It’s 2008 and the AOL Instant Messenger is dead. With these words, the somewhat quirky simulation Emily is Away <3 welcomes you and wants to move you to Facebook, as that is the hot trend in 2008 that you now find yourself in. MyMMO author Mark Sellner has dared the time travel for you and is thrilled.
Emily is Away <3 is a strange game. To make that statement, just take a quick look at the Steam page of this hidden gem. What greets me there is a very pixelated profile picture, a strangely looking Facebook logo in a browser reminiscent of Windows XP times.
Paired with the game’s subtitle “It’s 2008 and AIM is dead.” For the younger generation explained: AIM stands for AOL Instant Messenger, which was something like WhatsApp before smartphones existed and less practical and nice, but still used by a lot of people. Until Facebook became big.
And exactly at this time, Emily is Away <3 pulls you back, as the entire game takes place in a Facebook interface from 2008. You play yourself in the last years of your high school career and have just signed up on Facenook, always much later than everyone else.
Facenook is not a typo, that’s what the in-game version of the platform is called and thus your gaming hub. Besides that, there are also playlists on YouToob and a lot of chats.
So much can be gathered from the screenshots on Steam, and that was more than enough to tempt me into investing €8.19 and try Emily is Away <3.
Your political uncle is getting mad about vegans
The game starts and I see a Facebook timeline that looks quite similar to mine today. The title shows me posts from a “wine-drinking mother” and my political uncle, who doesn’t find vegans that cool. I can then react to these, as is the norm on Facebook today, with an emoji.
Before I complete that, I even get to choose whether I want to play on Windows or a Mac. This changes the default backgrounds and the mouse cursor to perfect the time travel experience.
Once I have done that, I can view my memories, and then Emily is Away <3 jumps me into the year 2008, allowing me to register at Facenook for the first time. So I choose a name and a profile picture, register, and I’m in the middle of it.
In front of me is the empty Facenook profile of Mark, who is still a bit desperate trying to figure out what the game actually wants from him. A few seconds later, I receive a friend request from Mat Gursky, I accept it, and he writes to me immediately.
We seem to be good friends, because he happily with the charm of 2008 teen internet language about the fact that I’m finally on Facenook too. We chat for a while about school and about our mutual friends Evelyn and Emily.
Apparently, we’re both going to a party together; I just have to decide which one. Shortly thereafter, Mat has to leave again, he signs off and is no longer reachable. That’s just how it was pre-WhatsApp in 2008. A memory of a time that one has almost forgotten.
“Omgggggg you are finally here”
I hardly have time to indulge in nostalgia, as the next friend request comes fluttering in. Emily Singer wants to write with me. She is hosting one of the parties that I should be invited to. At the same time, Evelyn contacts me, who is throwing the other party.
A sound rings out that I haven’t heard in years, but still sounds strangely familiar. Evelyn has nudged me. I nudge back and grin like a fool at my screen. By the way, Emily also contacts me right away and is happy to finally see me on Facenook.
Evelyn takes the true 2008 route of first contact and writes me a joyous “omgggggg Mark, you are finally here”. I feel caught. In the chats with the different characters of the game, I always have multiple response options.
These always offer enough variance and are worded in such a way that I hardly notice that I can’t type freely. The fact that I do have to choose a response, which isn’t just there, but that I must type in random keys on my keyboard to enter the pre-formulated response myself contributes to this. What initially annoys me provides a high level of immersion and is quite superb.
Simultaneously, I have chat conversations with Evelyn and Emily. They ask me questions and I obediently answer them, just like 2008-Mark would have. Again and again, I catch myself clicking through the profiles of the two fictional women to make sure I answer correctly. You want to be liked in high school, after all. The two even send me music, links on YouToob with great Windows Movie Maker lyric animations behind them. Of course, I love Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire (Lyric Video) BRANDNEW, Evelyn. It has now become my favorite song.
We exchange chat messages, nudge each other, and write on each other’s walls. Unfortunately, Emily has to leave at some point because her father needs to use her PC. This nostalgia catches me again, wonderful. But she asks me to fill out a questionnaire that is totally in vogue.
Drama that you never wanted to experience again
Since Emily was much more likeable during the hours I spent chatting with both than the rebellious Evelyn, I naturally do it. I had to search a bit to even find the questionnaire. But Emily herself filled it out on her profile, so I copy it to my wall and fill it out.
I indicate in one of the questions that Evelyn and I are only “acquaintances,” not necessarily friends. A mistake, as I later realized. I was already aware that Evelyn wouldn’t like this designation, but it was simply irrelevant.
But even Emily brings it up to me, asking if I didn’t like Evelyn. A drama begins that could have very well taken place exactly like this in my school days. Exactly the kind of drama that one was glad never to have to experience again. Evelyn annoys me, Emily is disappointed, my old buddy Mat isn’t thrilled about the situation either, and I don’t understand why he has to meddle in this.
You already guessed it, at this point I was already so deep into the world of Emily is Away <3 that there was no escaping for me. I wanted to know what happens next, whether my advances with Emily would bear fruit, and whether Mat would break up with his girlfriend Kelly.
Without really noticing, it became late at night in the real world. I honestly talked with bots for 3 hours and 18 minutes without realizing it. I wasn’t bored for a second, and I didn’t want to stop, but I had to get up early the next day.
The game even builds a mechanic out of this. Because when I always finish my chapters diligently, the day also ends for me when the chapter ends. So I can simply continue playing the next day, and it feels even more real. After all, an entire day has passed for my new virtual friends as well.
School, or in my case work, is over, and you meet up on Facenook in the evening and discuss your day. While you’re on the go, this is simply not possible because it’s 2008, and clicking the internet button on your phone triggers nothing but pure panic.
The next day I chat again with Evelyn, Emily, and Mat. They show me music, tell me the latest gossip about fictional people I don’t even know. I’m so involved that I hardly notice. Later, Emily invites me to play Mario Kart with her, but I can’t continue the conversation because I have real-life visitors.
So sorry Emily, I have to go offline for today.
Conclusion: A time travel that is definitely worth it in 2022
The best 8 euros of my gaming year
Emily is Away <3 is a surge of pure nostalgia. At least for me, born in 1995, the Facenook simulation mirrors the everyday life of my 18-year-old self almost exactly. The characters and dialogues convince with depth and humor, while your decisions significantly influence the course of the game.
I admittedly expected nothing from the game except for a funny trip into the Facebook of 2008. I was then surprised by an emotional story and great characters that made me talk with a bot for over 3 hours. And was sad when the bot had to go offline.
The game may be a hidden gem, but I can only echo the 94% positive Steam reviews and highly recommend Emily is Away <3 to anyone who came from around that era. There are really hundreds of little details that perfectly transport you back to the Facenook of the 2000s. However, if you don’t connect anything with chatting before the times of WhatsApp, you might not enjoy the simulation very much.
Anyone who belongs to an older generation can also try out the two predecessors Emily is Away and Emily is Away Too. They take the time back even further than 2008 and build on the same concept.
Mark Sellner
Freelance author at MeinMMO
