Fading Afternoon is a 2D beat-em-up game developed and published by Yeo. The game follows Seiji Maruyama, a Yakuza member recently released from prison and looking to return to his old life. The game examines Maruyama’s battle with age and the nuances of being an older Yakuza in a changing world.
Returning to the Family
The game starts as you leave prison and return to the Azuma family, where you hope to resume your duties as a family member. After a lengthy combat tutorial, you have a map with several locations to explore. You can start gang wars to gain territory for the Azuma family or go to different locations to talk to different people. A big factor in this game is time management. You can only go to an area once a day and three zones total for the day. Managing your time is key to progress throughout the story.
Gang wars make up a big portion of the game. On your map, you pick an area controlled by one of the various gangs, go up to one of their henchmen, and hit them. This will trigger a brawl where a bunch of gang members will come in, and you have to fight them off. After clearing a fight, you have to kill one of the lieutenants. Which can be difficult, but once you sneak up on them, you can pull out your gun and quickly dispatch them. From there, you have to fend off the territories from gangs as they attempt to take back what was once theirs.
Waiting for the end
Fading Afternoon has a very strong story. I think the way the game tells the story is interesting. Interactions with different characters talking about how they are getting lost in time, flashbacks to Seiji’s past, and little character interactions with your friends brings depth to the game. There are also multiple endings to explore, giving the game replayability and different paths to explore. One thing that I like is how the health bar tells the story about Seiji. The maximum health Seiji has is 999, but it is not possible to have that health. The game starts you at around 400 health, and as the game progresses, the lower your health gets. I think it is a brilliant way to tell how Seiji, a once prominent Yakuza, is aging and getting weaker. I also want to commend the soundtrack of the game. The music is very good at immersing you in Seiji’s world. I’ve also put down the controller to listen to the music before remembering that there is a game to play.
Unfortunately, the downside to all of this is the combat. Most of your time in the game is spent fighting rival gangs. You’re fighting on a 2D plane as waves of enemies appear on the screen. Sometimes, they throw glass bottles at you; sometimes, they jump-kick at you; and sometimes, they have weapons. You only have a punch and kick button, and pressing those buttons can block and counterattack. Unfortunately, most of these encounters can be button-mashed, and they become repetitive after the first few encounters. Also, I have gone a few in-game days without seeing any progression in the story. Sometimes, I’m just wandering, hoping to trigger a story beat. Most of the time, it feels like I’m fighting without a purpose.
The Life Of Seiji
Fading Afternoon tells the interesting story of Seiji Maruyama, an older Yakuza trying to re-establish himself in the newer world. There is a lot of interesting commentary on aging and reflections on the life you live, which I liked. To get to these moments, you have to battle through repetitive encounters. The game doesn’t give you much direction, so sometimes you aimlessly explore, hoping to trigger another cutscene on Seiji’s journey. If you can get through the repetitive combat, Fading Afternoon is worth checking out.
