Game Design as Narrative Architecture Sketchnote
Emily is Away: Reflection
Game overview & audience
The game Emily is Away, created by Kyle Seeley, is a visual novel designed for anyone who has experienced the slow drift of a once-close friendship, or an awkward “situationship” that never quite became what either person hoped for. The target audience includes people who grew up with early 2000s internet culture, as well as anyone who has felt the bittersweet distance that can grow between friends over time. I played through the entire game, which is divided into six chapters. Each chapter represents a one-year time skip, following the protagonist’s online instant message conversations with their friend Emily—from their senior year of high school through the final year of college. Across these five years, the player witnesses the evolution (and eventual fading) of their relationship with Emily, with each chat feeling more distant than the last.
Home page of Emily is Away, showing 6 chapters to the game
Narrative strategies (4 E’s)
One of the most distinctive aspects of Emily is Away is its use of evocative spaces. The entire game takes place through a nostalgic recreation of the early 2000s Windows desktop interface. The chat windows, buddy icons, and personal profiles mimic the look and feel of AOL Instant Messenger, complete with sound effects like mechanical clicking of keyboard sounds and message alerts. This nostalgic interface immerses players to a specific moment in time: a time when people would chat with friends into the late night on AOL. This evocative design choice evokes the emotional context of youth, intimacy, and digital connection that defines the game’s tone.
Nostalgic UI
The game also incorporates an enacting narrative. While the player cannot directly type messages freely, they enact the experience of chatting by physically pressing keys to “type” responses. Each time the player types, the protagonist automatically completes a prewritten message, sometimes typing something and then deleting it to rephrase, reflecting the protagonist’s internal dilemma. This interaction reflects the increasing emotional friction between the protagonist and Emily as they grow apart. The limited control over dialogue reinforces the feeling that the player, like the protagonist, can’t entirely steer the relationship, which is an effective way to immerse the player in the theme of miscommunication and lost connection.
The embedded narrative also plays an important role. Although players only chat directly with Emily, they can explore other characters’ online profiles. These profiles often contain song lyrics, quotes, or vague status updates that mirror each character’s emotional state. For example, reading a friend’s profile might reveal subtle tension or heartbreak that parallels Emily’s changing tone. This detail builds a sense of a larger world that continues beyond the player’s direct conversation with Emily. It’s subtly adds emotional depth to the story without requiring explicit action from the player.
Player can see the protagonist’s list of online friends
Each online friend has a personal profile that reflects their emotional state
Subgenre and narrative affordances
Emily is Away falls under the visual novel and choose-your-own-adventure subgenres, though it is presented entirely through a simulated chat UI. The minimal visuals keep the player focused on text and timing—players can infer character emotions from the pace that Emily types, how the protagonist types and deletes, etc. The nostalgic computer interface serves as both setting and storytelling medium through evocative narration methods as mentioned above.
Player can see if Emily hesitates in typing
The decision to use a limited branching structure also supports the theme. While players can select dialogue options, the outcomes remain largely fixed, which reinforces the feeling that relationships often slip out of our control despite our best intentions. Even when I tried to steer conversations toward honesty or reconciliation, the protagonist often deleted what I wanted to say, typing something more neutral instead. That moment of deletion felt like a big reveal for the protagonist’s emotions— regret, fear, and indecision.
Personal feedback and inspirations
What stood out to me most was the way the game externalized internal thought. Seeing the protagonist type and delete their own words mirrored the real-life hesitation between vulnerability and restraint when typing a hard text. This mechanic, combined with the act of typing even though the responses are predetermined, made me feel more connected to the protagonist’s emotions. I wasn’t just watching their story, I was physically embodying their awkwardness and uncertainty.
The sound design also contributed a lot to the immersive quality. The mechanical clicks, message pings, and the hum of the virtual desktop created a surprisingly strong sense of presence. I especially appreciated the designer’s consistent use of evocative narrative through UI elements — it showed how small aesthetic details can carry emotional weight.
On my second playthrough, I noticed how linear the ending actually is. Even if I chose dialogue options that attempted to confront Emily directly or confess something deeper, the protagonist would often delete those lines, leading to the same goodbye ending. Initially, I wanted more direct feedback from my choices, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense thematically. Relationships often end not because one person decides they should, but because inertia and unspoken words let them fade. The lack of branching endings underlines that feeling. Some things are simply out of our control.
Player is forced to end this relationship with Emily with only ‘goodbye’ options
If I were to take inspiration from this game in my own narrative design, I’d focus on creating emotional tension through evocative and embedded storytelling — letting the medium itself (the act of typing, deleting, reading profiles, etc.) communicate emotion.
Empathy and takeaway
I believe Emily is Away successfully draws empathy toward the universal experience of relationships growing apart over time. It reminds players how friendships can fade even when neither person intends them to. The player’s limited control mirrors real emotional helplessness: we can try to say the right thing, but timing, circumstance, and fear of vulnerability often determine outcomes more than we do.
The game made me feel both nostalgic and melancholic. The contrast between the opening and closing chapters hit hard — from “best friends forever” to awkward small talk by the last chapter. By the end, I was reminded of many relationships in my personal life that also grew apart, not out of bad intentions from either side but just from uncontrollable factors. Overall, I’d say Emily is Away is a simple but very effective exploration of emotional distance.
