Fading Afternoon

A Fading Afternoon
TLDR: Great game. It’s vibes. 9/10
Have you ever experienced being alone in a world that has moved on without you? Being in a city where you fill your time with the ghosts of the past? Unsure of what your next step in your journey is so you continue on with the dueling nature of who you are against who you were?
Developer Yeo does a phenomenal job capturing this exact feeling and theme in all of his work with Fading Afternoon being no exception.
I’ve played all of his previous work and was eagerly awaiting his third installment in what I deem - reflection core. His theming in all of his games capture a sense of solitude and quietness I haven’t discovered in any other games I’ve played to date. It is incredibly relatable, and I’m always surprised at how someone can evoke such an abstract and personal feeling. The moments where you look out at the bay and sit alone with yourself, reflecting on your life and the steps you took to land you in the place where you are now.
Fading Afternoon is exactly this. You are an aging Yakuza and must return from a place of isolation and rebuild your former families glory while also navigating an uncertain future. This game has you live vicariously through your characters life and provides you with moments to ponder and reflect.
Everything from Yeo’s previous games work in tandem, so if you’re unfamiliar with Yeo’s style of game design, allow me to provide you a quick rundown:
His first game – The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa focused on a coming of age story about a young man who lives alone and leads a school gang. He trains in various disciplines and grows skills while balancing his school work and personal relationships. All the while looking ahead to the bleak future of himself and his peers. The combat was tight and evoked River City Ransom mechanics with the use of increasing your stats and maintaining your satiety by consuming food bought at convenience stores.
His second game – Arrest of a Stone Buddha dives deeper into the solitude of man, following an individual who’s only true joy and skillset lies in his assassination contracts. The dichotomy between the protagonists every day mundanity and his contract killing is stark. The gameplay evokes the boring and unfulfilling nature of the time spent between the action filled shootouts and gunplay. In this game, Yeo introduced some of the coolest shooting mechanics that evoke homage’s from Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angels and John Woo’s The Killer. The bulk majority of the game and narrative is spent wandering 1970’s Paris, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and watching movies by your lonesome.
His third game – Fading Afternoon is a culmination of the previously mentioned themes and gameplay mechanics tightly wrapped up in a focused narrative package where the intersection of action, story, and theming meet.
You play as Seiji Maruyama who is recently released from prison. You meet with your old aniki- Azuma san and begin your life again as an aged Yakuza enforcer. From what I’ve gathered, you don’t learn new tricks as you did in The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa. Seiji is an aged man who has seen his fare share of gang wars, so his arsenal of combat is vast. The two main buttons you focus on is your punch and kick button. (I’m using a steam deck for reference) that being X and A.
The main combat loop consists of positioning, punching, kicking, blocking strikes, and most importantly encourages you to perform catch strikes. Catch strikes immediately kill your opponent and you preform them by holding down the X button to guard and time your A button as a strike lands to reverse and immediately preform a kill. You can catch weapons to use against your opponents this way as well The satisfying crunch of their ripped elbow kills the individual. Your arsenal overall is fluid and a mix of martial arts of Judo, Karate, and Boxing. Yeo has trained in martial arts and his animations are surprisingly accurate.
The gunplay takes cues from Arrest of a Stone Buddah. Every shot you inflict on your opponent is an instant kill and you can retrieve firearms during larger gang fights by performing the same catch strike mechanic, while also pulling back on the directional pad.
Fighting rival gangs is your main way to progress the story and earn income. With every foe you defeat you earn a noticeable amount of yen. Yen is used for various activities in the world such hostess clubs, drinking beer, and most importantly buying cigarettes.
The gameplay loop has you travelling to different locations, engaging in gang fights, going home to heal, and repeating this loop until the gang boss is available for assassination in that region. You receive Polaroid's of potential hangout spots of the opposing gang leader, and you must hunt them down by visiting the various haunts located throughout the city.
I can’t forget to mention the music in this piece of art. Each location has a certain lofi jazz song attached, but the clubs bring a Japanese city pop spin to it, vocals and all. The best soundtrack with The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa at a very close second.
To conclude this piece of fellating prose, for those who are unsure of whether or not to start with this game. I recommend any of Yeo’s games, and this is a great place to start.
9/10
Tips
• You can heal in a few ways – Sleeping in your hotel, eating at the restaurant, or going to the bath house. I recommend going to the bathhouse located in the Mahjong district. You heal a lot faster this way.
• Begin combat with a rival family as soon as possible to start earning money and progressing the story.
• Make sure you buy additional days at your hotel. You can end up homeless. You lose respect with each passing day you’re homeless.
• If you drop your coat on the floor, you can re-equip it by heading to the clothing store and choosing the same outfit.
• For those of you who like yakuza cinema, you can pull a Takeshi Kitano and take your own gun and end your life. A nice touch with call backs to Outrage and Sonatine.

a value of an indie game can be measured by how easy it is to find a substitute
a lot of them scratch the same itch over and over again, and that leaves them expendable at the end of the day
with yeo's games, I'll just say you will have a really hard time finding another game that scratches the same itch

YES! I put an hour in so far and lost an hour of sleep. Well worth it!
WORKS Well on steam Deck!
So many combos, Very satisfied. Top notch fighting game with a story.
Great job Dev!
wow, i love this game! Updated after 5hrs of game time.

Fading Afternoon is a game about a man who is steadily getting too old for his line of work. You won't be able to regenerate your health, and it's a race against the clock to get through the game before you get too weak to keep doing what you're doing.
Another classic made by Yeo, with multiple endings and failstates. Takes everything done in the Friends of Ringo Ishikawa and does it better. Highly recommended.
Adding onto this review now that I have gotten about 10 more hours and getting about four more endings - the story of this game can be heart-wrenching. This game's vibes are immaculate. Once you get the hang of it, it is very rewarding.

Best Yeo game to this day , how far can you go before life takes it's final toll on you ?
for a Yakuza movie enthusiast like me , this game is a masterpiece

This is the type of game where you can set your character to do something mundane, like sitting on a balcony or at a cafe and watching people passing by, while listening to the music, and you don't even have to do anything else to have fun.
But it's not just a game of serene contemplation, you have to take action, and the action in this game is very good. A mix of The friends of Ringo Ishikawa beat`em-up battle system and Arrest of a stone Buddha wave-based battles, to me this game is the best of both worlds.

I’ve gotten around 5-6 endings and each playthrough was close to being completely different to the others. I feel like after spending 20 hours in the game I still haven’t even scratched the surface. Fading afternoon is an absolute must play if you enjoy branching story where choices effect everything, extremely immersive gameplay, deep rich mechanics that allow limitless creative freedom, and cozy beat ‘em up action. Friends of Ringo and stone Buddha are both fantastic games but Fading Afternoon really feels like an accumulation of both with a fresh new take mixed in. I can’t see myself ever getting tired of this game and something I will be coming back to very often. For $20 you’re really getting an incredible value considering how many times you can replay it and experience the absolutely gorgeous pixel art & animations by the insanely talented Ueda M, and the overwhelmingly varied amount of backgrounds made by Artem. I’m very grateful this game is getting frequent updates and even new content as time passes and I’m very excited & eager to see how this all turns out in the end. Thank you yeo and the team for such an incredible and unforgettable gaming experience