I got into vidya late enough in my life that the first game I played with an interconnected world that was very vertical and had lots of cool shortcuts was dark souls 1. I've heard some older games focus on world design in a similar way, but have no idea about any examples. Seeing as the world design was what made me love dark souls 1, what games new or old should I play?
Dark Souls 2 is a great game, featuring even greater and more thought out world design and connectivity. Pic related is one of the masterpieces of the game.