Many of us have heard of Among Us, whether it be through popular influencers, social media, or even friends. A lot of people do not know this, but Among Us has been around since 2018.
The game gained popularity for plenty of reasons. For one, Sodapoppin, a popular Twitch user, streamed the game to his millions of fans back in July. After this event, other major social media stars started playing the game to see what all of the hype was about. People like PewDiePie, James Charles, Dr. Lupo and even Markiplier were all trying it out, further expanding the game’s popularity.
Among Us is especially prevalent on the well-known app TikTok. With that being said, you could definitely see why the game has gained so much popularity in the past few months.
Among Us is actually pretty spectacular. The basics of the game are somewhat simple and easy to understand. It features a multiplayer game taking place on a spaceship where anywhere from four to ten people can play. All players are assigned the role of “Crewmate” or “Imposter”. There can be from 1-3 imposters in a given game, and all of the roles are given at the players’ discretion.
Crewmates have to do tasks on the spaceship in order to win the game, while also trying to vote all the imposters off. You may vote off fellow players if you think that they are imposters, but there’s a catch– misidentifying and voting off true crewmates means there is a better opportunity for the imposter to win.
Imposters have to kill everyone on the ship and do so while not getting caught in order to win. They can also sabotage different sections of the spaceship to make the crewmates’ lives a little more difficult. Sabotaging also acts as a distraction, and this buys the imposter time to kill off crewmates with less of a chance of being noticed.
Meetings can be called by either the imposter or crewmates. Sometimes, people will call meetings to make sure that all of their teammates are safe. However, the typical reason meetings are called is to accuse someone of suspicious behavior. Suspicious behavior can include “venting” (which only the imposter can do), not doing tasks, and killing another crewmate directly in front of someone else.
When someone is accused of being the imposter, it is usually marked by the key phrase, “______ is sus.” The first part of the phrase is meant to indicate the color of the suspicious crewmate.
Reports are similar to meetings, but they occur when a player discovers a dead crewmate. The player can choose to report the dead body with a report button, or they can choose not to report it. Both calling meetings and reporting result in a vote that all players must respond to. Players can choose to either skip the vote, or they can vote a specific person off the spaceship.
The game ends when either the imposter has killed all but one player, crewmates vote off the imposter, or when all tasks are completed.
Among Us has created an environment where teens and adults alike can bond and socialize in the midst of the pandemic. The New York Times says that over 98,000 teens use the game for playing, socializing, and discussion.
Because we cannot see one another in real life, the game can be a very fun getaway for people, especially friends who want to reconnect. With this in mind, I think I can say that Among Us is pretty awesome. It is certainly a unique and addicting game, and there is endless fun in it.
