Among Us first launched in 2018, but the suspenseful multiplayer party game truly took off in 2020. No one predicted that pandemic-induced social distancing would leave us all desperate for new ways to virtually interact with friends, including lying to them on spaceships. More than just the right game for the right moment, Among Us is a genuinely and immensely entertaining online and offline multiplayer game. It’s an Editors’ Choice award-winning iPhone game for anyone with a stomach for deception.
One Small Step
I played Among Us on an iPhone 11, but the game is also available on Android and PC. On mobile, you can play for free if you sit through an ad after each round. You can pay to remove ads and unlock cosmetics, such as pets that follow your character around. On PC, the game costs $4.99, but you start with more cosmetic items that you must pay for on mobile.
The game also supports online or in-person (if everyone connects to the same local network) crossplay, so everyone can play against each other regardless of platform. Matches typically end in less than 15 minutes, and with so many people playing, you can always find and jump into a new one. Among Us only works if you can easily find or gather large groups, so having an easy barrier to entry is key.
Set in an isolated spaceship, Among Us asks up to 10 players to work together as a crew to avoid getting picked off one by one…unless you’re the imposter picking them off. As a crew member, you must complete tasks while watching out for the suspicious imposter and building consensus for an accusation. As the imposter, you must murder crew members while staying incognito and convincing survivors not to vote you off the ship and into the abyss. In other words, don’t be sus. Roles are randomly assigned and you should take what you’re given. If you purposefully disconnect too many times trying to get the role you want, you get locked out for a few minutes.
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At times, Among Us reminded me of horror games like Friday the 13th, despite the cute and colorful characters. Among Us is part of a wonderful tradition of asymmetric party games about bluffing, deception, and paranoia. If you’ve played card games like Mafia or Werewolf, you’ll easily understand the importance of smart deduction and playing into or against mob rule. Recent Jackbox Party Pack games also dare friends to lie to each other in very similar ways.
Deep Space
Among Us elevates ideas you may have seen before with a clever and original execution. It makes the gameplay surrounding each murder engaging enough so that you’re not just twiddling your thumbs waiting to vote someone off. The spaceship repair busywork has some of Spaceteam's excellent, sci-fi, cooperative charm. Opening your map to find your next objective and figuring out the minigame required to complete it can take up so much of your attention that you won’t even notice an imposter sneaking up behind you, a distraction that seems very much intentional.
Some tasks may veer too far into traditional video game territory for casual players—quickly solving an unexplained puzzle recalls WarioWare—but they add depth that makes each session unique. They keep the game from feeling like a glorified minigame. One round you're attaching wires to restore power, the next you're blasting away pesky asteroids with the weapons system. Plus, the game never requires that much speed or precision. I never felt disadvantaged by using the touch screen instead of a mouse-and-keyboard control scheme. Even if you don’t find the imposter, the crew wins if everyone completes all their tasks.
Meanwhile, imposters have more than enough tools to carry out their dark deeds. As with any other stealth game, you should take the time to learn each map’s rooms and hallways, so you can skillfully navigate the environment and take out vulnerable stragglers. The biggest clue and the first question the group asks after a kill, is almost always “Where did it happen?” So, having a strong location-based alibi is key.
Imposters have other perks, too. You can sabotage equipment to force crew members to waste time fixing it, pretend to do fake tasks, and hide in or escape through vents so you don’t get seen next to a corpse. But your greatest talent is your own ability to lie, deny, and blame others if you get called out. Crew members can summon everyone to emergency meetings even before dead bodies get reported, so you always need to be ready to play innocent.
Even dead players can lend a ghostly helping hand. While you can’t accuse anyone (since you already know who killed you) you can float through walls to help finish tasks faster. You can also chat privately with other ghosts to laugh about the mortals still struggling. Among Us draws huge audiences on video game live streaming services, and it’s because the game still entertains passive participants alongside active ones.
Mission Control
When you play physical party games in person, you and your friends can tweak rules however you like. Among Us gives you similar flexibility when creating your own public and private rooms. You can adjust values as granular as the number of imposters, the number and length of tasks, and even the movement speed. You can also practice against dummies offline to get a better feel for each map, as well as learn tasks and imposter skills.
Unfortunately, Among Us has no built-in voice chat. Normally, I never want to talk to anyone when playing an online game, especially untrustworthy strangers. However, Among Us requires communication to function. By default, everyone types in the chat. That’s serviceable, but so much vital emotion and nuance and performance gets lost that the game is legitimately less fun. So, I highly recommend friends use a Discord server to talk to each other, since it’s still too dangerous to meet up in person. Just make sure to play honorably and not spoil the imposter's identity.
This next, more arguable flaw is less tangible, but still one worth considering. Having played other games about lying and manipulating social dynamics in addition to Among Us, I sincerely think they may be too stressful for some players. Even in a game, the pressure and paranoia of accusing and being accused can honestly raise anxiety. I enjoy the cerebral and thrilling tension, but I also get why others may feel differently.
Less fun are the saboteurs who aren’t supposed to be there. Like any popular multiplayer game, Among Us now has its fair share of cheaters and hackers, folks who spam the chat with political propaganda or links to their websites. This is a problem the developers at InnerSloth are thankfully addressing. InnerSloth canceled a sequel to invest more in this first game and keep up with the ballooning player base. That’s great because I did encounter some technical issues, such as sound not playing or my character loading into nothing but a black screen. Still, that roughness is also part of the game’s humble, working-class, sci-fi charm, as is the flat sketchy art style reminiscent of a Newgrounds cartoon.
John Carpenter Would Be Proud
Among Us doesn’t need any more exposure. Before we published this review, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez broke viewership records playing the game on Twitch...after some technical difficulties setting up voice chat. The game’s lingo has already seeped into broader online gamer culture, too. Among Us is more than just a fad, and its delightfully devious deception should earn this Editors’ Choice award-winning iPhone game a permanent spot in your party game rotation.
Among Us (for iOS)
Editors' Choice
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With its deviously sneaky social gameplay and bevy of gameplay options, it’s no wonder Among Us exploded into one of 2020’s biggest gaming phenomena.
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The Link LonkOctober 28, 2020 at 08:32PM
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Among Us (for iOS) Review - PCMag
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