A fun social game that’s all about the twists!

Few games have managed to take the world by storm so quickly during lockdown season as Among Us has. At this point, you may have already seen the iconic bipedal oblong “Crewman” jumping around in numerous cosplays and social media platforms. The game could seem just a tad overhyped (and it probably is, honestly) but it doesn’t stop being good or even great.

This game is played with a minimum of four players (at least five players are recommended.) Some of the players are labeled as “impostors” secretly by the game, and the rest of the Crewmen must try to find out who the impostors are and eject them or fulfill the tasks before the impostors are able to thwart them. 

The impostors, on the other hand, have to either kill the Crewmates or make sure that they are unable to complete their tasks. If you are given the Impostor assignment, you have access to the Sabotage button (situated at the bottom-right corner of your screen) which will open a map indicating all the different vulnerabilities that can be triggered within the map’s system.

Crewmates must prevent these sabotages from occurring and spot the impostors. When suspicions arise, they can make use of the emergency button to summon an emergency meeting. This button can only be pressed a limited number of times by each player and has a cooldown period that starts after the meeting ends.

The game is themed in space and takes place on one of four maps: “The Skeld” (spaceship), a headquarters building by the name of MIRA HQ, a planet base called “Polus”, and “The Airship”. The maps are fairly original and well-designed, with some interesting secrets to unveil.

There’s no map in this game that I could call “lame”, though MIRA HQ is probably my least favorite. It’s not the biggest map, but it can get heavily confusing and weird. Nevertheless, it’s tolerable and doesn’t do much to ruin my experience with this game.

The aesthetics of Among Us in general are witty and pleasant to look at in their own quirky way. They kinda remind me of games like Earthbound or Mother, albeit obviously more polished. 

It weirds me out a bit that the characters are animated moving sideways regardless of the direction they walk towards. Some people claim that it adds to the overall charm of the game, but I can’t help but get a bit unnerved by that. Again, no biggie, just a minor observation.

Then, there’s the UI, which is very serviceable and clean, though possibly not the prettiest of the bunch, on some occasions coming off as a bit unpolished. I did like how the laptop interface looked in all its retro glory, as well as the engine room one. The chat looks patently ugly, though, like a horrible version of the first iPhone messaging app.

The sound design in this game, for its part, is brilliantly executed, though there’s hardly any music apart from some stingers here and there. The music that plays at the intro is fabulous in its gloominess.

Now, with regards to the multiplayer, I would advise that you join private sessions instead of public ones. For one, you are exposed to a lot of trolls and pricks on those public servers. Plus, you can easily get banned from a room for no apparently good reason. I’m not sure whether the server was bugging out on me or not when I tried it out, but it did happen to me in various instances.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the game can be a bit difficult to understand at first if you are playing it for the first time, not only with regards to the features but in terms of what you’re actually supposed to do. Luckily, you can get a gist of the gameplay by going over the Freeplay mode, which is sort of an exploration mode that allows you to check out the facilities and the main functionalities of the game without having to deal with the urgencies present in the online matches.

Among Us offers an addicting gaming experience coupled with a great opportunity to socialize with your peers and acquaintances. It also has a very compelling premise that’s unlike anything seen before in gaming, which is a huge accomplishment. I definitely recommend this game if you don’t mind lying and betraying your own (just kidding, of course!)

Please head down to the comments section, identify yourself, and leave your thoughts. I’ll be watching you, though! *looks sternly*