A fairly new, unique game has risen to popularity over the past few months. “Among Us” was developed and published by American studio Innersloth and released on June 15, 2018. “Among Us” comes from a genre often referred to as “hidden role” games involving mechanics that reward the deduction and deception of other players.

     The game achieved recent popularity despite launching more than two years ago. PC Gamer, a video game-centered publication, believes the game reached this popularity due to Twitch Streamers. The popular online figures such as Cr1tikal and Pewdiepie exposed the game to their fans, who proceeded to spread it further into the mainstream. Another factor is the game’s simple graphics, which allow it to work on almost all devices.

     The game can be played by a minimum of four and a maximum of 10 players. One to three of these players is given the title of an imposter, while the rest are crewmates. Taking place in sci-fi themed environments such as a spaceship or a snowy facility, the crewmates must perform a number of simple tasks or vote out the impostors to complete the game. The impostors, on the other hand, win by murdering enough crewmates until the number of the two teams is one to one.

The most important part of the game starts when a crewmate discovers the dead body of one of their allies. All players are then brought to a screen where they must discuss who they believe committed the murder based on the information, or lack thereof, they have gathered. This communication can be done through in-game chat or third party voice calls. Afterward, all players vote for who they believe the imposter is, and whoever has the most votes is removed from the game.

     This is where the ideas of deception and deduction are most prevalent. Impostors must lie to the other players to avoid suspicion, and the crewmates need to deduce who the imposter is and point out their enemies’ lies.

Even students at Penn-Trafford are playing “Among US”. 7th-grader Samuel Reese said that he likes the game because it allows him to “easily play with his friends.” Sophomore Eva Lee said that the game has become popular because “it’s a fun game that can connect you with your friends.” Lee added that she enjoys the character customization. 

     Lee did say that she disliked the prevalence of trolls in the game, such as players with offensive names or those who purposefully make the game harder for their teammates. The developers did mention on their website that they are adding a feature to report malicious players.

     Lee said she believes that the best way to improve the game would be to add more maps and customization options. There are only three maps in the game right now: The Skeld, Mira HQ and Polus.

     Lee added that she believes that “Among Us” will eventually fade away as most popular things. Until then, she highly recommends to everyone that they should try it out.