a FS circle jerk lovefest if the game gets praised which isn't discussing the game in good faith imo.

Let me try to explain why I love exploration in ER. It's not just about them not having quest markers , it's about the world feeling real and organic because you're not forced to find literally anything in the game. A lot of people miss like 30 % of the areas just because they didn't explore thoroughly. Like you take a random lift and it takes you to an entire new underworld which you could've just as easily missrd. The levels interlock so beautifully it makes it unlike any other game when you loop back or open a shortcut, The enemy/character designs and art designs the lore in items, the sparse NPC dialogue are all designed and work together to create a mystery that you want to get deeper and deeper into. It's also not bloated with repetitive quests, yes there are quite a few samey dungeons/caves but they are all fun to do the first time around although they become tedious on subsequent playthroughs in which you can mostly skip them.

It's hard for me to articulate it tbh, but hopefully you get a sense of what people like about it and don't think so reductively of the love people have for the game . I also love TLOU 2 and think it deserves all the awards it got but for me personally it's not close to being on the same level as Elden Ring