Release Date: 20/11/2015
Played On: Win
Available On: Linux / Mac / Win
Time Played: 1h 2m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Kyle Seeley
Publisher: Kyle Seeley
I always think it's a little weird to think of internet trends in terms of eras and generations. Then again, we've been interacting and socialising online for a long time now, so it's bound to reflect the ups and downs of real life to some extent. While I wasn't young enough for the super early stages of the internet, I was definitely around for the ICQ/Netscape/MySpace era.
Fortunately (maybe unfortunately) that happens to be the era that Emily Is Away attempts to invoke, as it tells its story from a fictional desktop of times past. You might be aware that I'm always sceptical of nostalgia, as I don't always consider it as having much value on its own. However, sometimes there's more than superficial reminders that take you back in time.
The game itself is simple, as it attempts to convey a simple narrative through a somewhat authentic interactive interface. Most of your time will be spent reading chat conversations in the game's chat program. Even then, most of your time will be spent talking to a girl called Emily, who will ultimately be the protagonist of the story.
Over time you get to know Emily and talk about things that you've done together in the real world. She reminisces about parties and events in order to push the plot along, but it's your interactions that will shape how the story unfolds.
As the entire game is set in a chat window, your responses to questions and the choices you make will have some sway on what comes next. When you have the option to reply to something Emily says, you're presented with a few options to choose from. Although, not all options are blatantly clear, and sometimes they can be confusing. The key is that the choices you have before you are only indications of your response. It's only after choosing one that you see what your character will type out on the screen.
I'm not sure if this was intentionally vague, but I actually enjoyed it as a mechanic for the game's dialogue. Occasionally I would select a response that I thought meant one thing, only to be surprised that I actually responded in a different way. This could definitely be a point of contention for some, as there isn't a clear reason why in some cases, but I liked playing it loose and seeing what happened.
After all, Emily Is Away could easily be summed up as a pretty emo turn of the century story. A lot of the content concerns gossip and relationships and school, which rang a little too true for me. Sure there's some bad and obvious writing in parts, but I remember the iCQ days of chatting to friends online and the kinds of conversations we'd have. Not to mention how everything seemed a lot more important and dramatic when we were young, so I have to give the game points for accuracy.
In fact, part of me wants to write off Emily Is Away for being a predictable teen drama, which it certainly is. Although, there were enough moments along the way that rang true for me and reminded me of the kind of crap we would all talk about in chat rooms back in the day. At worst this game could have been ripped straight from the logs of an old mIRC session, while at best it might be accurate enough for that to be true.
I'm trying to put my finger on it, but there was something sentimental about playing through Emily Is Away. Like watching an old John Hughes movie, or the first season of Skins. In a way it manages to capture the essence of growing up and dealing with raw emotions and sensitive situations for the first time. It's easy to look back on those days and laugh at how misguided we were as children, but it doesn't mean that it felt any less important at the time.
Emily Is Away manages to capture the feeling of chatting to friends at night in my bedroom when I was in school. There'd always be someone who had some sort of drama going on, so we'd hash it out and talk about it for hours. We'd crack jokes, talk shit, flirt, and spend hours idling online without any words written.
Perhaps we take it for granted these days, but I remember seeing someone's status change to "away" and what that meant in the moment. Maybe it was expected and fine, but there were also those moments when you're in the middle of discussing the something that seemed incredibly important and they'd disappear mid-conversation. It's become a bit of a joke these days thanks to most chat programs showing when someone's typing, but back then there was no indication of anything at all.
Of course, this is all simply a way to try and justify nostalgia playing a role in the amount that I enjoyed my time with Emily Is Away. As much as I hate to admit it, this game managed to hit me right in that sweet spot where years of my life came flooding back whether I wanted it to or not. This little free game managed to hit on some emotions I haven't encountered since I was in school, so I'm simultaneously impressed and annoyed.
Having said that though, the actual content of Emily Is Away feels pretty straight forward and the story isn't going to blow anyone's mind. The appeal in the game comes from the attention to detail and the way that the game's interface has been defined and refined to invoke those long gone days. There's no mystery going on, and there's no major twists and turns. Simply put, this is a pretty emo story of some kids figuring out their lives like they're in an online episode of Degrassi.
Part of me always feels like free games should get a free pass to go with the price, but occasionally I don't think that's true. Free or not, I hate it when a game wastes my time and has nothing to offer in return. Thankfully, even though Emily Is Away doesn't really go through the roof, it delivers enough to make its short playtime feel worthwhile. Even if it's just for that pang of the old days when we were all stupid kids figuring things out and getting way too emo about nothing at all.
The references and popular culture elements may be all 2002, but the theme of young and immature people figuring out how to navigate life is actually quite universal. Except, I feel like if this was made five years later it would have been far too foreign for a 90s kid like me. Now if someone could just go and make a game that takes place entirely on fictional IRC servers, that’d be swell.