This February, we are taking a step away from classic platforming to bring you a beautiful and haunting action role-playing game. Folklore, which was developed by the now defunct, independent Game Republic, Inc. and released in 2007, is an RPG that is deeply rooted in the Celtic Otherworld of Irish Mythology. The game centers on two characters, a young lady named Ellen and a journalist named Keats, which are both playable in the game and have different intertwining plots. These two characters also differ in play style; Ellen uses a variety of powers for strategy and favors a defensive stance, while Keats attacks with more brute force and can release built up energy to perform stronger attacks for a period of time.  Together, the two of you work to unravel the mystery that the quaint village of Doolin hides. To do this, you must seek out the memories of the dead in the dangerous, Folk-ridden Netherworld.  Participants will not only battle the inhabitants of the Netherworld, but also go back and forth between there and Doolin village to solve puzzle-esque quests and advance the story.

While in the Netherwold, participants will utilize attacks called "folk," which are powers absorbed by defeating the various creatures there.  You absorb these powers by locking onto the creatures spirit and performing shaking and yanking motions with the Sixaxis motion control, rather than using a conventional button interface. While you can absorb the powers of nearly all of the inhabitants of the Neatherworld that you encounter, you can only map four at a time to the controller's action buttons. This adds an interesting dynamic to the game, since different kinds of "folk" are better suited to certain situations.



Folklore is only available for the PS3 and is a game that is considered a bit of a "hidden gem."  Overall sales for the game were not great, but it received many great reviews from critics for it's gorgeous art style and use of motion control.  Folklore is a very reasonably priced game at around $10-$20, depending on where you find it, and takes anywhere from 15-25 hours to finish depending on your level of completion. We hope that this pick interests the community and that you will join us on this adventure!

Join the Folklore discussion thread here: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=16212.0

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