Review - Fading Afternoon

Developer: Yeo

Publisher: Circle Entertainment

Available On: Nintendo Switch & PC

Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch

GUNS & CIGARETTES!

It probably doesn’t come as any shock to hear that I love action movies. Watching as a lone fighter beats the ever-loving crap out of the bad guys has me hyped. I actually grew up on Jackie Chan and his many films. Much like with JRPGs, it’s because of my dad that I was exposed to these masterpieces of cinema. From Drunken Master to Rush Hour, we were there, glued to our seats with eyes stuck to the TV. If I had to guess, it’s thanks to my childhood that I have a fondness for oldies like Sleeping Dogs - just the idea of kicking some booty gets me hot and bothered. To this day, I hold the beat’em up genre highly which is why it shouldn’t be very surprising that I volunteered to cover this title.

Fading Afternoon is what happens when you point a shrink ray at the Yakuza franchise. It’s steeped in that crime culture. As a fan of arguably the biggest series in Sega’s catalog, I had to get on board. I didn’t get to experience the initial pair of projects from Yeo but I’ll damn well dive into the third - crack your knuckles as we get into it.

LOAN ME SOME CASH!!

While playing Yakuza, I’m constantly reminded of a Japanese drama. I become engrossed and hungry to see the climax of the story. With Fading Afternoon, it tries to emulate that same magic but ultimately falls short. Now, that doesn’t exactly mean it’s an outright disaster. There are genuine sparks of potential as it attempts to infuse intrigue into the words, but it just doesn’t click. The first issue I had is minor, and to be frank, it rectifies itself. Regardless, when beginning my session, I was lost as to who was speaking during dialogue. It wasn’t really obvious that the characters' mouths were moving until an hour or so later. Sure, it could be a sign of my inattentive ass, and granted, I do eventually realize. Be that as it may, it’s still a tiny brush with confusion.

The problem, however, is the narrative is soulless. It so desperately wants to strike a serious tone but a disjointed pace causes it to falter. It does nothing to set the stage, leading me to assume that perhaps a go at Yeo’s previous two games might be crucial to grasp the gist of the plot. It isn’t self-contained and as a result, I’m left with lots of questions by the end. It doesn’t matter that in general, I’m a sucker for the gritty setting because it won’t make sense of what’s happening. Bluntly, the structure is abysmal and any tension it tries to nurture is muddled. I never felt like it caught my interest. Sure, it’s definitely enough for me to get a basic understanding but it’s also boring. Even with the promise that it periodically shows, it’s lacking excitement.

WHAT DO I PRESS!?

The gameplay loop in Fading Afternoon is as generic as it comes. I’m pounding fools bloody and knocking them on their butts, and in a few cases, committing murder. Speaking of, I’m impressed by how visceral the combat is. I can stab knives deep into the skulls of my enemies. As they drop to the ground, there’s a legitimate heft to the bodies, nailing down a sense of realism. It probably sounds great, as it should, but it’s botched. See, this game was on PC before it came to consoles. During that switch, the control scheme got messed up. Instead of ease of use, comfortability is an afterthought. As someone with moderately large hands, it was awkward. There’s no sugarcoating how unintuitive it is, making my fingers fatigued and thus, stopping long sessions.

The annoyance gets exacerbated even further when countering strikes. Basically, it’s tough to determine the perfect timing. If I do it, it wasn’t ever due to skill but more thanks to dumb luck. My only chance was to incessantly tap the respective buttons and cross my fingers for a miracle. Luckily, as I try, I can defend against any offence. I could easily evade the bulk of the damage by blocking while also trying to retaliate.

It turned into a nice system that had me slipping into a rhythm. Here’s the thing; once weapons become a factor, I’m screwed. I can’t block blades and certainly not bullets. Yea, I can disarm but doing that requires, you guessed it, timing, and due to the difficulty of it, I died frequently.

WHERE TO NEXT, BOSS!?

The following gripe will be contentious as it favours hand-holding. To be precise, the lack of waypoints is a detriment. As a disabled gamer, I need a soft push in the right direction. Without that guide, I’m blindly moving around without a goal until an event occurs to advance the story. Basically, I misunderstand the context clues. Allow me to paint a picture - my only form of travel between areas is through a map. From here, I select my destination, and boom, I’m suddenly by an arcade. There’s a legend, as well, that’ll tell me what I may find at a certain spot. For instance, there may be a turf war that upon arriving, I’ll immediately be thrust into fisticuffs. Once I’m victorious, that’s it, I’m clueless again.

I know I’ve touted exploration as being fun - I enjoy scouring every nook and cranny. Fading Afternoon wants to promote that ideology and yet, it’ll quickly devolve into mindlessness. I felt like I was just going through the motions. Nothing about it captivated me to the degree of keeping my focus. Sure, getting into a scuffle with rival gangs is rad. Sometimes, it’ll even trigger a cutscene that loosely expands the narrative. While that’s fine and dandy, it doesn’t give me a clear next step. I can concede that maybe it’s my stupidity and as I’ve said, I’m misreading context clues. If that’s the case, then it’s an accessibility issue that kept me from relishing it. To be blunt, there’s no allure to keep playing - committing any number of minutes felt like a chore.

PIXEL PERFECT!

I’ll forever be a simp of the pixel art style. Whether it’s because it reminds me of the golden era of my youth, or because of its beauty, what can’t be argued is how crisp it is. It looks incredible on an OLED screen. I do have to say that I’m not a fan of enemies being colour swaps but in that same breath, it’s not as terrible as it could have been. I’ve also got to applaud the passion that has been poured into realizing this world. While the available areas to visit aren’t many, that won’t be a sign that Yeo skimped on detail. It’s the contrary to that as he committed. Exteriors are great but it’s the interiors that stand above the rest. What caught my eye, though, is the water. The way the sunset reflects off of surface is gorgeous and it’s also easily the best aspect.

THAT’S A SMOOTH WALK!

If we’re discussing performance, then I’ve got to note the stellar animations. They’ve got that peanut butter smoothness to them that made it pleasant to see. As I crouch down, lighting up a cigarette and gazing into the distance, the motion is fluent - there’s no stutter. When I flip my enemies, it’s done seamlessly. It didn’t look weird, telling me that Yeo paid close mind to the optimization. Now, I do want to highlight walk speed as that’s insanely slow. It’s the reason for why I felt so bored. Watching my avatar’s feet sluggishly shuffling was the definition of dull. I understand it’s to mimic a cool strut but damn, it didn’t accomplish that by any stretch. It only managed to be the cherry on top of a mediocre cake.

AND THE FADING VERDICT IS…

Fading Afternoon has a solid concept that could be special but execution hinders it. Playing it isn’t even close to delightful due to horrible placement of the buttons. Instead of being calculated in all my tactics, I was aimlessly smashing A, B, or whatever in hopes that I’ll be lucky and do one of many actions that I’ve got in my arsenal. It’s a total mess which I thankfully can’t say about the graphics. It’s the shining beacon of the entire experience, honestly. It won’t be music because that’s bland. It blends into the background and seems to exist solely to kill the silence of the title. It’s the perfect example of turning the volume down to 0 and tossing on a podcast. Couple that with some accessible blunders and yeah, my final decision isn’t ambiguous.

FADING AFTERNOON SHOULD BE AVOIDED!

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.