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 film 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.

Among Us
The Among Us Logo
Developer(s)Innersloth
Publisher(s)Innersloth
Producer(s)Kristi Anderson Edit this on Wikidata
Designer(s)Marcus Bromander[lower-alpha 1][2][3]
Programmer(s)Forest Willard[lower-alpha 2][2][3]
Artist(s)Marcus Bromander[lower-alpha 1]
Amy Liu[2][3]
Composer(s)Forest Willard[lower-alpha 2][5]
EngineUnity[6]
Platform(s)
Release
June 15, 2018
  • Android, iOS
  • June 16, 2017[8]
  • Windows (Itch.io, beta)
  • August 17, 2017[8]
  • Windows (Steam)
  • November 16, 2018[9]
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". 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 reactor meltdown 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. 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. As of the new Update, Crewmates can become Scientists, Engineers, Guardian Angels or the regular Crewmate. The Impostors can become a Shapeshifter or the regular Impostor.

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, and is set in a simple spaceship.

Mira HQ

'Mira HQ' is the second map in the game. Unlike The Skeld, the map was released as paid content, and 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. As of June 11, 2020, this map became free for all players to play. This map contains new features such as new tasks, a decontamination system and a door log.

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 quite big and open compared to the other maps. It also has a new camera system. As of June 11, 2020, this map also became free for all players to play. Most tasks/features in this map are only in this map.

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 off of the Airship from "Infiltrating the Airship" in The Henry Stickmin Collection, another game Innersloth worked on. It has been released on the 31st of March 2021 for free.[13]

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.[14]

Among Us got a lot more popular in the summer of 2020, because a lot of Twitch streamers started streaming themselves playing it, at some point making it the most viewed category on Twitch. There were so many new players causing servers to go down, even though they were designed for scalability. Developers decided to redesign servers to account for the influx of new players.

It is maintaining its popularity due to large YouTube creators making videos on it, like MrBeast. Some YouTube creators were introduced to it by The Henry Stickmin Collection.

Popularity

The game got popular in some regions like South Korea and Brazil before getting popular worldwide. PuffBalls United stated that the game is more popular in Mexico, Brazil, and South Korea than the United States. According to ForteBass, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game worldwide on Twitch in July of 2020. [15]

The game was played by several content creators and streamers after it got popular.

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" (an abbreviation of suspicious) (Although it has been used before the game's popularity). The game also had many ironic internet memes, like Sussy, Sussy Baka (baka literally meaning fool, therefore meaning Suspicious Fool), "When the imposter is sus", and "Amogus". as well as references to random or otherwise strange objects such as trash cans, fire alarms, and backpacks resembling the Impostor, often depicted in red.

Notes
  1. Better known as "Puffballs United".[1]
  2. Better known as "ForteBass".[4]

References
  1. Lugris, Mark (2020-09-09). "InnerSloth's Party Game Among Us Reaches 1.5 Million Simultaneous Players". TheGamer. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  2. "About". InnerSloth. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  3. Grayson, Nathan (2020-09-08). "Among Us' Improbable Rise To The Top Of Twitch". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  4. Carless, Simon (2020-09-10). "Behind the dizzying ride to the top for Among Us". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  5. "#27 - Innersloth". Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  6. "Among Us by Innersloth". itch.io. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  7. Among Us is coming to Xbox next year, EuroGamer.net
  8. InnerSloth (2018-08-17). "PC and Online Released! - Among Us by InnerSloth". Itch.io. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  9. InnerSloth (2018-11-08). "Among Us Out of Beta and Pricing - Among Us by InnerSloth". Itch.io. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  10. Wes Fenlon (2020-09-24). "How Among Us became so wildly popular". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  11. "Original Among Us Was a Much Different and More Stressful Game". GAMING. Archived from the original on 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  12. Robertson, Adi (2021-12-09). "Among Us is getting a VR version". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  13. "The Airship map will take Among Us where it has never gone before". Inverse.
  14. "Save 75% on Among Us on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  15. "Behind the dizzying ride to the top for Among Us". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
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