How Among Us Has Recently Grown to Become Extremely Popular
Over the last few months, we have seen many trends come and go as we try to entertain ourselves in quarantine. But one of the biggest trends to come out of 2020 is the video game Among Us. While it was first created in 2018, it did not start taking over people’s lives until this September.
Among Us is a free video game that you can play on your smartphone or personal computer, by yourself, with friends or with random people. The game currently has three different space-themed settings, including a spaceship, a headquarters, and a planet base. The game begins by allowing you to choose a nickname, create a character and then give them silly costumes to help make them unique. Once you’ve done all this, you then enter a party—public or private, depending on if you choose to play with friends or strangers—with 4-10 other players. Depending on how many people are in your party, there can be 1-3 imposters. Once the game begins, you will be assigned as either an imposter or crewmate. As a crewmate, your job is to complete all of the tasks on the ship without getting killed, all the while trying to figure out who the imposters are. If you are an imposter, your job is to kill all of the other crewmates on the ship without getting caught. For those who are unlucky enough to get killed, however, the game does not simply end. Instead, you turn into a ghost who must continue to finish all of their tasks to help your team win while being able to hover over those still alive.
Crewmates have a hard job, as imposters are allowed to influence the game by closing the doors of rooms, creating an emergency or turning off all of the lights. But this does not mean that imposters get off any easier. Imposters have the ability to “vent” (travel through a vent) from room to room, which comes in handy after a kill; however, you never know when a crewmate might turn a corner or be in the room you have just vented into. The way imposters win in this game is by not getting caught by anyone and surviving each of the voting rounds. If players discover a dead body, they can report it to the party or call an emergency meeting and begin the voting process. During these meetings, players are allowed to chat with one another, and accusations often begin to fill the chat. In order to win, crewmates must vote out all of the imposters—but they must also be careful to not vote out their innocent crewmates. However, if the imposters kill all of the crewmates s first, then the imposters.
After having experimented with the video game for about a month now, I have discovered a few fun ways to play. One of the first ways is using Bunch, an app that has a built in Facetime function while you play video games on your smartphone. Another great way to play is by using Zoom. I typically will create a group chat with my friends, send out a Zoom invitation and we will all join in. This is a great way if you don’t have Facetime or have a large party of people playing with you.
Among Us is a great way to occupy your time, destress and reconnect with your friends. Between the competition, teamwork and silly costumes there is much to love. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you should. Before you know it you’ll be like the rest of us who are guilty of spending too much time playing this video game!
Author: Shyanne Mortimer | Co-Social Media Editor
