Among Us is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film The Thing. The game allows for cross-platform play; it was released on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. It was ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020 and on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. A virtual reality adaptation, Among Us VR, was released on November 10, 2022.
Among Us takes place in space-themed settings where players are colorful, armless cartoon astronauts. Each player takes on one of two roles: most are Crewmates, but a small number are Impostors. Crewmates work to complete assigned tasks in the game while identifying and voting out suspected Impostors (who appear identical to Crewmates) using social deduction, while Impostors have the objective of killing the Crewmates.
While the game was initially released in 2018 to little mainstream attention, it received a massive rise in popularity in 2020 due to many Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it during the COVID-19 pandemic. It received favorable reviews from critics for fun and entertaining gameplay. The game and its stylized characters have been the subject of various internet memes.
Gameplay
Among Us is a multiplayer game for four to fifteen players.[6] Up to three players are randomly[7] and secretly chosen to be the Impostors each round. As of 2021, four playable maps are available: a spaceship called “The Skeld”, an office building called “MIRA HQ”, a planet base called “Polus”,[8] or “The Airship”, a setting from Innersloth’s Henry Stickmin series.[9][10] The Crewmates can win the game one of two ways: either by completing all assigned tasks or by ejecting all Impostors. Impostors can likewise win in two ways: either by killing or ejecting all Crewmates,[c] or by sabotaging a critical system on the map (provided the Crewmates do not resolve it in time).[d][8][11] At the start of the game, Crewmates are assigned “tasks” to complete around the map in the form of minigames, minipuzzles, and simple toggles, mostly consisting of maintenance work on vital systems such as fixing wires and downloading data.[12] Impostors cannot complete tasks but may pretend to perform “fake” tasks to feign appearance as legitimate Crewmates. Impostors, however, can perform sabotages, ranging from minor (such as disabling lights, limiting the Crewmates’ vision) to critical (such as disabling oxygen generators), requiring immediate counteraction by Crewmates to prevent their deaths. Impostors may enter and traverse ventilation ducts (commonly known as “venting”), and kill nearby Crewmates. To help Crewmates identify Impostors, there are various surveillance systems on each map, such as security cameras on The Skeld,[13] a door log system with sensors in MIRA HQ,[14] and a vitals indicator in Polus that shows the living status of all players.[8] In addition, certain “visual tasks” provide animated cues, such as scanning oneself in the Skeld’s medbay. As Impostors cannot perform tasks, Crewmates can use visual tasks to confirm their identity to nearby Crewmates.[15]