That description fits imo. A big part of the reason I love this Mario so much more than others is that it rewards you for bending its rules, much like BOTW did. If you have the execution to skip a big part of a platforming section (or whatever is in the way) not only will it let you but it will usually give you something as a bonus for doing it (coins, heart, whatever). I'm a big fan of that over invisible walls or some nonsense to force you to follow a specific path.
In addition it does have some cool setpieces, some pretty decent difficulty during the main game, plenty of difficult post-game, and is really just a fun and unique take on Mario. Easily the best one since Galaxy and in some ways my favorite in the series now.