I got elden ring for Christmas. Any tips?

Here are the "Bosses" I've beaten. The beast man in grove side cave, mad pumpkin head. That's it. Do any good players have any advice on where to go? What to do? What to pick up? I chose samurai because that's apparently the best for people starting out on soulsbourne games, which I am. I haven't gotten any weapons that I can use, apart from the default katana. No armour either, I'm terrible at fighting larger groups of enemies. And I also killed one of those zombie dudes and it turned into a FUCKING BEAR. What is that about lol. Anyway, I'll take any advice I can get