Among Us
Among Us is an American science-fiction social deduction game made by Innersloth LLC. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia[10][11] and the science fiction horror movie The Thing.[11] It was released for iOS and Android on June 15, 2018, for PC on Steam on November 16, 2018. 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 got very popular in late 2020 because many Twitch streamers and YouTubers have played it.
| Slope | |
|---|---|
 The Among Us Logo | |
| Developer(s) | Innersloth |
| Publisher(s) | Innersloth |
| Producer(s) | Kristi Anderson  |
| Designer(s) | Marcus Bromander[a][2][3] |
| Programmer(s) | Forest Willard[b][2][3] |
| Artist(s) | Marcus Bromander[a] Amy Liu[2][3] |
| Composer(s) | Forest Willard[b][5] |
| Engine | Unity[6] |
| Platform(s) |
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| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Party, social deduction[6] |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer[6] |
In December 2021, Innersloth announced that there would be a virtual reality version of the game, called Among Us VR.[12]
Gameplay
In Among Us, players play as one of four to fifteen players, and can either be a "Crewmate" or an "Impostor".[13] Each game has a minimum of one Impostor, and a maximum of three Impostors in it.[14][15] The number of Impostors can be changed at the start of the game.[15]
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.[14][16]
Impostors can win by killing all the Crewmates, or killing enough Crewmates so that there are more Impostors than Crewmates.[17] 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.[14] Impostors can travel around the map using vents, and "sabotage" parts of the map (such as causing a reactor meltdown on The Skeld) to distract or kill other Crewmates.[14]
Every player has a chance to call an emergency meeting or, when they see a fallen body, to report it to everyone else.[14] During a report meeting, players can talk about who they think is the Impostor.[14] This is the only time when players can talk to each other and vote.[14] 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.[14] Players can only talk by typing messages, so because of this, many players use services like Discord for voice chat.[14][18]
When a player is killed by the Impostor, or if they are voted out, they become a ghost.[14] Ghosts can not do things with other players, and they can not talk or vote during meetings.[14] However, they can still do tasks, and see the rest of the game. Ghost Impostors can also sabotage to help their teammates.[14] If both the Crewmates and the ghosts complete their tasks, the Crewmates will win.[14] If the Impostor kills everyone or if the Crewmates run out of time on certain sabotages, the impostor wins.[14]
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.[19]
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.[19] 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.[19]
Polus
'Polus' is set in a base in a planet named Polus.[19] 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.[19] 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.[19]
The Airship
'The Airship' is the fourth map in the game. It was announced at The Game Awards on December 10, 2020. It is based on The Henry Stickmin Collection, another game Innersloth worked on.[20] It was released on 31 March 2021 for free.[20]
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.[21]
Among Us got a lot more popular in the summer of 2020, because a lot of Twitch streamers started streaming themselves playing it.[22] There were so many new players causing servers to go down, even though they were designed for having multiple players.[22] Developers decided to redesign servers as a result.[22]
The game became popular because of YouTube creators making videos on it. Many other Twitch streamers and YouTubers who began playing the game included xQc, Pokimane, xChocoBars, Bretman Rock, Ninja, MrBeast, Disguised Toast, Sykkuno, Valkyrae, Corpse Husband, Fuslie, Jacksepticeye and PewDiePie.[23][24]
Popularity
The game got popular in some countries like South Korea and Brazil before getting popular worldwide.[25] According to ForteBass, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game worldwide on Twitch in July of 2020.[25]
Continued popularity
The game's popularity continued into the following months. The COVID-19 pandemic also raised its popularity.[26] The game popularized the slang word "sus" (a shorter way of saying suspicious).[27][28]
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.[29][30][31]
In October 2020, U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar streamed the game with popular streamers like Pokimane and Hasan Piker. They did this to encourage people to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election. There were almost 700,000 people watching it at once on Twitch.[32][33][34]