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''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, first released on iOS and
Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. The game was then ported to the
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in December 2020 and on the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
,
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, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. While the game was initially released in 2018 to little mainstream attention, it received a massive influx of popularity in 2020 due to many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing it. A separate VR version of the game, ''
Among Us VR ''Among Us VR'' is a social deduction video game developed by Schell Games, Innersloth, and Robot Teddy. It was published by Innersloth in November 2022 for Meta Quest 2 and Windows via several SteamVR-supported headsets, with a PlayStation ...
'', was released in November 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 play Impostors, which appear identical to Crewmates. The goal of the Crewmates is to either identify and vote out the Impostors, or to complete all the tasks around the map; the goal of the Impostors is to covertly sabotage the mission either by killing the Crewmates before they complete all their tasks or by triggering a disaster that is not resolved in time.


Gameplay

''Among Us'' is a multiplayer game for four to fifteen players (previously four to ten players), although recommended for at least five. Up to three players are randomly and secretly chosen to be the Impostor(s) each round. As of 2021, a round can take place on one of four maps: a spaceship called "The Skeld", a headquarters building called "MIRA HQ", a planet base called "Polus", or an airship based on Innersloth's ''Henry Stickmin'' series called "The Airship". 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, or by sabotaging a critical system on the map (provided the Crewmates do not resolve it in time). Games can also end by players quitting the match if doing so fulfills any win condition (if a Crewmate quits the game, their tasks are automatically considered completed). 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. Impostors are given a fake list of suggested tasks to blend in with Crewmates. However, they cannot legitimately perform tasks and can only pretend to be doing any of the tasks on the ship. Impostors, however, can sabotage vital systems (such as The Skeld's oxygen supply), close the doors to rooms, quickly and covertly traverse ventilation ducts (commonly referred to as "venting"), and kill Crewmates when standing near them. To help the Crewmates identify Impostors, there are various
surveillance system Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...
s on each map, such as security cameras and an admin system on The Skeld, a doorlog system with sensors in MIRA HQ, and a vitals indicator in Polus that shows the living status of all players. Crewmates may also confirm their identity through "visual tasks" (tasks that have animations which play for other players), which cannot be faked by Impostors. If a Crewmate is killed or any player is voted out and ejected, they become a ghost. Ghosts can pass through walls, watch other players' activities, and see and chat with other ghosts. Living players have a limited cone of vision; ghosts do not. Moreover, ghosts cannot communicate with living players or be seen by them. Ghosts help their living teammates by completing their tasks (as a Crewmate) or performing various acts of sabotage (as an Impostor). Any living player may call a group meeting by reporting a dead body, or by pressing the Emergency Meeting button on the map at any time (except during major sabotages, when Emergency Meetings cannot be called, but dead bodies can still be reported). During a meeting, players discuss who they believe is an Impostor based on the available
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...
. Impostors can be identified beyond all reasonable doubt if they are seen ''venting'' or ''killing''. A player may be suspected for many other reasons though. However, all the players form a sort of jury and must weigh the veracity or value of each other's statements and questions during the meeting. A plurality vote is held, and if a plurality is obtained, the player whom the most crewmates voted is ejected from the map and they become a ghost unless the majority of the crewmates choose to skip vote or there is a tie vote. Players can communicate in a built-in text chat (with some predefined phrases for phone users), but only during meetings, and only if they are alive (though ghosts can speak with one another at any time). While the game does not have a built-in
voice chat Voice chat is telecommunication via voice over IP technologies—especially when those technologies are used among players in multiplayer online games. Users might use either a VoIP engine system that is built into the game, or a separate ...
system, it is common for players to use external programs such as Discord, or to converse regularly if they are in close physical proximity to one another. In case players can hear each other's voices, the game reminds them to not speak except during meetings. In November 2021, additional roles were made available to players extending beyond the standard Crewmate or Impostor roles. Crewmates can also be Engineers, Scientists, or Guardian Angels. Engineers can travel through vents like Impostors can, albeit to a limited capacity. Scientists can check vitals at any time to see if any player has been killed recently. Crewmates who become Ghosts can become Guardian Angels, which can temporarily protect living players from being killed. Impostors likewise can be Shapeshifters, allowing them to temporarily morph into other players. In each game's lobby, various options can be adjusted to customize aspects of gameplay, such as player movement speed, the allowed number of emergency meetings, number of tasks, if there will be "visual tasks", or whether or not an Impostor is revealed after being voted off. There are also many cosmetic options, including spacesuit colors, skins, hats, and pets, some of which are paid downloadable content.


Development and release


Early development

''Among Us'' was inspired by the live party game ''Mafia'', and the
science fiction horror This is a list of science fiction horror films. 0-9 *''4D Man'' (1959) *'' 9'' (2009) *'' 9'' (2019) A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O *''The Omega Man'' (1971) *'' Outland'' (1981) *''Outpost'': **'' Outpost'' (2008) ...
film ''The Thing''. The idea for the concept was originally given by Marcus Bromander, co-founder of Innersloth, who had played ''Mafia'' since he was a kid. In the original game, function cards were dealt and players wandered around a house, aimlessly, while another person secretly killed the players, drawing a finger around their neck. Most of its mechanics were still present in ''Among Us'', but the team wanted to "alleviate the need to create an interesting home model and have someone wandering around in a boring environment". So, they decided that the game would be space-themed and also added tasks, which, according to Forest Willard, programmer at Innersloth, "changed several times during development". Development began in November 2017. The game was initially intended to be a mobile-only local multiplayer game with a single map. Bromander paused development on Innersloth's other game, ''The Henry Stickmin Collection'', in order to build ''Among Us''' first map, The Skeld. When they began developing the first map, they intended that the ship was always in crisis and that the Impostors could do tasks. However, they found this setup "stressful" and decided that it " ouldn't leavemuch time for detective work and informed meeting conversations". Willard described playtesting as painful and frustrating, as the game would break down during sessions forcing him to send playtesters new builds off of Google Play. The team tested the game with 8 of their friends and never tested the game with 9 or the maximum of 10 players. The game was developed using the Unity engine. The game was released in June 2018 to
Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
and iOS under the AppID of "spacemafia". Shortly after release, ''Among Us'' had an average player count of 30 to 50 concurrent players. Bromander blamed the game's poor release on Innersloth being "really bad at marketing". The team nearly abandoned the project multiple times but continued work on it due to a "small but vocal player base", adding in online multiplayer, new tasks, and customization options. The game was released on
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on November 16, 2018. Cross-platform play was supported upon release of the Steam version. Originally, the game had no audio to avoid revealing hidden information in a local setting, and Willard mixed sounds from numerous sound packs to compose the SFX during the game's Steam release. On August 8, 2019, Innersloth released a second map, MIRA HQ, a "tightly packed headquarters roughly the size of The Skeld." A third map, Polus, was added on November 12, 2019, and is set in a research station. The fourth map, the Airship, was released on March 31, 2021, and is based on a location in the ''Henry Stickmin'' universe. MIRA HQ and Polus originally cost players via in-app purchase. Their prices were reduced to on January 6, 2020, then made free on June 11, 2020. While the map packs are still available for purchase on all platforms, they now only provide the player the skins that were bundled with the maps. According to programmer Forest Willard, the team "stuck with
he game He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
a lot longer than we probably should have from a pure business standpoint", putting out regular updates to the game as often as once per week. This led to a steady increase in players, causing the game's player base to snowball. Bromander attributed this to the studio having enough savings to keep working on the game even while it was not selling particularly well.


Canceled sequel and ongoing updates

In August 2020, the team shifted focus onto a sequel, ''Among Us 2''. During this time, Forest Willard and Amy Liu continued to update ''Among Us'', increasing the maximum player base, adding four servers and three regions, and implementing longer multiplayer codes to support more concurrent games. On September 23, 2020, the team canceled the sequel, instead opting to add all content intended for the sequel to the original ''Among Us'', due to "how many people ereenjoying he original game. However, Innersloth deemed the game's codebase "outdated and not built to support adding so much new content", so the team made plans to rework the game's core code to enable adding new features. The team subsequently announced their plans to fix the game's server issues and widespread cheating problem, as well as add a system for banning disruptive players. In October 2020, colorblind support for the "wires" task was added to the ''Among Us''
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on Steam, as well as some previously unannounced lobby customization options. As-of-yet unimplemented features include a fifth map, the Sheriff role, and new game modes. In mid-February 2021, the game added a feature called Quickchat, which replaces the standard chat interface with a series of preset phrases that players must pick from. Players under the age of 13 are required to use Quickchat, but those over 13 are also allowed to use Free Chat, which allows them to type original messages. First announced at The Game Awards 2020, the Airship map was released on March 31, 2021. The Airship features multiple floors, contraptions, tasks, and "more". In addition, Game Awards presenter Geoff Keighley's face was added as a skin. The map itself is based upon the ''Henry Stickmin'' series's Toppat Clan Airship. Innersloth also stated that the map would be free to all players. It also features a skin bundle that includes ''Henry Stickmin''-themed cosmetic that can be bought on Steam. The accounts system was implemented along with the update, and it allows players to report players that are not following Innersloth's Code of Conduct in order to make the game a welcoming and respectful place. Punishment ranges from temporary to permanent bans. They also stated that reports would be viewed manually and not by bots, that account creations would be required if players want to use Free Chat or to customize their nicknames, and that people under the age of 13 would need their parents' permission to create an account. Implementing an account system also allowed Innersloth to add account linking and a friending system in future updates. Innersloth later revealed on the game's official Twitter account a new color to the game, Rose, which was included in the game's next update along with five other colors: Coral, Tan, Gray, Maroon, and Banana, which were revealed during Summer Game Fest on June 10, 2021, alongside other upcoming content, including a fifth map, new Hide & Seek game mode, and new roles such as Sheriff and Scientist. The new colors, along with 15 player lobby support, new meeting screen and revamp at the game's design, was released on June 15, 2021, during the game's 3rd anniversary. On July 7, 2021, Innersloth released a minor update that adds a new task, "Clean Vent", which involves the Crewmate cleaning a specific vent, preventing Impostors (and as of the November 9 update, Engineers) from using it, as well as some icon changes. On November 9, 2021, a major update was released that introduced four new roles (Shapeshifter, Engineer, Scientist, and Guardian Angel), achievements, a level system, controller support, custom keybinds, visor cosmetics, cosmetic bundles called "Cosmicubes", various in-game currencies, and a major revamp to the in-game store, which also reveals the names of the costumes. On March 31, 2022, a friending system was added, which allows players to see who they recently played with, send and receive friend requests, send and receive lobby invites, as well as the ability to block people. On June 21, 2022, the game was patched to include colorblind settings. At The Game Awards 2022 on December 8, 2022, it was announced that the Hide & Seek mode would be released the following day.


Console releases

Amid its popularity, Innersloth considered releasing the game to
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and Xbox One consoles, but encountered a problem in implementing player communication, since standard text-based or voice-based chat seemed unusable. They considered a system similar to the "quick comms" system from '' Rocket League'', as well as the possibility of developing an entirely new communication system for the game. Versions of the game for Xbox consoles were later announced. ''Among Us'' was released for the
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
on December 15, 2020, the same day it was announced during
Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentation or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began i ...
Indie World showcase. The Switch version supports cross-platform play with the mobile and Windows versions. This port was published by Play EveryWare. Upon release, the Switch version had an
exploit Exploit means to take advantage of something (a person, situation, etc.) for one's own end, especially unethically or unjustifiably. Exploit can mean: * Exploitation of natural resources *Exploit (computer security) * Video game exploit *Exploita ...
to access ''The Airship'' prior to its official release in early 2021. The exploit was fixed two days after release in the Switch version's first update. ''Among Us'' was released digitally for PlayStation 4,
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...
, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S consoles on December 14, 2021, along with its release on the Xbox Game Pass for console. These versions will support cross-platform play with existing Windows, Switch, and mobile versions. Unique to the PlayStation ports are special customization options based on '' Ratchet & Clank''. Physical releases for consoles were available in Europe the same day, while North American physical releases were released in January 2022.


''Among Us VR''

During The Game Awards 2021, a standalone VR version titled ''Among Us VR'' was announced. Co-developed by Schell Games, Innersloth, and Robot Teddy, the game was released on November 10, 2022 for the Meta Quest 2 and Windows via
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
, with a PlayStation 5 version via PlayStation VR2 planned for the future. ''Among Us VR'' features similar gameplay to the original game, but is played from a first-person perspective. Several of the original game's tasks were recreated, alongside new ones. At the time of release, the only level in the game is The Skeld 2; further content updates are planned, though no details have been announced.


Popularity


2020 spike

While ''Among Us'' was released in 2018, it was not until mid-2020 that it saw a surge of popularity, initially driven by content creators online in South Korea and Brazil. Bromander stated that the game is more popular in Mexico, Brazil, and South Korea than in the United States. According to Willard, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game on Twitch in July 2020. Many other Twitch streamers and YouTubers followed suit, including prominent content creators
xQc Félix Lengyel (; born November 12, 1995), better known as xQc or by his former screenname xQcOW, is a Canadian Twitch (service), Twitch streamer, internet personality, and former professional ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' player. Le ...
, Pokimane, Shroud, Ninja,
Disguised Toast Jeremy Wang (born 25 November 1991), better known as Disguised Toast, is a Taiwanese-Canadian streamer, YouTuber, and Internet personality. He got his start on YouTube, creating videos about the digital card game ''Hearthstone''. Wang later b ...
and PewDiePie. The COVID-19 pandemic was frequently cited as a reason for the popularity of ''Among Us'', as it allowed for socializing despite social distancing. Emma Kent of '' Eurogamer'' believed that the release of Innersloth's ''The Henry Stickmin Collection'' also contributed to awareness of ''Among Us'', and '' PC Gamer'''s Wes Fenlon credited Twitch streamer SR_Kaif for "prim ng''Among Us'' for its big moment." Fenlon also praised ''Among Us'' for improvements over other popular tabletop games that had been inspired by Mafia, such as ''
Secret Hitler ''Secret Hitler'' is a hidden identity social deduction party game developed by Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC, manufactured by Breaking Games and distributed by Blackbox. The board game was designed by Max Temkin, Mike Boxleiter and Tommy Marange ...
''. He said other video game adaptations of Mafia such as '' Town of Salem'' and '' Werewolves Within'' were "just add ngan online interface for the basic Werewolf rules," whereas ''Among Us'' is as an entirely new take on the concept. Along with '' Fall Guys'' and the ''
Jackbox Party Pack ''The Jackbox Party Pack'' is a series of party video games developed by Jackbox Games for many different platforms on a near-annual release schedule since 2014. Each installment contains five games that are designed to be played in large group ...
s'', ''Among Us'' provided a narrative-less experience that helped to avoid the "cultural trauma" of the pandemic, according to M.J. Lewis of '' Wired''.


Memes and mods

The game's popularity continued into the following months. YouTube reported that videos about ''Among Us'' were viewed 4 billion times in September 2020, and TikTok videos related to ''Among Us'' had over 13 billion views in October 2020. YouTuber CG5 wrote a song based on the game in September 2020, titled "Show Yourself", and gained over 60 million views in four months. In September 2020, the game exceeded 100 million downloads and its player count rose to 1.5 million concurrent players (nearly 400 thousand of which were on Steam), then peaked at 3.8 million in late September. The sudden increase in players overloaded the game's server, which according to Willard was "a totally free Amazon server, and it was terrible." This forced him to work quickly, under crunch time, to resolve these issues. In August 2020, Innersloth opened an online store for ''Among Us'' themed merchandise. The game's popularity inspired many original songs, fan art and
internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
s, Willard expressed that fan-created content "really is the best part" of making ''Among Us'', and Bromander called it "my favorite thing to see". The game popularized the slang word "sus" (meaning "suspicious" or "suspect"), which had been used before the game's release. Other slang terms as well as internet memes popularized and inspired by ''Among Us'' include 'Sussy' and 'Sussy
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' (derived from "sus"), 'When the Imposter is Sus' (an ironic meme based on ''Among Us'', usually alongside an edited photo of Jerma985), and 'Amogus' ( satiric misspelling of "''Among Us''"). In addition, the meme "Among Us everywhere" is a phenomenon where unexpected objects resemble the crewmate character. In September 2022, "Sus" was officially added to
Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...
's dictionary. During its time of widespread popularity, ''Among Us'' was controversially played by the U.S. Navy
Esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
team, in which players on the stream used in-game names referencing the N-word ("Gamer Word") and the bombing of Nagasaki ("Japan 1945" and "Nagasaki"). The stream was deemed "offensive" and "intolerable" by some viewers. The sailor responsible for the stream was later kicked off the team. In October 2020, U.S. Representatives
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and
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streamed the game alongside several other prominent streamers such as Pokimane and Hasan Piker as a way to encourage people to vote in the
2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
, drawing almost 700,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. The game also received several mods made by the community, which added new roles, game modes, cosmetics, etc. ''Among Us'' was also featured in Twitch Rivals 2020, an online gaming tournament which was held on December 4, 2020. During the event, players were able to receive an exclusive pet called "Glitch Pet", which is the Twitch logo.


October 2020 and January 2021 hacks

In mid-October 2020, a hacker known as "Eris Loris" began targeting mainly North American servers. Several players on the ''Among Us'' subreddit and Twitter reported this player hacking their lobbies and spamming in-game chat with promotions for his YouTube channel, links to his Discord server, and controversial political messages. Eris Loris also threatened to personally hack players that refused to subscribe to his YouTube channel. The Discord server has been found to contain large amounts of offensive content, such as racist language, gore, pornography, and images depicting animal abuse. A ''Eurogamer'' report from October 23, 2020, features an interview with a person claiming to be Eris Loris, conducted via the Discord server from one of the links provided in the hacked games. In the interview, Loris claims he created the bot responsible for the hacks "in only six hours", and had enlisted up to 50 volunteers to form a botnet which boosted the strength of their attacks. Loris claimed that the hack impacted 4.9 million players in 1.5 million games. He also added that the hacks were part of a publicity stunt to influence players to vote for Donald Trump in the
2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
. Innersloth added an in-game message warning players about the hacks on October 22, and released a statement on Twitter the next day. They said they were "super aware" of the hacking issue, and stated that an "emergency server update" would be pushed out to combat the hacks. They encouraged players to stick to private games and to avoid playing on public ones until the update was released. The team plans to address the hacking vulnerabilities as part of a planned overhaul for the game. At the end of January 2021, players reported on Twitter the return of Eris Loris' hack attack, which is now distributing ''Among Us'' cheats.


Reception

''Among Us'' was well received by critics. On the aggregator website Metacritic, the PC port received a 85 of 100 score based on 9 critic reviews, while the
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
version received a 79 of 100 score based on 9 critic reviews, both them indicating "generally favorable reviews". It was also considered one of the "Best PC Games for 2018", being ranked 17th, and as the "#38 Best Discussed PC Game of 2018". Since December 2020, '' IGN'' considered it one of 2020's best reviewed games so far. Elliott Osange of ''Bonus Stage'' considered that the game is "silly fun", but felt that is more fun "to be an Impostor". Craig Pearson of ''
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'' had the same opinion, found playing as an Impostor "a lot more fun" than playing as a Crewmate, which he called "exhausting". In reference to the game's popularity among streamers, Evelyn Lau of '' The National'' said: "Watching the reactions of people trying to guess who the impostor is (and sometimes getting it very wrong) or lying terribly about not being the impostor is all quite entertaining." Alice O'Conner of ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun'' described the game as "Mafia or Werewolf but with minigames". Andrew Penney of ''TheGamer'' said the game was "worth it for the price" and that "who you play with dictates how fun the game is." L'avis de Tiraxa of ''
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'' praised the game's Freeplay mode, which offers newer players "to browse the map alone to accommodate the places", as they would need to play several games in order to "perfect their strategies". Leana Hafer from '' IGN'' stated in her verdict on the game: "I don't have any sus that this will be the last game of its breed to make a splash, since we’re already seeing its influence on even mega-games like Fortnite". As a negative point, she pointed out some technical problems, such as the difficulty of finding rooms that aren't already full or are a long way from getting there. She also lamented the lack of "mechanic to punish players who rage-quit when they don't get to play as impostor, or are caught dead to rights in the middle of a murder". Tiraxa of ''
Jeuxvideo.com ''Jeuxvideo.com'' (from ''jeux vidéo''; ; ) is a French video gaming website founded in 1997. History The website traces its history to a video game hint collection on Minitel, a precursor to the World Wide Web, and was founded by Sébastien ...
'' was more critical of the game, lamenting the lack of an inbuilt voice chat, server bugs which " reventsome from joining the party, in a totally unexplained way", public servers with strangers, which she considered "less entertaining" than private servers with friends, and the large development progress, stating that the game has a "bit of a way to go before it reaches its full potential". The mobile version of the game, although being free-to-play, was criticized. Osange of ''Bonus Stage'' called the presence of ads and in-app purchases of cosmetic changes that are mostly available for free on the PC version "nonsense". He also called the PC version "stable" but also stated that the Android version is "a device-by-device situation". The Nintendo Switch version received some criticism. William Antonelli of '' Insider'' said that the Switch controls give "many tasks a satisfying game response". However, he also stated that most of the tasks could be "done quickly with the Switch's touchscreen control", which can only be used when the console is in handheld mode. He noted that many of the game's tasks are difficult to complete using a gamepad, which is required when the console is connected to a larger screen, and considered this version "inferior" to the PC and mobile versions. He also stated that the communication system is "frustrating", as using the joystick to select letters is "slow", and said the fact that the game has support for multiplayer across multiple platforms gives Switch players "immediate disadvantage". PJ O'Reilly of ''Nintendo Life'' noted that the Switch lacked much of the additional content available on other platforms, such as skins, which he called a "shame". ''Among Us'' has been frequently compared to ''Fall Guys'', as both became popular as party games during the COVID-19 pandemic; the developers of both games have positively acknowledged each other on Twitter. Comparisons have also been drawn between the two games' avatars, which have been said to look like jelly beans. ''Among Us'' has also been compared to ''The Thing'', '' Town of Salem'', ''Werewolves Within'', and ''
Secret Hitler ''Secret Hitler'' is a hidden identity social deduction party game developed by Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC, manufactured by Breaking Games and distributed by Blackbox. The board game was designed by Max Temkin, Mike Boxleiter and Tommy Marange ...
''.


Sales

, Steam Spy estimated that the game had more than owners on
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
. The Associated Press noted the game was the most downloaded app on the iOS App Store for both iPhones and iPads in October 2020. According to SuperData Research, the game had roughly players worldwide , with the free-to-play mobile version accounting for 97% of players and the buy-to-play PC version accounting for 3% of players, though it was the buy-to-play PC version that generated 64% of the game's gross revenue. ''Among Us'' became one of the best selling games of 2020 on Steam, being listed on the platinum category on "The Year's Top 100" list. The
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
version's launch sold digital units in December 2020, making it the highest-earning version of the game for the month and one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch. ''Among Us'' was offered as a free game on the Epic Games Store during one week in May 2021. Its average daily player count jumped from around 350,000 players in the weeks before to over 2 million players during the giveaway. On June 29, 2021, Innersloth reported on Twitter that during the game's free promotion on Epic Games Store, at least 15 million copies were claimed.


Awards


Legacy

''Among Us'' has done collaborations and cross-overs with other games and studios. The first game they collaborated with was '' Fall Guys'', who added ''Among Us''-themed skins to their game. Characters from ''Among Us'' have made cameos in the indie games '' Astroneer'', ''Sunshine Heavy Industries'', ''
Cosmonious High ''Cosmonious High'' is a virtual reality adventure game developed and published in 2022 by Owlchemy Labs for SteamVR, HTC Vive, and Oculus Quest 2 through Windows in which students attend a colorful and chaotic high school in space with a ca ...
'', and '' Samurai Gunn 2'', and ''Among Us'' is referenced in several stickers in the game ''
A Hat in Time ''A Hat in Time'' is a platform game developed by Danish game studio Gears for Breakfast and published by Humble Bundle. The game was developed using Unreal Engine 3 and funded through a Kickstarter campaign, which doubled its fundraising goals ...
''. Several ''Among Us''-themed cards are included in '' The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Requiem''. Themed skins and cosmetics from other games and properties have been added to ''Among Us'' as well: ''Innersloth'' and ''
Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on t ...
'' crossed-over to bring '' Arcane'' themed cosmetics to ''Among Us''. In addition to that, Innersloth has also done crossovers with '' Halo'', '' Ratchet & Clank'', and the movie franchise '' Scream''. Outside of the game itself ''Innersloth'' has collaborated with ''
BT21 Line Friends (stylized as LINE FRIENDS) are featured characters, invented by South Korean designer Kang Byeong Mok, based on the stickers from diverse applications of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation and the Japanese me ...
'', and Among Us-themed posters were used to advertise the movie '' Free Guy''. The "ejected" animation was referenced in the season 2 trailer for the animated series '' Snoopy in Space'', and the Emergency Meeting screen was used in '' In Space with Markiplier''. Among Us was also featured as a question on '' Jeopardy!'' ''Among Us'' is seen being played by characters in the 2022 film '' Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.''
Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, M ...
featured a community-created game mode in '' Fortnite Creative'' in December 2020 called "The Spy Within", which had very similar mechanics to ''Among Us'', in which among ten players, the others have to complete tasks to earn enough coins within a limited time while trying to deduce which two players are trying to sabotage that effort. Epic later added another (official and internally-developed) limited mode to ''Fortnite'' called "Impostors" in August 2021, which was recognized as even a closer take on ''Among Us'', as the same basic mechanics as "The Spy Within" were used, but now taking place within an underground bunker with a layout similar to the ''Among Us'' map. Innersloth responded in frustration to this mode, which gave no credit to Innersloth. Innersloth's co-founder Marcus Bromander stated "Is it really that hard to put 10% more effort into putting your own spin on it though?", while studio representative Callum Underwood said that Innersloth was open to collaborations, "Just ask and if you follow some basic rules it's usually fine". In an October 2021 blog posting, Epic Games did credit Innersloth and ''Among Us'' as inspirations for the "Impostors" mode. On December 28, 2021, H2 Interactive, who publishes ''Among Us'' in Japan, announced that a
one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
based on the game will be published in '' Bessatsu CoroCoros April issue on February 28, 2022. On January 13, Innersloth began promoting the manga on their official Twitter account.


Artificial intelligence research

A simplified variation of Among Us called Hidden Agenda is used in the field of
multi-agent reinforcement learning ] Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a sub-field of reinforcement learning. It focuses on studying the behavior of multiple learning agents that coexist in a shared environment. Each agent is motivated by its own rewards, and does acti ...
to show that artificial intelligence agents are able to learn a variety of social behaviors, including partnering and voting without need for communication in natural language.


See also

* Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry


Notes


References


External links

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