During quarantine, many trends have come and gone, taking the world by storm only to be forgotten a week later. The Korean whipped coffee trend, Joe Exotic, and my personal favorite, the e-girl bangs. But all of these have come and gone, and now there are new things capturing everyone’s attention, particularly, a game called “Among Us.”
Among Us is an online, multiplayer game that revolves around a crew of tiny space-men on a ship, and the hidden impostors among them. It can range from four to ten players, with one to three imposters hidden in the mix. The goal of the game for the crew is to either complete all the tasks on their personal lists to repair the ship, or to vote out all the impostors in a group chat. But, with impostors who look just like them sneaking around in vents, sabotaging the ship, and killing crewmates, that can be exceedingly difficult. It is a combination of Hide-and-Seek, Tag, and the popular camp game, Mafia.
But what about it is just so interesting? I wanted to find out for myself, so I played the game both with and without my friends to see what was best about both.
Still without playing with friends, it is an incredibly fun game. Even not knowing anyone, there are lots of opportunities to meet new people and enjoy yourself. You can choose from a dozen colors and many different hats to customize your character and changing your username is extremely easy. While some people use this inappropriately, I have seen a lot of fun combinations, like fruit themed characters such as lemon or lime. Even on its own, the gameplay is super exciting.
As a crewmate you must try and keep an eye out for anything suspicious so you do not get killed during the play time and during meetings, a timed group chat where you can talk about what you have seen and try to vote off the impostors, try and convince everyone of who is or isn’t the impostor. Being framed or tricked can be frustrating, but that’s part of what makes it so exciting as a crewmate. You think everyone is suspicious and everyone thinks you are suspicious, so surviving comes down to a lot of strategy and luck.
Playing as Impostor is quite different. You must be sneaky and cautious, if anyone catches you doing anything even slightly suspicious, you could end up voted out. You can get caught red-handed killing one of the crewmates, seen climbing out of one of the vents, something only the impostor can do, or even get caught pretending to do a task. Some players have figured out creative ways to catch the impostor, making it difficult for them and their teammates, so it often comes down to strategy, luck, and being a good liar.
Playing with friends, whether that be on a small group game or calling each other while playing together on a public server, is more fun. I played on a public server with a few friends on the phone, and it was the most fun I had on a multiplayer game in a long time. As Impostor you must be even more careful about not giving it away, and it can be fun when you end up watching your friends accuse everyone but you. As a crewmate, you can never tell whether one of your friends is an impostor, so it is even more frustrating and exciting when one of them betrays you. It is a great way to play with people you know, because no matter how mad you get, it is still just a silly game about tiny, colorful spacemen.
After playing for a while, I really do think Among Us is worth all the hype it is getting. It is a very simple game, but with all the customization, interaction with others, and the general excitement of never knowing what is going to happen next, it makes for a fun experience for even people who don’t really enjoy video games. I definitely recommend this, especially since it is free to download on your phone.