Choose Emily is Away
Choose Emily is Away if you want an Adventure, Free To Play, and Casual experience. 22,782 Steam reviews back the pick.
Emily is Away vs Over The Phone
Emily is Away and Over The Phone both land in Indie, Simulation on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Indie, Simulation on Steam. Emily is Away (2015) is 6 years older than Over The Phone (2021). Emily is Away scores higher on Steam reviews (87.3% positive) than Over The Phone (85.5% positive). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Over The Phone
Choose Over The Phone if it's the newer release (2021) and ships with the modern feature baseline. Over The Phone launched in 2021.
Both Emily is Away and Over The Phone sit in Indie and Simulation on Steam, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (87.3% vs 85.5% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 Emily is Away |  Over The Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Genres | Indie, Adventure, Simulation, Free To Play, Casual | Indie, Simulation |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS |
| Steam Deck | Unrated | Deck Playable |
| Price | Free to play | Free to play |
| Steam reviews | 87.3% positive (22,782 reviews) | 85.5% positive (76 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Single-player only |
| Developers | Kyle Seeley | Ramify Games |
Side by side
- Both share Indie, Simulation on Steam.
- Emily is Away (2015) is 6 years older than Over The Phone (2021).
- Emily is Away scores higher on Steam reviews (87.3% positive) than Over The Phone (85.5% positive).
- Both are free to play.
- Over The Phone is Deck Playable on Steam Deck; Emily is Away has no Deck rating yet.
Emily is Away vs Over The Phone — FAQ
- Should I play Emily is Away or Over The Phone first?
- If you want chronology, Emily is Away (2015) came out before Over The Phone (2021). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Emily is Away and Over The Phone similar?
- They overlap on Indie, Simulation on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.