Emily is Away <3 Review (patrick is away)
Gosh, I don't even know what to say, I just want to rant. It's hard for not only a game but a piece of media to be so compelling, so talkative to me. I have to admit I am a bit biased because I'm a sucker for old stuff, specially 00's-10's, but what a game. I've beaten this many times, and it just gets better.
These games, and specially the last one embodies youth so well through the simulation of a screen. It's all you can ask from something so simple, yet in my opinion so effective. That damn Moody Rain website? C'mon! Pure gold!
There's set pieces in the game meant to trigger your anxiety, to make you doubt yourself and even now as I play this game as an adult, I just can't seem to not bite the bait sometimes. A great example of this is the scene where you 'ditch' Evelyn so you can help Mat, and even though you, Mat, Evelyn and even the game itself knows this is the right thing to do, the last thing you see in that chapter is a secret message Eve made on Steve's wall.
As I teenager, I regret not just shutting my mind of off problems completely and just enjoying the moments, specially relationships that I had back then. Today, those problems are such a minor inconvenience, that only served to steer my way out of enjoyment and fun, which those years should all have been about, or should I just say 'enjoying it before it ends'. When something is just too good and you don't want it to end, wether it be a music, a moment or even a person.
And I think that's much of the confrontation part. It's okay to be insecure, and even though the game may not answer normally and comprehensive to it, it certainly has its ways of rewarding you for trusting your heart with it. Instead of going the hard way and facing Eve, simply choosing it to let it slide gives exactly what you wanted from the very beginning. Eve says that she loves you for the first time, the guy you were worried adds you and suddenly doesn't seem so bad anymore.
Fast-forward to the last chapter, Eve and you are better than ever, and even though she might seem 0,01% 'off', it just comes with it. Teenagery, I mean. College is coming up, you don't know what the future holds both for your relationship and your career, not even if you'll make it to your friends last BBQ before it all ends.
And there it is. Uncertainty, written all over it. It's hard growing up, hard to leave those things behind, but looking back and seeing that even though they ended... they happened. Well, I guess whatever happens, happens.