I am running Minecraft 1.18.1 under Windows 11. The launcher is from the Microsoft Store.

I was playing in a new hardcore world and died. I opted to spectate the world. When I respawned I tried to travel to the area where I had settled but I could not leave the spawn chunk area. New chunks would not load upon approach. I tried to change chunk loading in the video settings but there was no change. See screenshot where I am in a corner showing two edges of the minecraft world.