This video game generation has been a renaissance for “Beat ‘em up” games. There have been incredible releases like: Streets of Rage 4, Shredder’s Revenge, and now Fading Afternoon. Fading Afternoon is an indie game made by Yeo who also brought you Friends of Ringo Ishikawa and Arrest of a Stone Buddha. Fading Afternoon is a beat em up with heart. Everything you do in the game has an effect on the overall story.
The game begins with Seigi Maruyama getting released from prison. You take a trip back to your old Yakuza boss and the game gives you control after that. You get set up with a hotel room and some cash to start out with. The first night you wake up coughing up blood to let you know that Seigi doesn’t have much time left. Your life bar lets you know that as well since every thing you do, be it getting hit in the head with glass bottles or staying out drinking and smoking til you pass out will effect your life meter. It will get lower and lower as the time passes and eventually your credits will come. The time passes as a day and night cycle with each “day” representing a week. What you do with the time you have is what’s important.
You can traverse the city by way of train and there are different dots that represent different locations controlled by different Yakuza families. You can engage these families in battle at any time. Engaging with them creates warzones that are indicated by a red circle around the dot representing the area. This is where a little strategy comes into play because you will have to defend any area with the red circle around it and if you end up failing and running out of red circles, you will get shot on the train and that is the end. If you die in this game there is no continuing, no reload save, nothing. You have to start all over again at the beginning so be careful what you do. At least on your next playthrough they let you skip the beginning week so you don’t have to read all the dialogue again.
There are other activities that you can participate in aside from the regular gang beating activities and story elements that can come from these. For instance, I was going to a Hostess Club on the regular and eventually ran into the main characters ex wife working there and she broke a glass bottle over my head. This is just one small example of the various things you can find in the world of Fading Afternoon.
I found myself thinking a lot about this game’s options and all the different ways the story can go. I can see myself playing it multiple times to try to find all the different endings and story parts. It’s impossible for you to get everything in the first run so there is a lot of replay value in this one. If you like your beat ‘em ups with more heart and thought involved, pick up this game now!
Rating 8/10
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