Pretty Little Liars new “Episodes” Mobile game is sexist and a rip-off according to fans

As a fan of Pretty Little Liars, I was floored when I downloaded their new mobile game, Episodes. It wasn’t the load time or the graphics that caused me to want to throw my phone out the window, it was deeper than that.

After downloading and getting to my story, the game started off wrong with five words: “Welcome to Rosewood, new girl”. I get it, most fans that do watch the show are women but there are male fans out here as well. I understand that the game may have been rushed due to the last 10 episodes of the hit TV show airing in 2017 and this is a great way to capitalize as the app has already hit over 10 million downloads on Google Play. But, they made a big mistake by alienating a gender that watches the show as much as women.

As the game went on we get the option of making a character. But, you only get one choice, a female, which makes no sense since some of the major characters in Pretty Little Liars are men. Maybe some fans don’t mind but I felt disrespected by not having a choice in the matter.

We learn that our character is the daughter of the new Chief of Police and the first person she meets is Alison. She invites you to the barn to meet the rest of the girls but then the game hits a snag. Alison tells you, that you should change clothes but in order to do so it will cost you 10 gems, which is not bad, but you only start the game with 15.

As the game goes on there are a series of questions that you must answer but once you change clothes you are practically broke and now must spend REAL money to do certain things. I’m playing as I’m writing this so I don’t want to give the game plot away. But it was just to voice my concern about the choices I was not allowed to make.

As a fan that is male, I find it sexist that I wasn’t given a choice as a character. While the game is a great idea and has a great storyline, it fell short where it mattered most. Give the men that play at chance to be the Police Chief, Ezra, Caleb or even share in the ‘A’ adventures with Hanna, Spencer, Aria, Emily and Alison.

We watch the show and deserve that much.

Mark Wilson

Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.