My Greatest Regrets in Video Game Romances, Part 2

A couple years ago, I lamented over the fact that a younger version of me had dedicated to romancing Ashley Williams in Mass Effects, and just to catch you up on why this was such a regrettable decision, I have a short nine word story for you if you don’t want to read the full article. She’s a space racist. A spracist if you will.

And as we approach Valentine’s Day, it’s time to approach the other in-game romantic paths I have walked down, so join me as we pivot to the great regrets in my video game romancing. Some perhaps deserving of mockery and some, just reflections about personal growth. Everything About the Emily is Away Franchise

This one may be a little disingenuous since the point of these text-based visual novels is to explore the human condition within in the context of social media. Ultimately, all three games play out in a series of binary paths that only have so much variation and inevitable conclusions at the end of it (although variance becomes much more pronounced in Emily is Away Too and Emily is Away <3). Emily is Away is conducted through an AIM style chat box as you converse with the titular Emily. As a child of the 90s whose first and only AIM account was made for them (shout to mikkelroxdaparty), this was immediately evocative of an older, slightly simpler time, and I tried my best to navigate the fictitious relationship. The highs, the lows, the awkward conversations, and the ultimately doomed final farewell where, even as I was breaking, my cha…