Emily Is Away 3 joins the Facenook era in April
Emily is...torturing me with a reflection of my past
Remember when we went from neon text away messages to status updates that started with a mandatory "Your Name is..."? I sure do, though not willingly. Social media series Emily Is Away is likewise fleeing the world of instant messaging and moving to "Facenook" just like so many of us did in 2008. Emily Is Away 3 officially launches on April 16th and you can take a look back in time right now in this horrifyingly accurate new trailer.
Previous Emily Is Away games are some of the best visual novels on PC and Emily 3 looks to be drafting up some of the same uncanny nostalgia. "Customize your facenook profile, send some friend requests and determine the outcome of your senior year," developer Kyle Seeley says of the newest post 'em up.
It really does have everything: Lady Gaga videos, Post Secrets, personality quizes, FarmVille and all sorts of other 2008-isms I'd succesfully repressed. There's poking. I remember the poking.
It's an impressive recreation, so much so that it gives me a horrifying feeling of secondhand embarrassment. Emily's post titled "just being random" with vaguely attention-seeking answers to silly questions is not a mirror I was planning to gaze into today. Sorry Emily, I actually lived through highscool in 2008 and I don't know if I can do it again.
Like prior games, Emily Is Away 3 has multiple endings based on your choices and how you interact with your Facenook pals. You know, like real life. "Everything your character says is up to you. Build up your relationships up, or burn your friend group to the ground," Seeley says. It may feel a bit too close to home for folks in my age group but heck, maybe it would be nice to just burn everything down this time, huh? I am such a total pyro, right?
Alright, I've got to escape this trap before I accidentally hurt myself. It is not lost on me that my RPS profile image looks very much like something that should be a Facebook profile picture. My only consolation is looking back at RPS posts on past Emily games and watching everyone else cringe with the same reluctant self-reflection. Help, I think I'm having an allergic reaction.
Emily Is Away 3 launches on April 16th over on Steam and Itch.