It's rough around the edges and hostile to first-time players, but this is truly a work of art.

I think most people will find this game to be quite captivating, providing they start playing by knowing a few key things. Learning the systems and controls is a big hurdle, but is well worth your time.

In Fading Afternoon, you play as a character whose maximum health deteriorates gradually over the course of a playthrough. Several of the given locations that you have access to are random every time, and the decisions you make, the order in which you do things, and failing to complete tasks will all impact your playthrough and how your game ends. As such, this game is worth playing multiple times, and it should be noted that the "easy" mode is very much recommended for beginners.
The controls are very obtuse, and brake a lot of tried-and-true conventions, but they can be mastered, and ultimately give you a unique experience that most games would not attempt.

It's easy enough to see from the screenshots that the visuals are just gorgeous. However, playing it and seeing it in motion, feeling the seasons, weather, and time-of-day change as you explore lovingly detailed spaces is really special. The music also sets an incredibly sombre tone, and is mostly jazzy instrumental tunes. This is the best game soundtrack I've heard in a long time, and it eases the pain of the games' repetitious mechanics.

It's worth playing this game just to stare at the artwork and listen to the music, but the core gameplay is also very engaging.

The combat controls are pretty nuanced, but you can get pretty far by just button-mashing and accidentally discovering combos. There are a nice selection of enemy types and although the way weapons (knives, swords, guns) function was frustrating to me for a long time, I do think they are implemented correctly because they never trivialize fights.

Genre-wise, this game threads a needle between beat-em-up and management sim. Your time will be spent fairly evenly between killing thugs, and exploring the game world/experiencing the story. Given the main character's increasing weakness over time, how you spend your time and money has a huge impact on the story.

You'll fall in love, you'll meet old friends, you'll build an empire and waste time shooting pool and playing baseball. You'll start growing a beard, gamble away your money and wake up on a bench wondering how it got this bad, then retreat to the countryside to end your own life. You'll have a cigarette on your balcony and get lost in thought, you'll get a massage and hit the sauna. You'll get drunk, you'll buy a house, you'll fish until the sun sets.You'll dream about your younger years when you had more stamina. You'll be backstabbed, you'll fail your boss, you'll lose your fancy sunglasses when they get knocked off in a fight; this game has it all.

I personally experienced a few bugs but never had a crash or anything that softlocked my game or forced me to start a new save. The game's structure is fairly complex so admittedly, failing enough tasks in the game means starting over fresh is the best option.

To summarize, it's a beautiful game that's not very approachable, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. If you ever find yourself complaining that most games are too generic in this era of gaming, you owe it to yourself to try Fading Afternoon.