Image: Among Us
If you’ve been anywhere around the internet over the past month, you know about a game called Among Us. This game has been on the top charts on Steam, YouTube, and Twitch constantly. To say this game was a sleeper hit is an understatement. Among Us, created by Inner Sloth, was actually released back in 2018; 2 years ago. There are a few possible reasons why this game got as popular as it has: 1. Among Uswas promoted within the Henry Stickman Collection of games which was also created by Inner Sloth (so self-advertisement on their part) or 2. The game got popular because of everyone still being trapped in the COVID-19 Pandemic. I want to say both are very plausible reasons, but the second is the most likely for its success. Regardless, it’s a really fun game that even I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of and I would like to share it a bit with you.
Among Us is a simple game. The premise is that you and up to 9 other players are working in some sort of large facility in space. You are all given random tasks to do and each one is different than the last. Things seem normal. The problem? There is an imposter. Or imposters. You see, up to 3 imposters can exist in each round of Among Us, but no one but the imposters themselves know who’s who. Everyone else, the crewmates, are completely blind to who’s the imposter. All they know is that there is one among their group and they need to find out who it is while the imposters go around and sneakily kill as many crewmates as possible before someone finds a dead body and reports it. Once reported or if someone calls for an emergency meeting, everyone still alive must discuss with each other who they suspect is the imposter. They are given around 60 seconds to decide and vote who is the imposter. Once votes are taken, the one with the most votes is ejected and turned into a ghost for the rest of the round. People can skip votes too if they want so no one gets ejected. Whichever side outweighs the other in the end is the winner. Until then, the game plays as do tasks, avoid the imposter/kill a crewmate, find a body, report it, and vote on loop.
Image: Among Us
The game is as simple as they come, but the chaos that has come out of it has been absolutely insane in the best way possible. The fact that no crewmate knows what’s going on makes everyone suspicious of one another leading to both trust and mistrust of their fellow crewmates. The imposters need to think cleverly on how and where they are going to kill their crewmates while also doing their best to hide the fact that they’re the imposter. The best part comes with the discussions. Either through chat or video call (Discord seems to be the main source of this), people will talk to each other in order to figure out who they think the imposter is. There’s a lot of blaming, a lot of speculation, and a lot of yelling. The good yelling, thankfully. Also, seeing someone try to lie their way through the game as the imposter in order to win is just satisfying to watch. We, as humans, know how to lie. But, we normally have the urge to be honest because honesty is good. So, to have us step into the shoes of a deceiver and basically go to the dark side for a bit is a lot of fun. And watching the absolute chaos ensue while knowing the truth is all the better. This game breaks friendships more than Mario Party does and I didn’t even think that was possible.
In my experience with Among Us, it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve mainly been playing with complete strangers online because I don’t really have any friends to play it with (not everyone I know are games, but yeah…). Some people are legitimately fun to play with. Others are jerks (as expected from the internet). And some people just leave while the game is still going, but you play on anyway. Regardless, good times are bad. It’s something that everyone can play no matter what kind of gaming experience they have. You don’t have to be an expert or even a gamer. You can just come in, learn the rules, and play at your own leisure. It’s honest good fun with no long-term responsibilities attached.
Image: Discussion Board
Among Us is a simple game. The way it blew up is fascinating. No one saw this coming. I doubt even the team at Inner Sloth did either. But, it became the sleeper hit we know today. It got so popular that Inner Sloth plans on improving the game even more than before instead of making a direct sequel. I say that’s a really good call. The game is over 2 years old and in desperate need of current day improvements. Thanks to the simplicity of the game, that shouldn’t be too hard of a task to do. I forget exactly what they’re planning, but I’m hoping for updated graphics (while still keeping the cute, cartoony style), more features, and more maps. I think they have a Henry Stickman one already planned. I’m looking forward to it. Though we may forget this game after the pandemic’s over, I hope we can continue to have fun with it while we can. It’s possible that we can still have fun with it after we’re allowed to go back to normality after all this is over. I’m still thankful that this game became a hit when it did because it provides something that we need now: human connection. Much like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, we need a game that can let us talk to others and feel like we’re still hanging out and having fun with each other like old times. It’s been a rough year for all of us no matter what kind of victories we’ve had. Having no one to connect with is the worst. I’m glad we can find at least some solace in the video games we play.
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