Emily is Away <3 Review (Bobinsox)
Massive spoiler warning for Emily is Away, Emily is Away Too, and Emily is Away <3!
This review is really being written for people who have played all of the games in this series so far.
With that being said:
I hate how the game basically gaslights the player into thinking they were either too controlling and manipulative, or too lax on the relationship during the first playthrough. This is despite the fact that no matter what you do in your first playthrough, your relationship with either Emily or Evelyn is over. You can also make the exact same choices you made in a new game, and have a better ending happen. This fact alone makes every other ending feel cheap and bitter, knowing you SHOULD have got them instead. Choice was removed on the first playthrough for a cheap and emotional "gut punch" ending that won't happen in any other playthough.
I think literally no game in existence should ever do that to the player, and it felt like a huge "frick you" to someone who was actually sort of invested in the story and cared about some of the characters. With that said, I don't get why they did this whole "always a bad ending on first playthough" thing. The first game, Emily is Away, does this sort of thing too. Thing is, at least the ending felt natural, sudden, and was pulled off in a heartbreaking and relatable way. This game felt like they tried too hard to match the first game in terms of feelings, but actively FORCED the bad endings of the second game on the player rather than having them naturally occur due to your bad choices having impact. Kind of disappointed in this game, because the other two felt so real and stressful. This one just pissed me off with how strange the writing direction was.