How Elden Ring's Opening Vista Hooks Players

This vista at the start of Elden Ring is such a master class of level design. It illustrates a lot of the subtle motivational hooks available to designers.

What I want to emphasize is that this scene causes players to ask a lot of questions, but the game does not answer these questions for a long time. What is that giant glowing tree? How strong is the Tree Sentinel? How do I reach Stormveil Castle? Notably, the player's first two attempts to reach the castle will most likely be denied by powerful packs of enemies. This creates intrinsic motivation in players and keeps them hooked as there are always compelling short-term and long-term goals and questions to be answered.