Exactly. I don’t know how physical, mental and/or emotional abuse [which is actually traumatizing to those who’ve experienced it, before… and can trigger their PTSD] is allowed on Episode, but 90% of horror content is somehow against guidelines?!
It’s a shame that everything is so strict… because just imagine the amazing visual content that authors could [and would] put out, if their creativity wasn’t forced to remain hidden. 
They really made a horror genre which is pretty much mixed in with thriller at this point! Horror is meant to be bloody and show a lot of gore, that’s what the genre’s theme is
Exactly. I decided to try to write my story in a book format instead and maybe publish on wattpad or something like that. 
Don’t feel like getting banned for ‘breaking guidelines’ lol
At this point, I wonder why they gave us either genre to us-- the limits on both are ridiculous. How do you write horror without blood/gore? How do you write a crime thriller without being able to detail the crime? It’s pointless and at least 40-50% of the ones I’ve seen are romances with a dash of either genre thrown in to be able to post stories in lesser-used genres so that they can trend.
And yet… they don’t allow it.
Sure, we can have blood… but only small blood overlays. And we’re not allowed: Blood, body and weapon all in the same scene. We can have two of the three, but not all three. But then… how are we supposed to make scenes realistic?!
For example: CHARACTER1 just threw an iron at CHARACTER2’s head… and CHARACTER2 dies, without any visual injury to his head. 
But in reality there’d be a wound in the very least.
Episode basically wants its cake and to eat it too. Most interactive story apps are rated mature, but Episode decided to be the one interactive story app that is rated 12+ to try and fill that niche. The app did all right when the guidelines were looser and there was less competition. But once they decided to adjust the guidelines to actually be in line with 12+ content, there was an exodus. Not all at once, it was more of a slow trickle out as more and more new apps appeared. Now, it’s abundantly clear that to be a truly successful interactive story app these days, you need to have mature content. But Episode already doubled down on being “child friendly.” So they’re trying anything and everything to be able to compete in a market that is no longer what it was even five years ago. As a result, they’ve decided to take the “from a certain point of view” approach when applying the guidelines to “romance” content because they know it’s the only way to compete. They allow it because they are a company that needs to make money, and these days what makes money is horribly toxic love interests combined with lots of smut. Meanwhile, they’ve come down extra hard on things such as violence and gore. Heck, I had one scene where I modeled some of the imagery off of a scene from one of my favorites children’s films and they made me change it. They rejected something that was in a G rated animated movie!!! But I digress… because I’m still really bitter about that. 
I get the impression this “new story type” thing probably will be prose related somehow. I haven’t been reading that much on the app anymore, mainly because I’ve got my own stories to work on and very little free time to do it. But the one thing I noticed more and more, to the point where I would click out of a story and be done with it once I saw it, was excessive narration and descriptive prose. To me, this is ridiculous for a visual storytelling medium because you should be showing not telling. But given that it’s become so prevalent, maybe Episode is looking to cater to it somehow via some weird Frankenstein’s Monster version of the app that mixes large amounts of prose and animation? That’s really the only thing I can think of.
I’m so sorry. I don’t think Episode’s review boards are even that conscious of what does and doesn’t pass in kid’s media today. I’ve witnessed plenty of breakthroughs in children’s programming lately. Even stories directed at younger audience can handle heavy topics and nuance in an age-appropriate way. Episode doesn’t even let us try. I’ve been writing a story on and off for seven years. Now, I have to go back and delete or rewrite half of my early scenes because the app and its culture have changed so much since 2016.
I could see why they would want to head in that direction. Platforms like Wattpad maintain a steady tween-teen audience. But you’re right; that just doesn’t feel very Episode. If you neglect the visual element, it’s a completely different app.
bbuummpp