By Abbigeal Griggs, Staff Writer
REDSUS: A game of murder mystery has become the talk of the town these past few weeks.
Among Us is the “new” hit game that everyone has been playing none stop. Among us is a 10 player game of murder mystery with either 1, 2,or 3 killers, called the “imposters”. The rest of the players are the crewmates, whose goal it is to complete a series of simple tasks to win the game. The crew mates can either try to avoid getting killed and complete their jobs, or find out who the imposter(s) are to win the game. Every game, there is a random selection process, and players cannot choose to be a crewmate or imposter, but most people want to be the imposter. The task that the crewmates are given takes less than 30 seconds to do. You are given random tasks from connecting wires in the electrical building, to taking out the trash. Some tasks that you do can be seen by other players, like the trash or a medical scan, which means you aren’t “sus”, a word coined by the Among Us community that means “suspicious”.
Both crewmates and imposters have access to a wide array of tools to help them achieve their goals. In order to give the imposters a chance, they have the ability to sabotage certain parts of the map, and can crawl through air vents. This allows for a deadly combination, whereby imposters can sabotage a component of the map to distract the rest of the crew. Which then will rush down to fix it, allowing them to single out people left behind with killing them. After an imposter kills someone, they can go in a vent and hide or move around underground to go into another room so they aren’t caught. Imposters have to be careful though, because the crewmates have their own tricks, ranging from a vital signs scanner that allows them to see when someone is killed, to cameras that let them watch hallways without being there.
But why is Among Us so addicting?
More than 100 million people have downloaded this game last September, according to Adam Epstein who wrote “How an obscure 2018 computer game became a global phenomenon overnight”.
So what can be attributed to its success? There are a number of factors to consider. First and foremost, the game is very accessible, anyone can play it. Another massive factor was the streamers on YouTube and other platforms began playing this game and spreading it to their audiences. With everyone trapped indoors during a pandemic, and with the game being free on mobile, and a cheap $5 on the popular game download platform “Steam”, the game offered a popular way for friends to get together despite the ongoing pandemic.
If you are ever searching for a game to play with friends that is cheap, accessible , and just plain fun, consider Among Us. The game is available on Steam, the App store, the iOS store and is coming to playstation 4 and to xbox consoles. The developers,Inner Sloth, have announced plans to release a sequel to the game. So jump aboard the Among Us train for simple, wholesome fun!