Try Diplomacy!
I have found Diplomacy to be an amazing solution to this sort of issue. Originally played by mail in the 60s (famously known as US President John F. Kennedy's favorite game), Diplomacy maintains a strong remote gaming presence, but now in an online setting. The original game has 7 players but they have variants with down to 2 players, or up to 36.
HOW IT APPLIES TO YOU
You can all get on with your buddies and set the game up to have 15 minute phases between moves (if everyone presses ready, it automatically processes to save time) and you can play for 3-5 hours to make for a fun game night that way while voice calling or in-game chatting (be careful of your volume when someone screams after a backstab hahaha).
Or you can set the phases to 24 hours so people have more time to play and can focus 10 minutes everyday on it. (best for people with busy schedules like me)
Just make sure you make these games private as the community is very good and playing with friends is considered "cheating" as it may provide you with reasons outside of the game to remain loyal to someone / an alliance.
SUGGESTED WEBSITES
Modern Minimalist Interface, No Variants, Medium Community, free, no ranking system what-so-ever:
Backstabbr
Easy-To-Read Interface, Some Variants, Large Community, free but you can donate, competitive point system:
Web Diplomacy
Easy-To-Read Interface, Most Variants, Small Community, free, point system:
Variant Diplomacy (Made by Creators of WebDiplomacy as a 'experimental website')
Modern Easy-To-Read Interface, Very Few Variants, Large Community, paid subscription for extra variants and other features, point system:
Play Diplomacy
I personally used Backstabbr until the frequent CDs from online players got to me. I am a proud WebDiplomacy user now. I like the interface of PlayDiplomacy but I do not entertain the idea of a paid subcription for "premium" features.