Fade

Not to be confused with Faded.

fade. (pronounced “fade point”) is a survival horror game developed by ACS Production Studio Osaka and published by ACS. Released in 2000 for the PlayStation as an exclusive title. It is the second survival horror game by ACS, released after the 1997 title Planet 19-11.

In 2017, an HD remastered version of fade., alongside its sequels, fade.II and fade.III: Left Behind, was included in fade. Complete Collection, released for the Samsung Zeo.

Gameplay
The game plays similar to most survival horror games. Players control either Darryl Roberts or Anna Thornton (depends on which disc is played) as they search for the truth behind the events that took place in the White Dove Orphanage years ago, all the while fighting hideous monsters using guns or melee weapons, and solving puzzles to access certain parts in the game.

The game has no visible HUD (aside from a bullet count that appears when the player is aiming), and the health status of the character can only be seen through the inventory screen, accesed by pressing the Square button on the PS1 controller. In the inventory screen, the health status is represented by a picture of the character’s face, with the color behind the picture showing how strong the character is.


 * Blue: 100-75% of health left. The character is in perfect condition. The charcater can move around freely with little to no problem.


 * Green: 75-50% of health left. The character, while damaged, is still in fair conditon. A slight decrease in the character’s running speed can be seen, but the character is still fine otherwise.


 * Yellow: 50-25% of health left. The character is in bad condition. The character will be shown to hold on his or her arm when in this state, and there will be another drop in running speed.


 * Red: 25-1% of health left. The character is in really poor condition and must be healed instantly or else he/she dies. At this point, the character will begin to walk limply, and will lose the ability to run until he/she is healed.

The player could pick up healing in certain parts of the game, which are as follows:


 * Medicine

Bottle of herbal medicine said to heal sustained injuries.

Heals 25% of damage.


 * First Aid Kit

A box full of first aid items like bandages and some medicine.

Heals 50% of damage.


 * Painkiller

A syringe filled with some type of painkiller.

Completely heals and negates all damage for a certain amount of time.

Throughout the game, the player could also pick up weapons, key items, ammunition and written files. The player’s inventory can houses an unlimite amount of items, so the player won’t have to worry about running out lf slots.

The player could save their game progress using altars, which are found in various “safe rooms” around the orphanage. These safe rooms also tend to contain several healing items and ammunition, as well as being one of the rooms where enemies cannot follow.

The game mostly takes place in the dark, thus the player character has a flashlight, which is to light up the dark pathways, and can be turned on and off. With the flaslight off, the monster won’t be able to spot the character, thus allowing players to get away without fighting or sneak up on the enemies and kill them in the dark, but the player also cannot check on things or look at the map as a result. Certain rooms also have a light switch that can be turned on, but this only affects said room and not the others, and some rooms don’t have a light switch at all.

At certain points in the game, the player would come across a strange red mark. This mark acts as a “portal” to an alternate reality known as the “Otherworld”, identified by its gory, hellish environs. There are certain points in the game where the player must switch between the first and second worlds to obtain various key items and get aroud places that are inaccesible in the first world.

The original game is divided into two discs, with the first disc containing Darryl’s campaign, the first part of the game, while the second disc contains Anna’s campaign, which picks up right after Darryl’s and concludes the story. The re-released version for the Zeo omits the double-disc elements, and joins the two campaigns together.

Ranged Weapons

 * Handgun

A compact 9MM pistol. Simple enough, and quite reliable. Uses 9MM parabellum bullets.


 * Shotgun

A double-barrel sawed-off shotgun. Packs quite a punch. Uses 12 gauge shells.


 * Submachie Gun

An imitation model of a tommy gun. Can shoot rapid fire bullets. Uses .45 ACP bullets.


 * Bolt Rifle

A bolt-action rifle. The type of gun that’s commonly used in deer hunting. Uses .35 shells.


 * Gunblazer’s Revolver (Unlockable)

As seen in the video game, apparently. One shot to kill ‘em all. Comes with an unlimited stock of bullets.

Melee Weapons

 * Kitchen Knife

Kitchen knife with a stainless steel blade. Quite dull and has a short range.


 * Baseball Bat

Wooden baseball bat. Pretty easy to carry, but not too powerful.


 * Ice Pick

Sharp tool used for breaking large ice blocks. Short-ranged but quick.


 * Lead Pipe

Pipe made out of lead. A bit heavy, but light enough to swing around.


 * Butcher Knife

Large knife made for cutting meat. Heavy but quite powerful.


 * Axe

Axe used to cut firewood. Very heavy and very capable of chopping.


 * Taser

Portable taser. Stuns the enemy with a surge of electricity.


 * Chainsaw

Heavy duty diesel chainsaw. Even a slight touch can slice up enemies.


 * Dragon Gauntlets (Unlockable)

A legendary martial artist wore these. Significantly powers up punches.


 * Musashi’s Katana (Unlockable)

Used by a legendary samurai. The blade can cut through almost anything.

Story
The White Dove Orphanage, an orphanage located in a small town near Pensylvania, USA. Back in the day, the White Dove Orphanage was a somewhat peaceful place. With nary a sight of anything peculiar or supernatural.

Until one night changed the orphanage forever.

October 6, 1979. 20 of the 24 children in the White Dove Orphanage were found unconscious on their beds. The deaths were sudden and unexplained, and were believed to be the work of something that is not human.

Three of the children managed to escape the orphanage, leaving behind the other children behind, who at that point, were all dead. Meanwhile, the one other child who was absent that day, Emily, was never found up to this day.

Since then, the orphanage has been closed down, and has never been set foot into again.

Twenty years after the incident. October 6, 1999. The survivors of the incident still bear the trauma from witnessing the horror that unfolded that fateful night.

Darryl Roberts, one of the survivors, grew up to become a succesful engineer, and also lived a peaceful and happy life with his wife Martha, and their newborn daughter, Jenny. However, despite his new life, he is still haunted by his past experiences in the orphanage in a near-daily basis, constantly dreaming about the deaths that he witnessed.

Meanwhile, Anna Thornton, another one of the survivors, used her struggles during childhood as an inspiration to create art, and became an artist. Painting particularly grim pictures that told several stories about fear and death. Like Darryl, she is continually disturbed by her memories of the orphanage, and how she lost a lot of her childhood friends that night.

Thus, on the day of the incident’s 20th anniversary, October 6, 1999. The two decided to finally solve the mystery once and for all, and re-enter the now-abandoned orphanage, in order to release the burdens from their past and figure out the reason behind the mysterious deaths that night.

Part 1: Darryl
The game begins with Darryl Roberts, having finally found the place that has been haunting him for over twenty years: the White Dove Orphanage. Bringing a 9MM pistol, a flashlight, and a rucksack with him, he faces his nightmares once and for all to get to the bottom of things.

Later on in the game, he finds a cubicle in the girls’ washroom which is locked up tight. After opening up one of the cubicles, he found a mysterious mark on the wall on one of the cubicles that looks like it was drawn with blood. He touches the mark, and suddenly, a mysterious voice began invading his head with remarks like “yoi don’t belong here”, as he begins to feel a strange pain on his head. Soon his vision starts blurring and he loses consciousness.

When Darryl woke up, he found himself in a different, yet somewhat familiar place. The mysterious voice then spoke again an told him that was “the Otherworld”. In the Otherworld, he finds himself face to face with a horribly disfigured monster. After killing the monster, he continues his journey.

The mysterious voice continues to guide Darryl throughout his journey in the orphange. Later on, parts of Darryl’s past get revealed, like his grudge against his biological parents, who left him in the orphanage, and him bullying the other children, including Emily. Eventually, it was also revealed that the mysterious voice is none other than Emily herself, seeking revenge against Darryl for all the time that he had bullied her during her childhood.

Near the end of the Part 1, Emily eventually reveals herself to Darryl, wh calls her out for all the the things that she has been doing. However, instead of listening to him, she instead unleashes “Mom and Dad”, a pair of monsters closely resembling his biologocal parents.

Darryl was able to defeat the monster, and was about to shoot on Emily, when Emily sends the bullet back to Darryl, which fatally wounded him. Emily then walks away, leaving Darryl to die.

Part 2: Anna
Part 2 takes place a few minutes after Part 1 ended, and begins with Anna Thornton, another survivor of the incident in the White Dove Orphanage. She had not brought any items with her, other than her portable taser, but this did not bother her one bit.

As soon as Anna enters the orphanage, Emily’s voice began to speak and told her to enter the girls’ washroom. Anna then enters the girls’ washroom after which Emily tells her to go to the Otherworld. There, Emily decided to play a little game of maze with her, ultimately leading into a room containing Darryl’s lifeless corpse. Emily then tells Anna to take everything from Darryl’s rucksack.

Later on in the game, it was revealed that Anna and Emily used to be best friends, as both of them were being bullied by the other kids in the orphanage, but on the day of the incident, the two had a fight, which is what ultimately caused Emily to turn sour against everyone from the orphanage, and send the Otherworld monsters to the orphanage to kill everyone in it.

It was also revealed that the current Emily that has been haunting Darryl and Anna is nothing more than what is left of her soul, as the real Emily had long died of starvation after being left behind.

Near the end of Part 2, Anna decided to call out Emily as a friend for everything that she has done, to which Emily responds by physically attacking her, telling her that she should have died alongside everyone that day. Despite her protests, she was forced to fight Emily, eventually beginning the final boss fight against Emily.

Anna eventually defeats Emily, after which she apologizes to her former friend as she goes to escape, as the Otherworld had began to fall apart after the fall of Emily. Anna then makes a successful escape from the Otherworld and eventually runs a way from the orphanage, but not before bidding farewell to everyone who died in the Orphanage.

Endings
Depending on whether the player was able to fulfill the requirements or not, there are three possible endings in the game:

Good Ending
Years later, Anna debuts her newest masterpiece to the public: “Little Emily”, which was created as a dedication to her old friend, who had turned to darkness, and was eventually killed by her best friend out of mercy. As the people applaud her work, she sheds a tear for her friend.

Meanwhile, back in the orphanage, Emily was shown to rise from her supposed “death”. After this scene, the text “TO BE CONTINUED” appears on-screen.

Bad Ending
Anna then wakes up in a padded cell, her arms tied around with a straitjacket. She tries to let go from the straitjacket, but she was unable to. Eventually, it was revealed that she was hallucinating the whole thing in the orphanage, and that she had actually been killing her friends and co-workers.

Meanwhile, as soon as the guard leaves Anna in the padded cell, Emily was shown standing nearby. She then begins to smile and laugh in sheer glee.

Happyland Ending
The art style changes into more of a childish cartoon style, as Anna finds a key to something called “Happyland”, where she found every single person person the orphanage who was thought to be dead, alive and in their 20s, as they frolick around in the bright and colorful candyland-esque place.

Soon, Darryl, alongside a cheerful Emily then walks toward Anna and tells her to join them. Anna then smiles and decides to join them. Before the ending ends, the three were seen happily sliding down a rainbow.

Characters

 * Darryl Roberts

Age: 29

Voice Actors: Hideyuku Hori (JP), Michael Naishut (EN; original), Liam O’Brien (EN; rerelease)

Darryl Roberts is an engineer who is currently living a peaceful life with his wife and daugher. Darryl was one of the few remaining survivors of the White Dove Orphanage incident, and has since been constantly haunted by the things he saw in the orphanage.

In his younger years, Darryl used to be a bully, often taunting and berating other children in the orphanage. However, the incident eventually triggered a change of heart for Darryl, as he saw the kids that he used to bully, dying in horrible ways. Darryl then proceeded to escape, but brought along two more children alongside him.

Darryl is a somewhat serious person. He usually remains unfazed when facing various things, unless it’s about his past in the orphanage. Darryl loves his wife and daughter more than anything else, and often thinks about what they are doing whenever they are not around. He is also implied to be very faithful to God despite the things that he had suffered through.

Darryl has short dark brown hair and black eyes. He wears a brown sweater with a white shirt underneath, dark blue jeans and black leather shoes.


 * Anna Thornton

Age: 25

Voice Actresses: Noriko Hidaka (JP), Kimberly Forsythe (EN; original), Amanda Winn Lee (EN; rerelease)

Anna Thornton is a young, aspiring artist known for her grimdark paintings, inspired by her past memories. Anna was one of the few remaining survivors of the White Dove Orphanage incident, and, like Darryl, is constantly haunted by her experiences in the orphanage.

In the past, Anna was constantly bullied by the other kids at the orphanage because of her odd personality. She only had one friend in the orphange, Emily, who shared her struggles against bullying. In the night of the incident, Anna searched for Emily everywhere, but couldn’t find her. When Darryl found her that night, she was torn whether to stay or escape, but eventually went on to escape with Darryl, her mind still worrying about her friend.

Due to her experience with bullying, Anna tends to be a bit seclusive. She only showing herself amongst her few friends, or during art exhibits. Despite this, Anna values her friends and holds them in high regard because of a promise that she made to herself after surviving the incident that she will never leave a friend ever again. Anna is also a very religious person, and her faith to God remains no matter what.

Anna has shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. She wears a blue open denim jacket, with a cropped white t-shirt with a black cross-like design underneath that bares her midriff, blue jeans and black sneakers.


 * Emily

Age: 24 (biological), 4 (physical)

Voice Actresses: Ikue Otani (JP), Bianca Allen (EN; original), Cassandra Lee Morris (EN; rerelease)

Emily is the mysterious voice that constantly messes with the protagonists Darryl and Anna. Emily used to be a normal kid, but is now nothing more than a vengeful soul seeking revenge against everyone from the Orphanage.

Life has been hard for Emily ever since she was young. She lost her parents at a young age, and was subsequently sent to the orphanage. There, she was met with lots of bullying, and a severe lack of friends. With no one to fall back on, she eventually found a book about entering “the Otherword”, which, along with her desire for revenge, eventually led to the incident in the orphange.

Emily is manipulative and ruthless. She wants nothing more but to make Darryl and Anna suffer by leading them to their breaking point. Emily seeks revenge against everyone from the orphanage, and will stop at nothing until they are all dead. She also seems to hate any and all kind of religion, possibly due to her being one with the Otherworld.

Emily has long black hair and black eyes. She wears a short bood-stained light pink dress and is barefoot all the time. Due to being a mere spirit, Emily still possesses the apperance of a four-year-old.

Trivia

 * The unlockable New Game+ weapons are references to other ACS titles: the Gunblazer’s Revolver is the same one used by Victor Giovanni in the Gunblazers series, the Dragon Gauntlets appear similiar to the gloves used by Genzo of Fighting Champions, and Musashi’s Katana is a replica of the one used by Musashi in Legendary Blades.


 * In fade., the Triangle button is used for running, while Square is used for the inventory. This is in contrast to most other survival horror games, where Square is for running, while Triangle is for the inventory. However, there is an option to use the more conventional method in the options menu.


 * In the Part 1 intro, Darryl was shown to give his daughter Jenny a locket before he left. This locket was later seen again in fade.III: Left Behind, where it was worn by the teen-aged Jenny around her neck. The locket contained a picture of Darryl alongside Jenny during her preschool graduation.


 * Darryl’s infamous line of “Is that a door right there? Looks like a door.” was actually the result of a mistranslation in the script, which was wholly translated from Japanese. Nevertheless, the line became a popular meme among the ACS fandom, and was often used to highlight the game’s poor translation and voicework.


 * It is commonly believed that Anna suffers from Asperger syndrome, citing her repetitive interest in painting and use of verbal tics on her speech. However, this would have been historically inaccurate, since Anna was born in 1974, and Asperger’s hasn’t been made into a diagnosis until 1992.


 * In several concept artworks, as well as her 3D render in cutscenes, Anna is shown to have a navel piercing. However, due to the PlayStation’s graphical limitations, this is never shown in her in-game model. The HD rerelease fixes this, however.