As many know, it’s easy to get sucked into things. For teens, that would be video games, especially new ones. Let’s take a look at a new game that has gone from something ordinary to the new norm.

Among Us is a multiplayer game that was released by InnerSloth, a game studio, on June 15, 2018. In just two years, this game climbed up in popularity and gained millions of downloads on mobile, and has also ranked the top game purchased on Steam as of September 2020. Never heard of it? Maybe it’s time to jump onto the train and dive into the game of deceit, betrayal, and murder.

What Is Among Us?

As stated before, Among Us is a mafia-type multiplayer game that you can play with friends or online, available on PC and mobile. Each game consists of 4-10 players, host of the game included, and 1-3 of them are randomly chosen to be the Imposters while the others are Crewmates, or otherwise “innocent”. You get to choose between three different types of maps; Polus, Mira HQ, and The Skeld. The most common map played on is The Skeld, which takes place on a spaceship and the crewmates have different tasks to fix the ship. Unlike The Skeld, Polus takes place on the surface of a snowy planet. It’s the only map where the players can go outside of buildings. The last map you can choose from is Mira HQ, which is a small office type map, also the smallest map out of the three.

Here’s the rundown of players:

The Crewmates’ Job:

As a Crewmate, the objectives are to finish your tasks, vote out the imposters, and mainly survive. All around the chosen map, you will have tasks scattered around. Every task you complete adds to the progress level that would be on the top left corner of the screen. Once every Crewmate finishes their tasks and the bar fills up, the Crewmates are victorious. Of course, there are other ways to win as well. You must become a detective to find the imposter(s). Keep track of who goes in what room, or if someone has been following you around for a while. There are 2 rooms with certain features that can help in keeping track; Admin and Security. Admin will have a table with a map that anyone can access to see how many people are in each room. Unfortunately, the identities of the players in each room are not shown, but it’s very helpful to catch the Imposter venting or to find someone that mysteriously disappears. The Security room is also another huge asset to victory. This room will allow you to access the cameras all around the ship, which can help you catch the imposter red-handed, or know whether someone is telling the truth. You should always be suspicious of everyone until they are proven to be truly innocent since there is no way of knowing who is and isn’t an imposter. One way that will 100% prove a person to be innocent are visual tasks, showing that they’re actually doing it. There is time to discuss with everyone when someone reports a dead body or calls an emergency meeting. During that time, use the clues gathered to make the best possible guess on who to be ejected out.

The Imposters’ Job:

When given Imposter, you only have one objective; kill everyone on the ship. This job also comes with the skill of lying and covering up your tracks. They do get tasks like Crewmates, however, they’re fake tasks, meaning you don’t do them. Instead, they’ll help in arguing your defense. To aid in the objective, Imposters get to mess with the ship, these being called sabotages. Sabotages can do a multiple of things to help the Imposter(s), such as dimming the lights, disrupting the communications, draining the oxygen, or plainly just locking certain doors. Imposters also gain the leisure of using vents throughout the map, or tunnels, making it easier to kill and navigate around the map. But this perk may also be the downfall of them if they get caught using them. Once getting caught onto, discussion skills come into play, trying to convince that you’re not the Imposter. If the Imposter(s) successfully kill everyone, they win the game. Even in a game with two or more Imposters, if one dies, the other(s) can still carry on and try to win the game for them.

What are your thoughts on Among Us?

Now that you’ve heard the different parts, all that’s left is for you to try Among Us for yourself and make up your thoughts on this popular game. Here are some different perspectives from people who’ve already experienced the thrill of the game.

“I enjoy it a lot. It has pretty simple gameplay elements, but despite that it has lots of different styles of playing the game which makes it versatile. It’s also really good for playing in a group of friends. Doing so allows for a social aspect. Even beyond that, if you get a group onto a discord VC, it’s fun to play detective and to try to figure out who the imposter is, or to be the imposter and to try to get away with it. So because of the kinda murder mystery aspect, it adds a whole ton of fun into the game.” – Alyssa Duncan, 10th 

“Among Us for me is a pretty fun game on having to find out who the imposter is. I like being a crewmate having to do a list of tasks like mini games but playing imposter is… an experience. Being impostor in Among Us can be pretty stressful if you are the only one. Having to kill every crewmate and getting away with it is also really stressful for me.” – Ethan Pena, 5th

“In my opinion the game is really good and fun but it seems to be played out already. I can’t imagine myself spending more than 20 hours on it. The concept and the vibe is there but is it oh-so repetitive. It is just a fad that won’t really leave an imprint on gaming or anything. Which is sad to see as the game does have potential. Only time can tell really.” – Nate Bancroft, 10th

“Among Us can be really fun and easy to learn for new players, but it can be taken to advanced levels to people who know every in and out of the game. There are many things that an expert player can take note of, like who and when to vote, who voted who, when the cameras are blinking, where who and when to kill, etc.” – Gavin Pena, 9th

Even though this game seems to be very simplistic, due to its plain graphics, it packs adrenaline, stress, happiness, anger, and revenge all into one game; all of those things keep the game fresh and new. Whether it’s your 5th game or 25th game, the world of gamers is ready for you. Come and dwell among us. 

Paez, Danny. “’Among Us’ Dev Offers Disappointing Update on Progress for Xbox, PS4 Ports.” Inverse, Inverse, 17 Sept. 2020, www.inverse.com/gaming/among-us-xbox-ps4-release-date-update.

“Among Us.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_Us.

Among Us, Innersloth, Sept. 2018, www.innersloth.com/gameAmongUs.php.

Dexerto. “Among Us 2 Announced: Release Date, Sequel Features, Price, More.” Dexerto.com, Dexerto.com, 19 Aug. 2020, www.dexerto.com/gaming/among-us-2-announced-release-date-sequel-features-price-more-1408006.

Stella, Marloes Valentina. “Among Us Maps – Learn Your Way around Each Level as a Crewmate or Impostor.” Gamesradar, GamesRadar+, 29 Sept. 2020, www.gamesradar.com/among-us-maps-guide/.