Gaming Review: Among Us

Gemma Cockrell

Among Us has seen a sudden explosion in popularity over the past few months, which has been unexpected seeing as the game was released over 2 years ago in 2018.

It is a simple deduction game. The concept is that you are playing as one of 4 to 10 players on a spaceship. Up to 3 of these players are Impostors; their goal is to sabotage and kill all the other players, who are called Crewmates. The Crewmates must complete tasks throughout the game. If they either complete all of these tasks, or successfully identify the Impostors, they win – but if the Impostors manage to kill everyone, then they win.

The eerie music sound-tracking the game adds to this suspicious atmosphere

The theme of the game is the reason I became intrigued by it in the first place. As someone who loves thriller novels, true crime documentaries, and the board game Cluedo, I knew the game would be something I would enjoy. It is a unique take on the “whodunnit” storyline, revolving around mind-games – trying to deceive and convince others of your innocence on the game’s group chat function when you are in fact the Impostor, by blaming other innocent Crewmates. The game’s group chat is always brimming with messages from players trying to accuse each other, with messages such as “I saw pink vent”, “I saw purple kill”, “orange is sus” – ‘sus’ being an abbreviation of suspicious. The eerie music sound-tracking the game adds to this suspicious atmosphere.

In 2 hours I will be live-streaming Among Us with Pewdiepie, Jack, Corpse, etc. on my gaming channel! This will be my first ever gaming stream!!!!!!!!!https://t.co/JMwnfepRAR

— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) October 29, 2020

Therefore, rather than needing technical gaming skills, the skills you need for this game are those of deception and trickery. You must learn how to successfully accuse others of being the Impostor, whilst acting innocent yourself. Except for this, the game is very simplistic. It is available on both PC and mobile devices, and it is easy to master on both, as there are no unnecessarily complex or difficult controls – you navigate the spaceship using basic vertical and horizontal movements – and it is easy to pick up as a newer or unexperienced gamer. The tasks that Crewmates must complete are also very easy – most of them only take a few seconds to finish.

Among Us is a game that can be played with either in-real-life friends or random players from the internet, and it is enjoyable either way. In my opinion, it is most fun played with friends, because it is funniest deceiving people that you know personally. Playing with friends can be done easily by hosting a game and sharing the lobby code with your friends so that they can join. However, you’re also able to join other people’s public lobbies, and play with total strangers.

The games being short is also one of the aspects that makes the game so addictive

Each game is over within roughly 5 minutes – this means that you do not have to greatly invest your time into the game in order to enjoy it – you can play it as much or as little as you want. However, the games being short is also one of the aspects that makes the game so addictive, because you will think to yourself “Just one more game!”, and before you know it you will have been playing it for hours – it has unlimited replay potential.

Nearly every single person I play Among Us with regularly bought VR just to come play VR Among Us. Oculus and Valve I'm your #1 unofficial salesman.

— Ross O'Donovan (@RubberNinja) October 29, 2020

Unlike many games, on Among Us, it is okay to die. You do not get eliminated from the game if you die – instead, you turn into a ghost, and you can continue the game and you can still complete your tasks. However, you are unable to chat with the other players or to vote for who you think the Impostor is – otherwise you’d spoil the game for them! This means that there is no pressure not to die, which makes Among Us more stress-free than other games where you get instantly eliminated if you die.

Despite it being repetitive, each game unfolds differently depending on who you are playing with, so each game results in being highly unpredictable, and extremely humorous. It therefore never becomes boring to play. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously – it has simple minimalistic graphics, simple controls, and a simple plot – but that is what makes it so charming.

Gemma Cockrell

Featured image courtesy of Snazzy Bricks via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.

In article Tweets courtesy of @MrBeastYT and @RubberNinja via Twitter. No changes were made to these Tweets.