Folklore, a game developed by Game Republic, takes us in the village of Doolin where a dark mystery covers the death of villagers, 17 years ago. The game is presented from the view of Ellen, a young woman who receives a letter from her long-lost mother, telling her to come and look for her in Doolin, Ireland. At the same time, Keats, who is a reporter for an occult magazine called Unknown Realms (the original name of the game in Japan), receives a phone call from a woman with a desperate voice asking him for help, and amongst others mentioning Doolin. The two characters meet in Doolin, witnessing the death of a woman falling off the cliff. Ellen is determined to find her mother while Keats stays to investigate the death and perhaps get a good article for his magazine.

Little did they knew, that soon their lives will change forever. Once the nightfall comes, the whole village changes into something else, a mystery world inhabited with spirits and faerys. Ellen and Keats soon find out that Doolin is actually a village where the living meet the dead, a portal to another realm called Netherworld .

In order to find Ellen's mother and for Keats to solve the murder, they must venture into the Netherworld where characters like Scarecrow or Belgae will help them along the way. The Netherworld was once a beautiful place until a mysterious traveler created chaos. Now it's filled with monsters and folks (bosses you'll have to fight at the end of each chapter).

In the village there are several houses with some inhabitants, and each villager has a story to tell in this puzzle. In the center of the village is the pub, from where quests can be assigned by the bartender (living or dead) with the option to download different quests from the internet. These quests consist in escorting different creatures from Netherworld, kill xx monsters or accomplish tasks for faerys.

There are seven chapters to roam into, but if you want to finish the game, you'll have to play it from each perspective, Ellen's and Keats'. The way you play with each character is unique; Ellen uses strategic methods to trap her enemies while Keats uses a more traditional direct attack.

"Shake it"

Like I said earlier, you need to complete chapters (or realms) filled with monsters and folks. Each time you defeat a monster, his spirit (or ID, as it is called in the game) will float above him, waiting your move. If you don't absorb it for a certain time, the monster will come to life again. Depending on how many spirits you absorb at once, your experience will multiply. Benefiting from the Sony Sixaxis feature, the spirits can be absorbed by shaking the controller up. More powerful beasts, once defeated will require more skill before absorbing their souls. You need to move the controller to the left and right, smashing the spirit to the ground or tilt up the controller at specific times, until you finally flat out the soul into submission.