Soulsborne-like Novels - What makes them so?

I see a lot of and have asked for soulsborne-like novel recommendations before. However, I’ve never read one that quite satisfies that need. (Maybe Books of the New Sun do, but I couldn’t get past the first 50 pages due to all the misogyny.) The most recent example was someone on the Bloodborne sub recommending Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke, saying it’s a novel about scholars exploring a labyrinthine place, attaining forbidden knowledge and going mad while doing it, citing it as similar to the Chalice Dungeons. Yet, the official synopsis paints quite a different narrative. I’ll still be checking it out, because it sounds interesting, but just not… Soulsborne-y.

So that led me to wonder: what exactly would make a novel soulsborne-y enough, to me? Is it the same things that other people value in the franchise’s narrative? How do these different views lead to such different recommendations? Below, I’ll outline my specific preferences and sine qua non’s that would make a novel soulsborne-like.

Genre: Dark Fantasy is a given. My preferences tend to lean towards Horror more than Epic Fantasy, so more on that side of the scale. I don’t think the Soulsborne series is particularly Grimdark, either. The state of things tends to be absolutely awful, yes, but there’s a slight hint of beauty and hope in all the IPs that pull it away from that genre. Lastly, despite them being *action* RPGs, I don’t think Action / Adventure in terms of break-neck pace and conflict would befit a soulsborne novel. Mystery as a subgenre would be much better.

Setting: Gothic; either in the medieval gothic sense or in the victorian gothic sense. Each of these would lead to very different stories, for sure, but I find both absolutely acceptable. It would also have to be a “cold, dark and very gentle place”, to borrow the painter’s words. Bright worlds full of life won’t do.

Narrative: Something very specific to the Soulsborne narrative that most authors don’t like to do is leave things unexplained. I’m not sure whether this stems from a want to showcase all the cool worldbuilding they’ve done or fear of confusing the reader or both, but it seems to be mostly a western commercial Fantasy thing. Most manga, for example, will drop you into stories and not explain the vast majority of plot points until the very last arc and it does so unapologetically. It makes for much more satisfying twists and it leaves much more space for speculation and theories which, even if they turn out to be wrong, engage the reader. I’d like to see more of that, rather than having my hand held throughout the entirety of the novel or having three neon arrows pointing at the same bit of foreshadowing.

Characters: I left this one for last, as it’s probably the trickiest. The Soulsborne protagonists are blank slates because they have to be so the player can have the freedom to create their own character to project onto them. This, of course, doesn’t work in novels. I guess to have a truly Soulsborne-like novel we’d have to have a lone-wolf that starts from nothing and makes their way onto great power. Personally, however, this is the point where I digress the most from the series. I prefer groups, as I tend to get bored of following just one person for too long periods of time (fine for just one novel; not so fine for a trilogy or a seven book series).

Looking at all of it laid down like this, I feel like the narrative part is probably the hardest to pull off. That and the fact that most Fantasy novels focus on Action / Adventure rather than Mystery or Exploration / Discovery are, most likely, the main reasons why I haven’t yet found anything to satisfy my need for Soulsborne novels.

What about you? Have you found the “perfect” Soulsborne novel? Does it fit all these prerequisites or others you value more? What are they?

Also, if you have any recs that fit the above criteria, please drop them here!