This game has 9 reported Temporal Dark Patterns. There are 3 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
This game has 13 reported Monetary Dark Patterns. There are 8 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
This game has 0 reported Social Dark Patterns. There are 14 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
This game has 7 reported Psychological Dark Patterns. There are 7 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
iOS: | (4.50) with 1,509,835 votes. |
Google Play: | (4.36) with 2,423,109 votes. |
When beginning a chapter, you have to sit through 2 different ads - sometimes unskippable ones
Gems, a premium currency that allows the player to unlock specific choices in stories, can be bought with actual money. The earnings of independent writers depend on the amount of gems spent on their stories.
Every so often, the player will receive a special pass, which allows them to read unlimited episodes of an official story. This often comes bundled with offers that allow the player to earn additional gems by completing several chapters of said story. Episode Official stories are notorious for forcing the protagonist to be meek, selfish, and badly dressed if the reader doesn't spend gems by locking choices that correspond to assertive, selfless responses and good clothing options.
Passes are required to read any chapter after the 1st one; if the player doesn't want to buy any after exhausting their free ones, they have to wait 3.5 hours for 4 passes.
Passes, which are required to play, can be bought with actual money.
Episode VIP is a monthly subscription service that allows the player to receive more passes (or eliminate passes altogether), earn daily gems, and skip ads.
The more expensive gem choice will often be placed alongside a cheaper one.
Episode Original stories are notorious for having choices where the paid options are positive and the free one is negative - talking back to a bully versus letting her walk all over the protagonist, accepting an expensive gift from a friend versus rejecting it, going on a date with a love interest versus telling them to go home, wearing an expensive gown to a formal event versus going in a bargain bin dress or even a sweatshirt - the list goes on and on...