Emily is Away

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 77 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 77
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 77
  3. Negative: 8 out of 77

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  1. TitaniumDragon
    Dec 29, 2015
    6
    Five conversations with a high school friend that your character apparently likes but you can't really fess up to.

    Pretty short (bit over half an hour), and it is a decent piece of interactive fiction. It made me feel kind of bad for the protagonist, but it was pretty obvious from early on with the dialogue choices what was going on - the character was obviously jealous and a bit    Five conversations with a high school friend that your character apparently likes but you can't really fess up to.

    Pretty short (bit over half an hour), and it is a decent piece of interactive fiction. It made me feel kind of bad for the protagonist, but it was pretty obvious from early on with the dialogue choices what was going on - the character was obviously jealous and a bit possessive, and actually playing as them was mildly disturbing in some ways. Still, it does what it does well enough, so if a bunch of awkward IM conversations by two people who aren't you is your thing, you might like this.    … Expand
  2. reviewfrom19842
    Oct 27, 2016
    8
    Great game. A coming a age game that has a great story and it's free nothing to waste expect time. Great good you should play it right now it is great.
  3. aditya1101
    Dec 28, 2020
    1
    Honestly, this was a pretty underwhelming visual novel esque game. The connection between your choices and the resulting actions never felt very strong, and there wasn't really anything in this game to rescue it from mediocrity.
  4. Bruterake
    May 25, 2020
    5
    Jogo de chat pra tenta fazer chorar ou refletir seus atos com um protagonista que digita tudo errado, se tivesse metade de um cérebro tinha pegado ela.
  5. TheMasiMan1
    Jan 24, 2016
    8
    Simple, easy, good. Those are the three words I got to describe this game. I like it. Its really simple.

    Down side is that its REALLY REALLY short. It tooke me less than 45 minutes to complete, but it is a free game and it dosent take alot of room on your hard drive. Its a fun little game to play, if you need to kill some time.
  6. Lennonfire
    Dec 21, 2015
    8
    The game is about you and your friend Emily as time goes on yours and her friendship will get further and further apart... im not going to spoil the ending... i will let you find that out for your self Overall this game has been one of the best free to play games i have played in a long time it is available on steam and i highly recommend you get it
  7. Mellow_Online2
    Jan 11, 2016
    4
    I don't downright hate Emily is away it's just that it doesn't use it's setup that well. For a game that's trying to be a "be nice to people or they'll think your bad so speak nice to them" games like Telltale always pump out But for free I'll say this game is okay. The main thing that I find wrong with Emily is away is that it builds up the relationship with Emily wrong. It's trying to beI don't downright hate Emily is away it's just that it doesn't use it's setup that well. For a game that's trying to be a "be nice to people or they'll think your bad so speak nice to them" games like Telltale always pump out But for free I'll say this game is okay. The main thing that I find wrong with Emily is away is that it builds up the relationship with Emily wrong. It's trying to be a game similar to Telltale games where characters are affected by what you say. It has this feature but unlike Telltale they don't use this well. Emily never brings these up and seems these opts are only there so they can call themselves a Telltale esque game. The main thing is Emily is away doesn't exactly use the relationships well. All the stuff that has happened off keyboard (When you're not talking to Emily) is all hidden and cryptic as if you were already supposed to know what happened whereas the whole game is you just typing on your keyboard so there's no way I could know what happened at certain events. There is one chat every year which sort of also effects the memory system. Even if the memory system worked how could she remember something, a tiny little comment I made a year ago, how could she remember that? If you're going to do this sort of game make it happen one after another or make the decisions and dialogue bit more dynamic.

    I'm not coming out here and saying "I downright hate Emily is Away!" because I don't. I don't like it but I can see y other people do. It has a gr8 setup and unique concept. The only way u can affect anything is through speech. your main weapon is your voice. It makes things a bit harder where u can't exactly save someone's life and have them instantly like u forever. There's no way to do that, it makes things a bit more trickier that way and makes it more realistic. It's not like your going to save someone's life in your everyday life is it? The style the game is set out in is also cool. It's set in I think an old windows 2000 and acts like an old windows instant messenger service complete with it's look and sfx.

    Overall I think that the game isn't necessarily bad it just feels lacklustre. There doesn't seem to be any reason to play it, it doesn't bring anything new to the table, it doesn't specifically do anything to stand out.

    Pros:
    Gr8 design
    Good setup
    Good sfx

    Cons:
    Lacklustre
    It does nothing to stand out
    the remembering system is unnecessary as you'll get the same ending no matter what
    only 30 mins long

    Final Verdict: 4/10    … Expand
  8. keanex
    Dec 7, 2017
    9
    I'm giving this a higher score than I really feel that it deserves. I'm doing so because it's quite a unique game that evoked an emotional response in a short time. I found myself going back to some of the chapters and trying to change things. I'm going to leave the spoilers out of this, but the game is free and it takes about 30-45 minutes to complete. It's a nostalgia trip for anyone whoI'm giving this a higher score than I really feel that it deserves. I'm doing so because it's quite a unique game that evoked an emotional response in a short time. I found myself going back to some of the chapters and trying to change things. I'm going to leave the spoilers out of this, but the game is free and it takes about 30-45 minutes to complete. It's a nostalgia trip for anyone who grew up using AIM.… Expand
  9. PublicNuisance
    May 2, 2020
    9
    Emily is Away, if nothing else, is a fantastic nostalgia simulator for the early 2000’s time period and more realistic story than I thought it would be. First off it does a damn impressive, near perfect job of recreating using a computer and MSN Messenger from all those years ago. Everything from the sound effects for shutting down; keyboard noises; hard drive noises; I’m even sure I couldEmily is Away, if nothing else, is a fantastic nostalgia simulator for the early 2000’s time period and more realistic story than I thought it would be. First off it does a damn impressive, near perfect job of recreating using a computer and MSN Messenger from all those years ago. Everything from the sound effects for shutting down; keyboard noises; hard drive noises; I’m even sure I could hear that damn hour glass as things loaded. The interface as well was damn near perfect for the XP era. As for the story it does things a little differently. Unlike in many visual novels you don’t get the girl and ride off into the sunset. You pine for someone who ultimate didn’t want the same thing you did and they drift away out of your life over time. I think most people would relate to that story in some way or another. There are a good deal of choices although overall they can’t make a major impact as the end is rather linear. There were also times I wanted to berate the main character you play for only having cringy things to say that felt clingy but thinking back to when I was their age I can’t say I would or did do better. Points for realism again I guess. One thing that was also different was normally you click a button to move to the next piece of dialogue but in this game each click is a character of your response to give you the feel of actually having an IM conversation.

    I played Emily is Away on Linux. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any spelling errors. It uses the Unity engine. Alt-Tab didn’t work. There is no manual save, it auto saves each chapter. Normally this would bother me but it is a short game.

    Disk Space Used: 66MB
    VRAM Usage: 501-534 MB
    CPU Usage: 1-5 %
    RAM Usage: 2.8GB

    I would easily recommend Emily is Away for VN fans. It does a fantastic job with the interface and atmosphere. It has a decent twist to handling the story and subject matter than most in the genre. I finished the game in 35 minutes but I think it uses it’s time wisely and doesn’t waste anything. More modularity in the story would have been nice but it’s a fantastic game anyway. It is free but I donated $5 CAD because the game is worth money to me.

    My Score: 9/10

    My System:

    AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 5700 XT 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 20.0.5 | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB | Manjaro 19.0.2 | Mate 1.24 | Kernel 5.6.7-1-MANJARO    … Expand
  10. joaogiorno
    Dec 2, 2015
    9
    This game is simple. You are thrown back in the early 2000's, there's a girl called Emily that you start to get attached to and you start to text her. The game covers the texting parts of your relationship in a brilliant way. The nostalgia of using Windows XP to talk to a crush I had back in school days hits the player really hard as the game simulates a system based on that MicrosoftThis game is simple. You are thrown back in the early 2000's, there's a girl called Emily that you start to get attached to and you start to text her. The game covers the texting parts of your relationship in a brilliant way. The nostalgia of using Windows XP to talk to a crush I had back in school days hits the player really hard as the game simulates a system based on that Microsoft system.
    The relationship between the two of you start to grow and reaching new levels. There will always be 3 different reply options that you can choose, even though the outcome of the events will be pretty much the same.
    I won’t give you any spoilers but what I can tell is that this game has a very powerful message once it is completed. It took me a while to put the pieces together and get what the game was actually all about. That’s all I can say. Play it. It’s a free-to-play game on Steam that is 100% worth all the time and patience put into it as long as you keep your mind open.    … Expand
  11. russiangamer
    Jun 9, 2016
    9
    Очень короткое и довольно интересное чтиво.
    Сюжет-это просто разговор двух давних друзей,но это подано довольно интересно.При входе в игру мы как-бы включаем свой компьютер на win XP,выбираем аватарку(порадовало их разнообразие и куча отсылок к музыке,фильмам,играм) после этого начинается переписка.Улыбка появлялась от некоторых фраз,а так же понравилась,что ваш герой может сделать    Очень короткое и довольно интересное чтиво.
    Сюжет-это просто разговор двух давних друзей,но это подано довольно интересно.При входе в игру мы как-бы включаем свой компьютер на win XP,выбираем аватарку(порадовало их разнообразие и куча отсылок к музыке,фильмам,играм) после этого начинается переписка.Улыбка появлялась от некоторых фраз,а так же понравилась,что ваш герой может сделать опечатку,а потом сотрёт её и напишет заново,или когда он переписывает целые предложения-это выглядит реалистичней, но когда я узнал,что каждое нажатие любой клавиши=одной букве из заготовленного предложения,я реально почувствовал себя героем фильмов,ведь они там со сверхзвуковой скоростью печатают,вот и я так-же :)
    В итоге скажу,что советую уделить время на данное творения,лично я не пожалел.    … Expand
  12. RealLeather
    Dec 23, 2015
    9
    One of my favourite titles in recent memory but devoid of any real gameplay or graphical prowess or anything else to be honest... But it does have a simple, engaging story and great writing. This is a look back at the early days of social media and how we pick and choose our words sat behind a keyboard. Unpretentious and to the point and executed with great taste.
  13. Alexmcnamee61
    May 23, 2016
    9
    If you didn't already know, “Emily Is Away” is a popular indie game revolving around you - the player - and your social interactions with the character of Emily via an online messenger over the 2000s. You're both similar ages, you both went to the same school, and you're "friends". By the end of the game, however, all this changes, as you deal with Emily's social life the only way a goodIf you didn't already know, “Emily Is Away” is a popular indie game revolving around you - the player - and your social interactions with the character of Emily via an online messenger over the 2000s. You're both similar ages, you both went to the same school, and you're "friends". By the end of the game, however, all this changes, as you deal with Emily's social life the only way a good “friend” can.

    I put “friends” in inserted marks because it becomes obvious very soon into the game that feelings develop for Emily. You want Emily to like you, to date you, to become your best friend or whatever, but as the game progresses, it becomes increasingly unlikely that this’ll actually happen.

    “Emily Is Away” is relatable. Scarily relatable. For the 95% of you that HAVE been friendzoned, you’ll relate to this game and the character of Emily in a very real way. You’ll realise that perhaps she isn’t as deep as the Coldplay quotes she posts on her bio, or perhaps her relationship with Brad isn’t as “good” as she’s making out. I won’t ruin it, but I will say that the ending leaves you with a severe sense of dissatisfaction, as if you really could’ve done something else.

    As an indie game, it’s not perfect. It revolves around the “choices matter” premise, except here, they don’t. One way or another, Emily will find a way to friendzone you. Whether it be through your choice of hooking up with her and abandoning your friend Emma when she was vulnerable, or letting the feelings you have for each other go unfulfilled because of Emma, Emily will never be best pleased with you. Which is really the point of the game. You can’t always win.

    But I would highly recommend “Emily Is Away” if you haven’t already played it. There’s a lot of subtext, some of which I probably missed, which can enhance your playing experience greatly. You’ll find something to appreciate in the game, even if its’ message is about as subtle as the Nazi manifesto. It has a few small problems, but they’re not really enough to merit a negative mark, considering how well its’ done.

    In short, we all know an Emily. And if you don’t, then sorry to say, but it’s likely that you are one.

    Pros: Good premise, relatable characters, good atmosphere, good nostalgic pop culture references, good ending.

    Cons: More endings, possibly more time to interact with Emily and/or other characters.    … Expand
  14. SuperWonjune
    Mar 10, 2016
    10
    me : Hi
    emily34 is away

    since when did games became so realistic?

    10/10 beautiful real-life messanger simulator.
    Please make facebook version so I can perform some un-returning likes and pokes
  15. CenkAlp
    May 10, 2019
    6
    Hikaye = 7
    Oynanış = 6
    Grafikler = 4
    Sesler = 4
    Keyif = 7
    Atmosfer = 6
    Süre = 6
  16. JoseAngel47
    Mar 1, 2019
    9
    This game felt realistic to me especially since I felt this game hit me on a very personal level
  17. HunterSeeker
    Jan 31, 2022
    4
    This is one of those games where the choices you make has very little impact on the actual ending. It's meant to be nostalgic but it kind of sucks mashing a random key on my keyboard just to progress text. I think what's super lame is the lack of choice at the end where you can choose something but the game types out something completely different making your choice null. Fake choices suck.
  18. shockeroo
    Dec 3, 2015
    6
    A clever little piece of interactive fiction that evokes memories for anyone who had a thing with a girl on MSN or AOL Instant Messenger in the early 2000s. More of an interactive fiction than a game, and that's about it as you can't influence the story hugely, just change the course of events that take you to pretty much the same ending. An excellent hour's nostalgic distraction for someA clever little piece of interactive fiction that evokes memories for anyone who had a thing with a girl on MSN or AOL Instant Messenger in the early 2000s. More of an interactive fiction than a game, and that's about it as you can't influence the story hugely, just change the course of events that take you to pretty much the same ending. An excellent hour's nostalgic distraction for some of us, but that's about it. Worth all of the $0 I paid for it, and I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that it's over so soon and there's so little replayability that I would have been disappointed had I paid for this. As a freebie, it's been enjoyed, appreciated, and put back on the shelf, probably forever.

    NB - as this is about a girl crush over an Instant Messenger, there's little here for hetero girls or gay guys.    … Expand
  19. BlueCatPK
    Apr 24, 2021
    9
    I'm in this photo and I don't like it.

    Between the early 2000s Windows XP/Instant Messanger aesthetics and the simulated conversations between friends slowly drifting away, it hits your nostalgia hard.
  20. RagingPoet
    May 8, 2018
    8
    Emily is Away is a good little game of mildy branching dialogue in nostalgic environment.
    Player gets no actually impactfull choices (other than simply sabotage a conversation), so the game can have linear but strong ending. And it works great, just like it worked in Telltale Walking Dead Season 1.
  21. wagaylagay
    Jul 30, 2018
    7
    In the very first place, the game attracts most players (even me) with simply designed graphic and gameplay plus old-school XP desktop background. The in-game character, Emily offers players a
    block of variable reactions to what they choose to reply her. But the game itself disappoints its dear players with some glitches in gameplay mechanics. Despite being a social network program    In the very first place, the game attracts most players (even me) with simply designed graphic and gameplay plus old-school XP desktop background. The in-game character, Emily offers players a
    block of variable reactions to what they choose to reply her. But the game itself disappoints its dear players with some glitches in gameplay mechanics. Despite being a social network program simulator, there's no way for messages to be deleted once they were typed down. The game mostly always turns into a same ending no matter what decisions a player makes or at least, desires it to end as he wishes. Besides, the ending scenario is convoluted and desperately illogical, which is more likely rushing and forcing the game itself to finish off much earlier than expected. In conclusion, 'Emily is Away' totally deserves a medium rating for its developers have dedicated to the game's story and their efforts in composing a virtually clever conversation among players and Emily.    … Expand
  22. Dariya
    Jul 2, 2021
    10
    Summary:
    Really liked this game! It's so simple, but at the same time, very meaningful to me.
  23. Wondux
    Aug 19, 2022
    5
    This game was OK. I loved the nostalgia. However, the game does not have much to give. It is very short, and the interactions between the characters are not too well-written. Still, it set the mood right and made me sad or happy at times.
  24. Echozone
    Feb 25, 2022
    6
    Pretty short game and has a decent story. The ending was pretty underwhelming, although realistic I suppose. Good ideas but should have been developed further.
  25. AV-
    Apr 28, 2022
    9
    sad, just so sad. its a free game that takes 1 second to install. try it out and enjoy the story
  26. KrowKrof
    May 13, 2023
    6
    ........................................................................mid
  27. KinimodYunmi
    Jul 12, 2023
    6
    Why is she just away I loved her so much :(
    Moment, wait a second, why do u put my real life story in a game?