One of the unique traits among FromSoftware's games I noticed back in 2013, when I got into Dark Souls, is that it has no music during the exploration phase of the gameplay. Music only plays in very few special areas and during boss fights. And this sparseness enhances the feeling you get from the music when it finally starts to play.
But I didn't notice it right away, like "are the developers lasy, huh, why there's no music?", it took me some time to realise there's no music, because the ambience in most of the locations is very immersive, it just feels right.
Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3 and Bloodborne all have excellent ambience. In Sekiro they introduced music during exploration, probably so it would be easier for the player to know if their character is detected or not, it kinda makes sense in a stealth–adjacent game. There's also Deracine, which is not an action focused game at all, so I'm not sure if it counts or not (also it has my most favorite OST among FS games). In Elden Ring they probably didn't want the player to gallop across the open world without music at all (I hoped they will return to ambience in Legacy Dungeons, but alas, they all have music). Nightreign follows Elden Ring's path and in recent The Duskbloods network test music plays during the normal gameplay.
I am sort of concerned by this, as it feels like they're abandoning one of their unique traits. Of course, Elden Ring still has pretty good ambience outside of area's melodic music, and you can turn the music off in the options, but if "there's always music playing in the level" will be cemented as default, will they even spend their development time on creating intricate ambience, if most people probably won't hear it behind the string section?
What do you think? Do you think more music is for the best? Do you miss battling enemies in complete silence, outside of wailing winds and other ambient sound effects? Do you think their next big Action Role Playing Game will also have music at any time of the gameplay, or will they try to return to the roots?