Developed and published by InnerSloth, “Among Us” is an online multiplayer social deduction game released on June 15, 2018. Despite its two-year launch, it dominated the gaming industry during the pandemic. The game involves 4-10 players that will play either as a crewmate or as an impostor.
To avoid being seen killing a crewmate and pretending to do tasks, the impostors can prevent suspicion and bag victory. Once they are caught, they must defend themselves by creating an alibi to get away with murder. They can also sabotage the ship that will automatically end the game in their favor if no crewmates will respond to the crisis.
In order for the crewmates to win, they can complete their individual tasks or discover the hidden impostors among them. When a crewmate reports a dead body or conducts an emergency meeting, the impostors’ identity could be discovered by discussing suspicious activities during the game.
Users can either host or join private or public games based on the server they’re in. The host controls the game settings such as voting time, the number of impostors, kill cooldown, and other settings that can affect the gameplay. To join a private room, users should be provided with a six-letter code to be able to join their peers. Public rooms are available at any time and on any map the user prefers, either The Skeld, Mira HQ, or Polus.
Perfect game for friends on quarantine
“Among Us” offers a surprisingly complex mind game despite its 2D cartoon-like graphics. It features simplistic, colourful graphics with easy-to-follow game mechanics, perfect for groups of friends that enjoy lively debates.
In a time when social interactions are limited, barkada game nights are not the same when people can’t hang out with each other. With the online chat option, users can communicate while staying at home through a chat box provided in the game.
Communication is the key to find the hidden impostor/s among the group, however, the game does not have any in-game voice chat to make the discussions easier. Group-chatting platforms like Discord are used to allow players to speak with one another while playing.
“I want to be an Impostor”
Some players in the public server become picky with the roles they can get in the game. They find it boring to play as a Crewmate since they only perform tasks and find the impostors among them, while impostors have the thrill of sabotaging their tasks and killing crewmates while sneaking through vents. With that, the games usually get finished quickly as players will leave and join a new one.
Among Us Sequel?
The developers of “Among Us” announced last August that they were planning to come up with a sequel, however, they cancelled their initial plan and instead would be adding all the planned features into the original game.
“We have decided to cancel Among Us 2 and instead put all our focus into improving Among Us 1. All of the content we had planned for Among Us 2 will instead go into Among Us 1," the developers posted on their website.
Even though the sequel of the game was cancelled, players can still look forward to the improvements they will make into the game, including promised fixes for server issues, colorblind support, a friends/account system and a whole new stage.
“Among Us” can be played free on iOS and Android devices while it costs P159.95 on PC via Steam and itch.io.
Rating: 4/5
