Thinking of playing again but confused about characters and worlds

I've recently beaten the Moon lord for the first time and loved the experience. And I'm thinking of playing all over.

But I'm a little confused. When I created a new worlds inside my previously played character, I carried over basically everything I had in my inventory. Is it supposed to be similar to NG+ in dark souls? (without difficulty bump) In that, am I supposed to create a new character because I basically cheese the entire run with the weapons and items I carry over?