Lies of P and a Real Boy in Fake Bloodborne: Nostalgia and Critique in Soulsborne Fandom

Indira Neill Hoch's study examines how press coverage and YouTube fan comments about the 2023 Soulslike Lies of P function as a site of nostalgia, drawing on Svetlana Boym's distinction between restorative and reflective nostalgia. The inquiry is situated within Soulsborne fandom, a community characterized by fragmented lore, reliance on wikis and guides, and contested genre boundaries, where affection for predecessor titles such as Bloodborne and the Pinocchio story is closely tied to processes of belonging and exclusion. The core argument is that nostalgia in this context is rarely uniform: it can reinforce boundaries of cultural capital or open space for critical reassessment.

The analysis draws on a small, qualitative dataset consisting of eight press pieces and 400 comments across four YouTube videos. Publications largely express restorative nostalgia, framing Lies of P as derivative of Bloodborne yet beloved, and praising details such as Bloodborne-inspired weapon mods. Fan comments display a more mixed pattern. Some treat playing Bloodborne as a marker of cultural capital that implicitly excludes newcomers, reflecting restorative boundary maintenance. Others adopt a reflective stance, valuing the older titles while crediting Lies of P with refining the Soulsborne template, particularly in its bosses and narrative adaptation.

The study concludes that open comment spaces on YouTube can both reinforce and challenge gatekeeping within Soulslike fandom, with potential consequences ranging from radicalization to de-radicalization of community attitudes. The author notes important limits, as the sample consists of informal comments and a modest number of reviews, so the findings suggest tendencies rather than definitive patterns across the wider fan base.