Central Yharnam is probably the best starting area of any soulslikes I've played

It's brutally difficult if you're just starting out - especially if you've never played a soulslike like I didn't - but once you get a hang of things and see the bigger picture, it's really well-designed and well-crafted. From enemy placement to overall introduction to the world and its vibe to interconnectedness, it's just perfect.

What came close to me was probably Krat in Lies of P. It's got a similar vibe and introduces all its mechanics up until Hotel Krat quite well

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What kills me is when I eventually go back to finish Bloodborne, I will have to restart from the beginning and get wrecked all over again just trying to get through central Yharnam.
- I've started just running past most enemies and going straight for Cleric Beast or Gascoigne. The enemy density is just too much for me sometimes and I usually lack the patience to pick fights one by one, so I either try to fight large groups and do my best not dying, or just run past everything and level up somewhere else. It's a good area to get back into the game after some hibernation, though, I feel like!

best opening area, imo. so good. and the fact you can go straight to Gascoigne, love it.

You said it's the best you ever played and also said it was the first you ever played. Do you think it could be that you have a preferential bias for the first experience you had?
- no :<
  Sekiro didn't really have a starting area.
  Demon's Souls Boletarian Palace was pretty good but felt a little too long, very iconic though.
  DS1's Undead Burg is really really good and probably is what led to Central Yharnam being so good, seeing that it's pretty much a copy of Undead Burg but just with a different stroke of paint; some passages felt a little clunky to me personally - can't tell you why exactly.
  Haven't played DS2.
  DS3's High Wall of Lothric had a similar vibe to DS1 but a little modernised. Wasn't as long-winded and interconnected, which is a double-edged sword, but it didn't feel too special and memorable to me personally.
  Elden Ring doesn't exactly have a first area per se given that it's open world, but Limgrave is probably as first-area as it gets. Liked it a lot actually, liked its vibe, calm before the storm sorta vibe. Overall, I just didn't enjoy Elden Ring too much compared to the other titles I've played, so I might be inclined to dislike it a little too much.
  In conclusion, I might be a tad biased, but I wouldn't chock it up to it being my first game. Going from my very first experience with the game, I should hate the area since the game made me "rage quit" and leave the game for several years lol. And based on my personal favourites list, Sekiro should be number 1, but its first area is just kinda meh. So yea, I'm firm on Bloodborne.
  Thanks for the question though - got me thinking a little :)