Among Us (2018)

Among us was a completely new concept and a unique new experience for me. It is so simple, yet so fun to play.

You play with a group of people and friends, in different spaceship maps, each containing a different area. On a map, different rooms with various tasks are present. The crew members, aka the “good guys”, need to complete the tasks to win the game. When everyone is done with their chores, victory is theirs.

Meanwhile, one player is an imposter, who pretends to be a crew mate, but is secretly murdering everyone and sabotaging their work. It is the imposter’s goal to murder everyone or to hold off the completing of tasks, until the timer runs out.

When other players find a body, or saw something suspicious, they can call for a meeting. In this meeting, dead players are muted and the rest can determine who the imposter might be. This can be done in text or speech. When people know or suspect someone, a vote can be cast, after which the player with the most votes is yeeted out of the space ship.

The imposter has some handy tricks up his sleeve. He can sabotage certain parts of the ship like communications, oxygen, overheating or overheating the reactors. In this events, the other players cannot continue with their work until the problem is solved. Giving the imposter the time to hunt down lone players or to escape through the many air vents in the game for fast travel.

In terms of graphics, Among Us is nothing special. It uses simple and jolly 2D graphics with fluent animations. The cartoon style really fits the game well.

The sound on the other hand is solid. Alarms are loud and trigger your attention, the soft footsteps, the sound of a vent opening, it is all great and mysterious. All sounds also really help you determine what is going on around you, it is just very well implemented.

The controls are fluent and easy to understand. It takes some time to learn all the buttons and actions but you will get used to it soon enough.

This game is really all about tactics, choosing the right moment and timing your sabotages right. Matches can be over in seconds because someone betrayed their identity at the start of the game, and sometimes, a match goes on for a good half hour because the cards have been played so well, nobody has the slightest clue who could be the imposter. There are just so many different ways in which you can play this game. With big groups, the game is a lot of fun because the imposters are now with two and the length of the match, confusion and overall chaos is increased. I found it especially fun with a group of friends.

The only downside to Among Us are the idiots or trolls that sometimes join matches, just to cause some uproar and fights between players. They spoil stuff, put random stuff in the chat that makes no sense or do not actively engage in the meetings to determine who is the imposter.

Another small issue is the hostility of some players. They take the game way too serious and when accused or accusing someone, it sometimes actually feels like someone is trying to solve a murder on their loved ones. People get mad sometimes or vote you out of the space ship just because you did not give the response they wanted. Of course, this is a small group of people, but it can still be annoying sometimes.

The game play is repetitive because you always have the same objective, but with this game, it is just perfect and does not need any other modes or styles of playing.

In the end, I think this is one of the most surprising and fun games I have played in a while and I would recommend it to everyone.

This game has a very unique and interesting concept. Everyone was intrigued by it. It was really really fun to play with friends (who don't get angry over a game).

The game used to be a super fun party game with friends that genuinely tested your deduction skills. Now, the game and its community status are a mess.