When the prospect of a sequel gets cancelled so the original game can continue updating for the sake of the community, the developers have struck gold. Created by Innersloth, a small team of indie developers who also contributed to the series of Henry Stickman flash games, Among Us released over two years ago. It only rose to massive success in the last few months, however, with the success owed to both the games design and the streamers who brought new interest. This once-hidden gem is now fully excavated.
Based around conversation and deception, similar to the game Mafia, Among Us play sessions range from five minutes to the entire night with a group of up to ten friends. Players either play as a basic crewmate to finish tasks and prevent sabotages, or one of the hidden imposters, stealthily messing with the crewmates work and gaining their trust. While the game mechanics for doing specific tasks or sabotaging the tasks of others make up most of the general gameplay loop, the main draw of the game is the discussion period. Players who manage to stay alive get time to talk about who seems guilty of the cartoon murders taking place. Players may use this time to yell over each other or simply deny everything pushed against themselves, but when a hot debate starts, so does the fun.
Everyone acts as their own judge and jury to both themselves and their fellow players, and the group as a whole plays the executioner. They vote to either send out someone they perceive as guilty, or simply placing the blame on the guy who was just a little too close to where a body was found. Each player possesses the same power in this section of the gameplay. With the discussion and voting period as the only time players can communicate, it gets as fierce as the player wants to take it. Nothing is perfect, though, the game still needs some work.
To start, the game has such a massive success that the online servers used to run the game can run inconsistently, where servers become full or players take up every room in a region. If choosing to play in-public games instead of privately with friends, players may also come across the cheating problem the game has run into. People who can sway the game through coding that ruins the fun of others is a very common problem with online games. On the bright side of this, though, the developers flatten these bugs and exploits in their game patches, one of the main benefits of games with consistent updates.
This socially-oriented style of play is perfect for the stay-at-home conditions the pandemic forced many into. Among Us serves as a way to talk to friends while having some fun. Though it might be stressful watching friends vote off the wrong guy, in the end it’s simply a game. A seriously intriguing one, at that. For some practical application, try pulling off some “big-brained” plays like use of the progress bar to identify imposters and find allies to see how thought-out strategies in Among Us can wrack the brain.
The wonderful combination of easy-to-grasp game mechanics and the limitless possibilities of strategy that make anyone want to burst out laughing, screaming, or both, nets this game a more-than solid 9/10. Such a simple concept that works so well, Among Us rose to such popularity that it overtook new leading games even with it out for well over two years. Though it has problems that need to be fixed, the developers are hard at work. Play it if possible, but maybe find some friends first.
