Folklore

Folklore, known in Japan as FolksSoul -Ushinawareta Denshō- is a video game released exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

The game is a real time action adventure game with role-playing elements. The game centers around a young blonde woman named Ellen, and a journalist named Keats, both playable characters. Together they unravel the mystery that the quaint village of Doolin hides, the mystery that can only be solved by seeking the memories of the dead in the dangerous, Folk-ridden Netherworld.

The game takes place in the present day. A young university student by the name of Ellen is lured to the sea-side village of Doolin, in Ireland, led by a letter from her supposedly dead mother, telling her to meet her at the Cliff of Sidhe, Doolin. Meanwhile Keats, a journalist from an occult magazine called Unknown Realms, receives a telephone call from a woman in distress telling him to come to Doolin, and crying about Faerys who would kill her. Though he suspects it is a prank call, he pays a visit to Doolin Village. When Ellen arrives at the Cliff of Sidhe, she sees a cloaked figure resting at the edge. Thinking it is her mother, she calls out to the figure, but it does not reply. Keats arrives on the scene then, and asks Ellen if she was the one who called him. When she, surprised, says no, he wonders aloud if the figure at the cliff was the one who called him. A strong gust of wind suddenly blows across the cliff, and when it dies down, the figure has disappeared. Ellen, distraught, runs down to the beach to find the body and bumps into a girl from the village named Suzette. She questions Ellen, but she is so distressed that she faints. Keats arrives and, after questioning Suzette about Ellen, decides that the best thing would be to bring Ellen back into the village. Suzette brings Ellen to a small hut and Keats to a base on the edge of the village. That night, they are both visited by strange voices who invite them to the village pub, where they meet creatures they had never before thought existed, and are taken to a place that surpasses all imagination: the Netherworld, realm of the dead. Soon Keats and Ellen find themselves in a 17-year-old murder mystery, where the answers seem to only be found in the Netherworld, the land that can only be accessed from one place in the world, Doolin. To solve the crime and reveal Ellen's forgotten past, they will need to venture to the Netherworld as travelers, where Faerys and Folks alike await them.

Along the way they meet many different characters, like Scarecrow and Belgae, who help out both of them in their quest. Throughout the game, players learn about the chaos the Netherworld was put into by a previous Netherworld traveller. The eventual goal is to reach the core of the Netherworld and "fix" it. The game takes two different perpectives in the story that shows the different views and opinions of many different characters. While traveling in the Netherworld, many mysterious murders start to occur in the village of Doolin after the appearance of "The Hag." The people murdered are the only ones who knew the truth (or part of the truth) of Ellen's past.