Folklore

Folklore is one of the strangest and most distinctive exclusives from PlayStation 3's early years. It takes place in the misty Irish village of Doolin, where two characters cross paths: young Ellen, searching for the answer to a letter from her long-dead mother, and Keats, a cynical journalist for an occult magazine who arrived after a phone call about a mysterious murder. The village borders on the realm of the dead and creatures from Celtic myth, and both characters enter it to hear out the souls of the departed. The story is told in alternating chapters from both perspectives, so you gradually see the same events from two sides, and only by piecing both threads together do you get the full picture.

Combat is built around collection. Every creature in the underworld has an essence that you literally rip out of it once it's weakened, and that essence then becomes your attack. You assign acquired creatures to controller buttons and build a loadout suited to whatever hostile inhabitant you're facing. The original release used the Sixaxis motion sensor: pulling out a soul meant jerking the controller as if yanking an invisible rope. The result is a hybrid of action-adventure and creature-collecting game, close in logic to monster-catching games reworked into a gothic mood.

Visually, Folklore is still remarkable. Each region of the underworld has its own art style, from a pastel fairy-tale landscape to oppressive, crumbling castles, and part of the story plays out in comic-book-styled interludes. The music draws on Celtic motifs and reinforces the feeling that you're moving through a space between dream and mortal seriousness. Reviews were largely favorable, but sales stayed low and the game never got a sequel. Today it's sought out by players who want something other than a blockbuster from PS3: a slower, atmospheric and visually daring title that was never repeated in this form. It's best approached as an illustrated book of legends rather than an action game, because its greatest strength lies precisely in mood, setting, and the gradual unveiling of a family secret.