Game: Among Us
Creator: InnerSloth LLC
Platform: Multiple platforms; I played on iOS
Target Audience: Young adults and teenagers, mostly between ages 14-30. It went viral among popular Twitch streamers and watchers in 2020
Overview & number of players
Among Us is “a party game of teamwork and betrayal” for 4-15 players requiring social deduction and teamwork to win. Set aboard a spaceship hurtling through space, it is amultiplayer game with two roles: Crewmates and Impostors. For the Crewmates to win, the Crewmates must cooperate to complete all assigned tasks before one or more Impostors can kill all the Crewmates aboard, or vote off all the Impostors. For the Impostors to win, the Impostors must kill all the Crewmates aboard without being voted off the spaceship.
Procedures
During a round, the Crewmates go about completing their assigned tasks aboard the spaceship, while the Impostors attempt to kill as many Crewmates as possible. A Crewmate calls an emergency meeting as soon as a dead boy is found or suspicious behavior is detected. The round ends with every player voting on which player should be voted off the spaceship, determined by majority vote. Once someone has been voted off, a new round begin/
Objectives
The objective of the Crewmates is to complete all assigned tasks as a group or vote off all Impostors. The objective of the Impostors is to kill of all the Crewmates without getting voted off.
Actions
The Crewmates can complete tasks aboard the spaceship, call emergency meetings (if a dead boy is found or suspicious behavior is detected), check the admin map and security cameras to keep tabs on other Crewmates, and vote off suspected Impostors. The Impostors can kill Crewmates, sabotage tasks
Welcome screen
The lobby of the game
Role card assigned to a player
The process of voting someone off of the spaceship
A victory for the impostors!
The game was fun because it is rather simple to understand but also requires keen social deduction and deception skills. However, I personally think it is much more fun to be an Impostor than a Crewmate, because completing Crewmate tasks can become rather monotonous.
Compared to similar games like Mafia or Werewolf, Among Us allows more freedom for players, where both Crewmates and Impostors can freely roam about the spaceship and complete objectives in a more freeform manner, as compared to the rigid turns of Mafia or Werewolf.
To make the game better, I would add the ability to voice chat with other players during the voting deliberation process, rather than being limited to text chat. In addition, to make the Crewmate role less monotonous, I would introduce special roles (akin to roles like the Seer or Doctor in Werewolf). For example, one Crewmate could be the Medic, with the ability to revive a dead body if found within a certain timeframe.
