Gameplay revolves around exploring the city expanding your family's turf by encroaching on other yakuza families as well as defending your own turf. You can also engage in various side activities such as gambling, drinking, and target practice in a back room of the pawn shop.
See The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa and Arrest Of A Stone Buddha, two of yeo's earlier indie games.
Fading Afternoon contains examples of:
- A Taste of Power: On a random night you might get a playable dream sequence where you control a younger Maruyama fighting Yakuza punks. He plays like usual except he's much faster, has a full 999 health bar, and if knocked out he'll simply get up with some health restored.
- A Home Owner Is You: You can buy a home to live in, if you establish a romance with someone they can live there with you.
- Ambition Is Evil: If the player wants to grab power quickly they'll need to make a lot of immoral choices.
- Arms Dealer: The pawn shop owner can sell you a pistol with 7 bullets for 50,000 yen. There's also a single lane gun range in a back room used to increase gun accuracy.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: Kato is confused why Maruyama needed to know what hand he pushed the Construction Boss with Maruyama’s response is to silently slide him a knife across a table Kato for his part immediately gets the message.
- Bad Boss: According to Azuma, the Oyabun and the heads of the families are ok with their underlings dying in turf wars and only drew the line at themselves being harmed can also be you depending on your treatment of Kato Ironically… Azuma proves to be no better as his incompetence will usually lead to Maruyama wasting his time with seemingly important but later learned to be useless tasks, the route where you make an effort to bond with Azuma will lead to Maruyama being forced to take an impossible hit where the best he can hope for after surviving incredible odds is exile to the countryside.
- Badass Armfold: Maruyama's pose when checking his status.
- Betting Mini-Game: The video poker game from The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa returns and can be played at the Casino.
- Betrayal by Inaction: An underling will confront Maruyama about this if the Azuma family continues to decline and is eventually destroyed and will gut Maruyama in the stomach with a knife
- Bloodier and Gorier: Compared to Yeo’s earlier works, this is their most visually violent game.
- Blood from the Mouth: A bloody cough rudely awakens Maruyama to remind him (and indicate to the player) that his time is limited. If Maruyama loses the rest of his max hp at the days end he'll cough up blood again but this time it's fatal
- Bottomless Magazines: Averted, Maruyama can only carry a maximum of 7 bullets in his personal gun and if he disarms an enemy of their gun he can only use the remaining bullets inside it.
- Conspicuously Public Assassination: The most direct and quick way to eliminate rival Lieutenants “Shatei” and his bodyguards to claim rival turf.
- Cool Car: Buying expensive cars will increase your respect in the family.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Players coming from The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa may instinctively smoke a cigarette after a fight but unfortunately it does not heal anymore, and the “Delinquent button” used to block enemy attacks now has different functions.
- Didn't Think This Through: When Tanaka had Maruyama, Kato, and Azuma in the same room, he has Maruyama take a gun to execute Kato apparently he never thought that he could've been shot by the same gun.
- Difficulty Levels: Easy mode is a choice presented on every new game. It reduces the enemies encountered during a turf war from 20 to 10.
- Dope Slap: Maruyama can do this to the family underlings for any mistakes or disrespect Azuma does this to you if you fail to show up for the construction hit.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: May not have been the intention, but it's clear that Tanaka's (green) territories are much easier to take as they have less stars and more limited enemy types versus Hanada's (pink) territories. Committing to taking over Tanaka's territories will lead to story events that will rarely end well for Maruyama.
- Firing One-Handed: How every character fires their gun.
- Hallway Fight: At one point, Seiji gets into a fight with rival yakuza wakashus in the corridors of a shinkansen [train].
- Healing Hands: Non-magical example, The masseuse at the message parlor can heal the player for every session. but can only use this once per day.
- Herd-Hitting Attack: Averted. Unlike many beat em ups, your attacks will only hit one enemy if they're grouped up.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Activities like eating will heal the player.
- Human Shield: if you're holding an enemy and facing a gun wielding mook shooting you then they will hit their ally in a one hit kill. Useful in narrow maps where you can't move outside the line of fire.
- Incurable Cough of Death: On Maruyama’s first night out of prison, he coughs up blood and his max hp is reduced as a result.
- Loan Shark: Need money quickly? The local Triads can give you a loan.
- Lost Him in a Card Game: When Maruyama is forced to accept a hit contract on Rival Family head Anno, Tanaka claims Azuma lost Maruyama to him in a game of Majong. Azuma denies this.
- Missing Time: For any new players, it's not immediately clear that time is progressing faster than shown as the game is played from morning, afternoon and night. You're told from the beginning that the hotel you're staying at is paid for in advance for the month. A player would understandably think they have 30 or so in-game days until they need to pay for a longer stay or purchase a new living space. After the second day, going to the lobby will have the receptionist at the front desk inform Maruyama that the next week is the last week of his paid stay, likely confusing some players.
- Mob War: They're Yakuza, but all the same otherwise.
- Mook Chivalry: Despite there being 10 to 20 rival Yakuza to beat in an area, they will commonly come at you 2 at a time at most.
- Mugging the Monster: Unless you hastily shoot them in a surprise attack, Shateis will very quickly retaliate and plug you full of holes.
- Nonchalant Dodge: If you hold the attack button while facing a bottle throwing enemy and not move, you'll automatically dodge the bottle effortlessly. Can't dodge bullets this way though.
- Not with Them for the Money: Non-romantic example. The higher Maruyama's respect is the cheaper it is to buy Yakuza soldiers to defend an area, implying this trope.
- Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Briefly discussed, When Azuma brings up the possibility of going into business with American associates and asks Maruyama how well he can speak english, he simply says "They nuked us".
- Only in It for the Money: On the other hand, if Maruyama has low respect, he'll need to shell out more cash to hire Yakuza Soldiers.
- Protection Racket: Implied to be how all the Yakuza owned territories are generating income for their families. Anno’s family is an exception as his territory all have businesses that he owns.
- Riches to Rags: It’s unclear how powerful and rich the Azuma family was before Maruyama went to prison, but Azuma himself makes it clear they’ve gone downhill without him.
- Schmuck Bait: Go ahead and try to rob the Triads in the Loan Shark building. Surviving only means you’ll be assassinated later by other Triads
- Smoking Is Cool: You can make Maruyama do a cool pose with a cigarete for emphasis. Your max HP will suffer though
- Someday This Will Come in Handy: After talking to the sandwich owner twice on two different days, he will give a bag to Maruyama filled with 1 million yen that he claims Maruyama left for him to hold until he comes back. You might initially think the money is important but it's actually the bag. If you fill it up with money and then give it back to the sandwich shop owner, you can pick it up on the next playthrough with the amount you left in it.
- The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: Tossing a knife at an enemy will always result in a one hit kill on the poor sap.
- The Dreaded: The Oyabun is portrayed as this. He’s not always seen, but his presence is always felt. For example, the rival conflict between Azuma and Tanaka is cut short because he forced Azuma to relinquish control of the Mahjong parlor to Tanaka and Azuma knows this means Tanaka has the Oyabun's protection. In case you, might think this is an empty threat. If you attack the Mahjong Parlor territory after this, Maruyama will be unavoidably killed, by an assassin in his home or hotel room.
- The Exile: Can happen to Maruyama if certain story choices are made. All story events will end and you cannot leave the Countryside. Have fun fishing and drinking until the end!
- The Neutral Zone: Implied to be Main Street and municipal buildings like the School and Hospital. No gang holds territory and there are no rival Yakuza to fight.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: The only way the Azuma family can gain new territories or successfully defend their own is if Maruyama intervenes, or Maruyama personally funds for more Yakuza soldiers to protect an area.
- The Unfettered: It's up to the player if they want Maruyama to behave like this. At one point, Azuma notes that unlike the usual greedy or treacherous Yakuza around Maruyama's reliability, loyalty, and honesty makes it hard to know what's on his mind.
- Time Dissonance: One day of activity is actually a week in-game.
- War for Fun and Profit: A smaller scale war within Yakuza families, used to drive the plot and is the primary source of income for the player. Ending it is the motivation for Maruyama and Hanada to kill and replace the Oyabun.
- Wrecked Weapon If combat ends and Maruyama is holding an enemy weapon, he'll either slam the blade into the ground to destroy it or will dismantle the gun before dropping it. If it's the player's own gun, then he'll just store it in his clothing.
- Video Game Tutorial: A lengthy combat tutorial is given during the 1st gang fight, can be disabled on repeat playthroughs.
- Yakuza: Naturally for a story about a Yakuza.
- Yubitsume: Maruyama gives Kato this punishment for killing Maruyama’s hit without any authorization. This can also happen to Maruyama on certain choices and will severely decrease his Max HP.
