Folklore

Folklore is an action role-playing game where players control characters in a third-person view to explore their surroundings and engage in combat. From the start, players can choose to play as either Ellen or Keats, each with their own distinct, yet intertwined, storylines and play styles. The game takes place in two worlds: the real world, set in the small seaside Irish village of Doolin, and the fantastical Netherworld, which is inhabited by folk creatures and spirits.

In Doolin, players control the playable character as they explore the village and surrounding area. When in this state, characters are unable to engage in combat or use their abilities and are limited to exploring and interacting with the village's inhabitants. Doolin contains quests that progress the main story and eventually lead to and from the Netherworld, acting as a hub between worlds and subsequent quests.

In the present day, two people are drawn to the Irish seaside village of Doolin; Ellen, a university student with no memory of her childhood who receives a letter from her deceased mother Ingrid, and Keats, editor of the struggling occult magazine Unknown Realms, who receives a phone call from a woman who says that Faerys are attacking her. Upon their arrival at Doolin, Ellen quickly befriends villager Suzette. On the night of Samhain, Ellen and Keats enter the Netherworld, the realm of the dead, through portals and gain power over monsters called the Folk. They are respectively guided by Scarcrow and Belgae, liminal beings known as Half-lives.

Ellen meets and allies with the Faery King, who seeks to restore the Netherworld's Core and defeat a faction of rebel Faerys, while Keats allies with the rebel leader Livane, whom Belgae serves. The Faery King reveals his true goal of merging the Netherworld with the human world due to their conflict having driven the Netherworld into despair, but Livane, who is the last descendant of a human clan that sealed off the Netherworld from humanity, seeks to maintain the separation. Meanwhile, murders begin to occur in Doolin, with the victims being people who knew something about Ellen's past, with Ellen helping the survivors by interacting with their spirits in the Netherworld.

Folklore was announced at E3 2006 which was said to be "The next generation of dark fantasy." It was to be developed by Game Republic, under Yoshiki Okamoto, a video game designer who worked on popular games, including Resident Evil. The game was originally titled Monster Kingdom: Unknown Realms, and was intended as a companion piece to Gaia's Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner. However, disappointing sales of Jewel Summoner led to the game being retitled Folklore.

Gaia however would assist the development of Folklore, contributing monster designs. Numerous creatures appearing in Folklore would later appear in Gaia's PlayStation Portable game Coded Soul: Uketsugareshi Idea the following year, which also featured connectivity with Folklore.

Upon release, Folklore received "favorable" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of three eights and a nine, for a total of 33 out of 40. GamePro said, "What saves this game from being just another monster collection RPG is the compelling narrative and the unique environments. I am also looking forward to the downloadable content which should help keep things fresh in the future. Although it isn't perfect, Folklore is definitely one fairy tale worth finishing."

Most of the praise the game received was direct at the art design and a rich fairy tale/mythological setting and style. Ryan Clements of IGN was particularly impressed with the game's style over the actual technical graphics engine, noting that "Folklore's sheer visual beauty comes more from the stellar art direction and execution of the artistic design than the amount of processing power it requires," helped further by the soundtrack described as "poignant and intrinsically atmospheric." This view was further echoed by Gaming Target, summing up with "technically the game looks great, with the realistic style of Doolin, mixed in with the colorful and absurdly Japanese stylings of the Netherworld levels," later including Folklore in their "52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2007."