Among Us
For the Pokémon creature, view Amoonguss
Among Us | |
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Developer(s) | Innersloth |
Publisher(s) | Innersloth |
Producer(s) | Kristi Anderson ![]() |
Designer(s) | Marcus Bromander[a][2][3] |
Programmer(s) | Forest Willard[b][2][3] |
Artist(s) | Marcus Bromander[a] Amy Liu[2][3] |
Composer(s) | Forest Willard[b][5] |
Engine | Unity[6] |
Platform(s) |
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Release | |
Genre(s) | Party, social deduction[6] |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer[6] |
Among Us is a social deduction game made by American game developer Innersloth LLC. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia[10][11] and the science fiction horror movie 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.
In December 2021, Innersloth announced that there would be a virtual reality version of the game, called Among Us VR.[12] and it has released on November 10 of 2022.
Gameplay
[change | change source]In Among Us, players play as one of four to fifteen players, and can either be a "Crewmate" or an "Impostor".[13] Each game has a minimum of one Impostor, and a maximum of three Impostors in it.[14][15] The number of Impostors can be changed at the start of the game.[15]
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.[14][16]
Impostors can win by killing all the Crewmates, or killing enough Crewmates so that there are more Impostors than Crewmates.[17] 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.[14] 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.[14]
Every player has a chance to call an emergency meeting or, when they see a fallen body, to report it to everyone else.[14] During a report meeting, players can talk about who they think is the Impostor.[14] This is the only time when players can talk to each other and vote.[14] 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.[14] Players can only talk by typing messages, so because of this, many players use services like Discord for voice chat.[14][18]
When a player is killed by the Impostor, or if they are voted out, they become a ghost.[14] Ghosts can not do things with other players, and they can not talk or vote during meetings.[14] However, they can still do tasks, and see the rest of the game. Ghost Impostors can also sabotage to help their teammates.[14] If both the Crewmates and the ghosts complete their tasks, the Crewmates will win.[14] If the Impostor kills everyone or if the Crewmates run out of time on certain sabotages, the impostor wins.[14]
Maps
[change | change source]The Skeld
[change | change source]'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. It is set in a simple spaceship.[19]
Mira HQ
[change | change source]'Mira HQ' is the second map in the game. Unlike The Skeld, the map was released as paid content. It is set in a floor in a floating building that is the headquarters of the company MIRA.[19] It was announced on August 3, 2019, and it was released on August 8, 2019. This map has new features such as new tasks, a decontamination system and a door log.[19]
Polus
[change | change source]'Polus' is set in a base in a planet named Polus.[19] 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.[19] This map is big and open unlike the other maps. It also has a new camera system. Most tasks/features in this map are only in this map.[19]
The Airship
[change | change source]'The Airship' is the fourth map in the game. It was announced at The Game Awards on December 10, 2020. It is based on The Henry Stickmin Collection, another game Innersloth worked on.[20] It was released on 31 March 2021 for free.[20]
The Fungle
[change | change source]'The Fungle' is the fifth map in the game, it was teased at the Summer Game Fest on June 10, 2021 and was released on October 20, 2023. It is set on a fungus infested planet where the ship has crash landed, much like Polus, the player has to accomplish tasks to survive, such as roasting marshmallows for food, and much more 'non-important' tasks, such as relaxing in the sun, however, in this map, the game gets harder as the impostors have more advantages, such as mix-matching the players' details and making them unable to recognize.
Show
[change | change source]Among Us is planned to have a show produced by CBS and the fathering Innersloth Production.[21] Owen Dennis will serve as creator and executive producer on the project, being affiliated with CBS studios. in this show, most of the crew have been replaced by evil alien shapeshifters, with their intent to confuse the crewmates and sabotage the ship.[22] Titmouse, the creators of Big Mouth and most famously Star Trek: Lower Decks will animate the show. along with Dennis, Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and others will also executive produce along with Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, and Ben Kalina of Titmouse. So far, no streamer or network has been provided, however, the conversations are ongoing.[22]
Cast
[change | change source]- Debra Wilson will play as Yellow, a ship cook, prankster, opinionated, and Indignant. mostly in charge of making pizza and is best friends with Brown.
- Patton Oswalt will play as White, a contest winner and a selfish crewmate, and believes other crewmates will get to his task first and believes that wealth is a personality trait.
- Phil LaMarr will play as Brown, a ship cook and a chill, supportive and accountable crewmate, like Yellow, he is friends with her and also in charge of making pizza.
- Wayne Knight will play as Lime, an engineer and a conspiracy theorist, he does a very 'lazy' job on his engineering work and is afraid of intimacy.
- Dan Stevens will play as Blue, a doctor and a knowledgeable, charming, and 'hot' crewmate, he excels in physical and emotional care and 'has a doctorate' in poetry.
- Liv Hewson will play as Black, a geologist and a stoic and coarse crewmate, she specializes in things relating to rocks, such as rock shipment, and 'prefers rocks over people.'
- Kimiko Glenn will play as Cyan, a gemologist and believes crystals can heal people, her task is 'supervising the vibes' and according to the website, 'the vibes are bad.'
- Randall Park will play as Red, the captain of The Skeld, a people-pleaser and a blowhard, and according to the website, he 'failed upwards.'
- Ashley Johnson will play as Purple, the chief of security, a crewmate with trust issues.
- Yvette Nicole Brown will play as Orange, an HR, a 'spineless corporate shill,' and a crewmate that would commonly fire over emails.
- Elijah Wood as green, an unpaid intern, and in the contrary, gets paid with pizza.
Reception
[change | change source]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.[23]
Among Us got a lot more popular in the summer of 2020, because a lot of Twitch streamers started streaming themselves playing it.[24] There were so many new players causing servers to go down, even though they were designed for having multiple players.[24] Developers decided to redesign servers as a result.[24]
The game became popular because of YouTube creators making videos on it. Many other Twitch streamers and YouTubers who began playing the game included xQc, Pokimane, xChocoBars, Bretman Rock, Ninja, MrBeast, Disguised Toast, Sykkuno, Valkyrae, Corpse Husband, Fuslie, Jacksepticeye and PewDiePie.[25][26]
Popularity
[change | change source]The game got popular in some countries like South Korea and Brazil before getting popular worldwide.[27] According to ForteBass, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game worldwide on Twitch in July of 2020.[27]
Continued popularity
[change | change source]The game's popularity continued into the following months. The COVID-19 pandemic also raised its popularity.[28] The game popularized the slang word "sus" (a shorter way of saying suspicious).[29][30]
The game also had many internet memes that were inspired by the game. Some others words such as Sussy, Sussy Baka (baka meaning fool), "When the imposter is sus", and "Amogus" became popular memes. Memes about random or otherwise strange things such as trash cans, fire alarms, and backpacks looking like the Impostor, usually in red also became popular.[31][32][33]
In October 2020, U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar streamed the game with popular streamers like Pokimane and Hasan Piker. They did this to encourage people to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election. There were almost 700,000 people watching it at once on Twitch.[34][35][36]
Notes
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "About". InnerSloth. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "#27 - Innersloth". Retrieved 2020-10-20.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Among Us by Innersloth". itch.io. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ↑ Among Us is coming to Xbox next year, EuroGamer.net
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Original Among Us Was a Much Different and More Stressful Game". GAMING. Archived from the original on 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
- ↑ Robertson, Adi (2021-12-09). "Among Us is getting a VR version". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
- ↑ Izaak (September 29, 2020). "Is there a surefire way to become an imposter in Among Us?". Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- ↑ 14.00 14.01 14.02 14.03 14.04 14.05 14.06 14.07 14.08 14.09 14.10 14.11 14.12 14.13 Chalk, Andy (March 31, 2021). "The newest Among Us map, The Airship, is now live". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2021-03-31. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "LET'S GO AIRSHIP 🎉 New update out now!". Innersloth. March 31, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-04-02. Retrieved April 4, 2021 – via Itch.io.
- ↑ Stella, Marloes (September 25, 2020). "Among Us Guide: tips to winning as Crewmates". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
- ↑ Garst, Aron (8 October 2020). "Playing "Among Us?" Here are some tips and alternate rules to up the ante". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2020-10-13. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
- ↑ Emma, Kent (October 23, 2020). "Among Us is dealing with a huge spam attack". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Matthews, Emma (September 15, 2020). "Deceive your friends with these sneaky Among Us tips". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 "The Airship map will take Among Us where it has never gone before". Inverse.
- ↑ "Among Us Show | Innersloth - Creators of Among Us and The Henry Stickmin Collection!". www.innersloth.com. 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Otterson, Joe (2023-06-27). "'Among Us' Animated Series in the Works at CBS Studios From 'Infinity Train' Creator Owen Dennis (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
- ↑ "Save 75% on Among Us on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Joseph, Funké (September 4, 2020). "Why Among Us Became One of the Biggest Games on Twitch Two Years After Release". Paste. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ↑ Zheng, Jenny (September 21, 2020). "Among Us Is Even More Popular Than You Think Right Now". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
- ↑ "Disguised Toast Talks More About Not Being Invited to Jimmy Fallon Among Us Game". Game Rant. 2021-12-08. Archived from the original on 2022-01-04. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Behind the dizzying ride to the top for Among Us". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
- ↑ Crider, Michael (October 26, 2020). "What is 'Among Us', and How Did It Get So Popular? – Review Geek". Review Geek. Archived from the original on 2021-04-09. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
- ↑ Rodriguez, Salvador (October 14, 2020). "How Amazon's Twitch turned an obscure game called Among Us into a pandemic mega-hit". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
Developed by InnerSloth, a small studio in Redmond, Washington, Among Us was download nearly 42 million times on Steam in the first half of September, according to Safebettingsites.com, and it was downloaded nearly 84 million times on iOS and Android that month, according to SensorTower. The game hasn't left the top five on Apple's U.S. App Store since Sept. 1, and it has seen more than 158 million installs worldwide across the App Store and Google Play to date, SensorTower says.
- ↑ Marshall, Cass (September 21, 2020). "Among Us fans are calling everything 'pretty sus,' and it keeps working". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
- ↑ "What is "Sussy Baka" on TikTok? Among Us & anime trend goes viral". Dexerto. 5 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-04-01. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ↑ Marshall, Cass (September 21, 2020). "Among Us fans are calling everything 'pretty sus,' and it keeps working". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
- ↑ Kim, Alina (October 5, 2020). "Red Is Lowkey Sus: A Political Reflection on "Among Us"". The Chicago Maroon. Archived from the original on October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
- ↑ Brown, Abram (October 20, 2020). "Almost 700,000 People Flock To Twitch To Watch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Play Hit Video Game 'Among Us'". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2020-10-21. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
- ↑ Ziady, Hanna (October 21, 2020). "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just played a video game on Twitch to encourage voting". CNN. Archived from the original on 2020-10-21. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
- ↑ "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Streams On Twitch With Hasan Piker And Pokimane, Draws Over 430,000 Viewers". Kotaku. October 21, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-21. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
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