Among Us is a social deduction game made by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party gameMafia and the science-fiction horror movieThe Thing. It was released for iOS and Android on June 15, 2018, for PC on Steam on November 16, 2018, for the Nintendo Switch on December 15th, 2020, and for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 14th, 2021. It was also released on itch.io on August 17, 2018. Among Us follows a crew being killed one at a time by one or more Impostors. The game grew in popularity during late 2020 due to factors such as the Coronavirus Lockdowns, and its appearances on streaming websites such Twitch and YouTubers.
In December 2021, Innersloth announced that there would be a virtual reality version of the game, called Among Us VR. The version was released on November 10, 2022.
Gameplay
In Among Us, players play as one of four to fifteen players, and can either be a "Crewmate" or an "Impostor". Each game has a minimum of one Impostor, and a maximum of three Impostors in it. The number of Impostors can be changed at the start of the game.
Crewmates are given a list of tasks to complete at the start of the game. They can win if everyone does their tasks, or if they vote out all the Impostors.
Impostors can win by killing all the Crewmates or killing enough Crewmates so that there are more Impostors than Crewmates. They do not have tasks, but instead can pretend to do tasks. Impostors can pretend to complete these tasks to make it seem like they are not Impostors. Impostors can travel around the map using vents, and "sabotage" parts of the map (such as causing a reactormeltdown on The Skeld) to distract or kill other Crewmates.
Every player has a chance to call an emergency meeting or, when they see a fallen body, to report it to everyone else. During a report meeting, players can talk about who they think is the Impostor. This is the only time when players can talk to each other and vote. If a player gets the most votes, they are voted out, meaning they are kicked out from the game. Among Us does not let players use voice chat. Players can only talk by typing messages, so because of this, many players use services like Discord for voice chat.
When a player is killed by the Impostor, or if they are voted out, they become a ghost. Ghosts can not do things with other players, and they can not talk or vote during meetings. However, they can still do tasks, and see the rest of the game. Ghost Impostors can also sabotage to help their teammates. If both the Crewmates and the ghosts complete their tasks, the Crewmates will win. If the Impostor kills everyone or if the Crewmates run out of time on certain sabotages, the impostor wins.
Roles
Each player is assigned a role at the beginning of the game, each having special features.
Crewmate Roles
Crewmate - the normal role for crewmates with no abilities
Engineer - a role that allows a crewmate to use the vents, like Imposters
Scientist - a role that allows a cremate to access the vitals of any player
Noisemaker - a role that allows a crewmate to send out an alert when killed
Tracker - a role that allows a crewmate to track the location of any player
Guardian Angel - a role that allows a crewmate ghost to protect a Crewmate from being killed by an Imposter
Detective - a role that allows a crewmate to find clues to figure out who an impostor is
Imposter Roles
Imposter - the normal role for an imposter with no abilities
Shapeshifter - a role that allows an imposter to change to a crewmate's appearance for a limited time
Phantom - a role that allows an imposter to become invisible
Viper - a role that allows an impostor to dissolve dead bodies
Maps
The Skeld
'The Skeld' is the very first map in Among Us. It was released with the game, and is the most popular map. It used to be the only free map in the game. It is set in a simple spaceship.
The Skeld is also one of the most played maps in Among Us, along with Polus.
Mira HQ
'Mira HQ' is the second map in the game. Unlike The Skeld, the map was released as paid content. It is set in a floor in a floating building that is the headquarters of the company MIRA. It was announced on August 3, 2019, and it was released on August 8, 2019. This map has new features such as new tasks, a decontamination system and a door log. In the office of this map you can see a Henry Stickman Collection poster this is one of the easter eggs in Among us.
Polus
'Polus' is set in a base in a planet named Polus. This map, like Mira HQ, was also released as paid content. This map does not have vents for the Impostor, but holes that connect the different buildings. This map is big and open unlike the other maps. It also has a new camera system. Most tasks/features in this map are only in this map.
The Airship
'The Airship' is the fourth map in the game, and the biggest overall by size and rooms. It was announced at The Game Awards on December 10, 2020. It is based on The Henry Stickmin Collection, another game Innersloth worked on. It was released on 31 March 2021 for free.
The Fungle
'The Fungle' is the fifth map in the game, it was teased at the Summer Game Fest on June 10, 2021 and was released on October 20, 2023. It is set on a fungus infested planet where the ship has crash landed, much like Polus, the player has to accomplish tasks to survive, such as roasting marshmallows for food, and much more 'non-important' tasks, such as relaxing in the sun, however, in this map, the game gets harder as the impostors have more advantages, such as mix-matching the players' details and making them unable to recognize.
Show
Among Us is planned to have a show produced by CBS and the fathering Innersloth Production. Owen Dennis will serve as creator and executive producer on the project, being affiliated with CBS studios. in this show, most of the crew have been replaced by evil alien shapeshifters, with their intent to confuse the crewmates and sabotage the ship. Titmouse, the creators of Big Mouth and most famously Star Trek: Lower Decks will animate the show. along with Dennis, Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and others will also executive produce along with Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, and Ben Kalina of Titmouse. So far, no streamer or network has been provided, however, the conversations are ongoing.
Cast
Debra Wilson will play as Yellow, a ship cook, prankster, opinionated, and Indignant. mostly in charge of making pizza and is best friends with Brown.
Patton Oswalt will play as White, a contest winner and a selfish crewmate, and believes other crewmates will get to his task first and believes that wealth is a personality trait.
Phil LaMarr will play as Brown, a ship cook and a chill, supportive and accountable crewmate, like Yellow, he is friends with her and also in charge of making pizza.
Wayne Knight will play as Lime, an engineer and a conspiracy theorist, he does a very 'lazy' job on his engineering work and is afraid of intimacy.
Dan Stevens will play as Blue, a doctor and a knowledgeable, charming, and 'hot' crewmate, he excels in physical and emotional care and 'has a doctorate' in poetry.
Liv Hewson will play as Black, a geologist and a stoic and coarse crewmate, she specializes in things relating to rocks, such as rock shipment, and 'prefers rocks over people.'
Kimiko Glenn will play as Cyan, a gemologist and believes crystals can heal people, her task is 'supervising the vibes' and according to the website, 'the vibes are bad.'
Randall Park will play as Red, the captain of The Skeld, a people-pleaser and a blowhard, and according to the website, he 'failed upwards.'
Ashley Johnson will play as Purple, the chief of security, a crewmate with trust issues.
Yvette Nicole Brown will play as Orange, an HR, a 'spineless corporate shill,' and a crewmate that would commonly fire over emails.
Elijah Wood as green, an unpaid intern, and in the contrary, gets paid with pizza.
Reception
The game received mainly positive reviews but some criticized the game because 'after a while, you just see the same old maps', while on Steam the game received 'very positive' reviews.
Among Us got a lot more popular in the summer of 2020, because a lot of Twitch streamers started streaming themselves playing it. There were so many new players causing servers to go down, even though they were designed for having multiple players. Developers decided to redesign servers as a result.
The game got popular in some countries like South Korea and Brazil before getting popular worldwide. According to ForteBass, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game worldwide on Twitch in July of 2020.
Continued popularity
The game's popularity continued into the following months. The COVID-19 pandemic also raised its popularity. The game popularized the slang word "sus" (a shorter way of saying suspicious).
The game also had many internet memes that were inspired by the game. Some others words such as Sussy, Sussy Baka (baka meaning fool), "When the imposter is sus", and "Amogus" became popular memes. Memes about random or otherwise strange things such as trash cans, fire alarms, and backpacks looking like the Impostor, usually in red also became popular.
↑Rodriguez, Salvador (October 14, 2020). "How Amazon's Twitch turned an obscure game called Among Us into a pandemic mega-hit". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020. Developed by InnerSloth, a small studio in Redmond, Washington, Among Us was download nearly 42 million times on Steam in the first half of September, according to Safebettingsites.com, and it was downloaded nearly 84 million times on iOS and Android that month, according to SensorTower. The game hasn't left the top five on Apple's U.S. App Store since Sept. 1, and it has seen more than 158 million installs worldwide across the App Store and Google Play to date, SensorTower says.
