Emily is Away <3 lets you live an idealized childhood
It’s 2008 and AIM is dead. All of our friends are moving onto a new form of social media, and it’s time to get with the times. We won’t be able to go back to middle and high school memories, but hopefully we can create some new ones.
this 2015 game takes place where the player is made to talk to Emily using a messenger service like MSN or Facebook Messenger. the story unfolds in a choose your own adventure style visual novel based way. with each year you get to know Emily a little better but you also learn your choices have some rather large impacts.
Overview
Starting in 2002 the player has online conversations that span over 5 years with what the player chooses to say, defining the next aspect of the story. with seemingly minor choices such as whether to go to a party or not impacting the rest of the game.
Core Mechanics
Choice Words.
the way the player communicates with Emily is by choosing one of three options of what to say. Starting off fairly innocent but quickly the player realizes that they cant just choose anything expecting the same outcome. making for a at times depressing and regrettable feeling emerge as each conversation unfolds.
Emily
this may seem odd to have a character as a mechanic but in truth the way the game plays Emily herself is both a character and a narrator. as you progress you get pieces of the story handed to you in retrospect as Emily asks you if you remember this or if you meant to do that. leaving the player both in shock or anger, sometimes depressed at the conversation unfolds revealing what you made happen.
when a choice is made and you can see the impact almost immediately and thinking ‘oh, that was a bad idea’. it leaves the player feeling like they have really made a mistake and hurt someone.
Innervation
the way the game innervates is by using subtle but very effective techniques to immerse the player in the game from the subtle of each chapter giving the player the choice to change their display icon to something related to that particular year. or the more in your face with the typing mechanic of the player hitting any key rapidly to type out the response and seeing the thought process as the game goes back and deletes its spelling mistakes or removal of certain words or phrases as you hold back your answer. as if to say ‘no i don't want to tell her that’ or ‘lets see what she says first’. which in some cases takes control away from the player but is delivered in a way that i think almost everyone who has used a chat service will agree they have done.
Why is it on the list of ‘Games a Designer should play?’
when you break it down to its bare bones this game is simply very, very clever story telling where the game allows the player to get attached to character we have never seen and know only through text. through subtle immersion and playing with the players emotions through text. its a great example of what a game can be, its not exactly fun. in all honesty its quite depressing and shows that a game should be an experience, good or bad. it also shows that you can do a lot with a little. when the player is put in familiar ground they feel comfortable. but when you then add something the player doesn't expect it can really change the overall feeling of the game. where Emily went from being my best friend to being someone i knew i was never going to see again, and i only had myself to blame.
