Emily is Away <3 is the third entry in the visual novel/social media simulation interactive story adventure thing series about relationships. It’s bigger, it’s… somewhat better and it’s quite different with its move from simulating AIM/ICQ to Facebook. And I kinda liked it.
As with the previous entries, the game is played by simulating the experience of internet interactions with several teenage friends and going through a relationship online. The game is about twice longer on the first playthrough, though it doesn’t outstay its welcome. And even though it doesn’t portray the interactions that accurately, it’s pretty good at evoking the right mood and easing you into becoming a teenager again (if that’s something you can do, depending on your age and personal experience, of course). There’re more elements to interactions, more characters, more nuances, and yet the experience feels even more natural now, with less of a barrier between the onscreen character you’re controlling and the real you, if you wish to project yourself into the story. It was super easy for me, that’s for sure.
Yet, the game makes a really bizarre choice that’s completely normal for a typical visual novel, yet feels out of place in this, far more personal, narrative game – it requires you to play through it multiple times to get more variations and endings. In fact, the first ending you can get is always the bittersweet one, with more bitter or more sweet becoming available only after the first playthrough. Which means, that first time around the game just ends without ever feeling like there was any conclusion. And given the nature of the game, I don’t want to play it again because I wouldn’t do anything differently. As such, I really liked the game, more than the first two titles, but I still feel like some of the decisions felt really forced on and broke the otherwise really natural flow of the story. If the game looks or sounds in any way interesting to you, definitely give it a go.