Among Us

Among Us is a North American science-fiction social deduction game made by Innersloth. Inc. It was released for iOS and Android on June 15, 2018, for PC on Steam on November 16, 2018. It was also released on itch.io on August 17, 2018. Among Us follows a crew being killed one at a time by one or more Impostors. The game got very popular in late 2020 because many Twitch streamers and YouTubers have played it.

Gameplay 
In Among Us, players play as one of four to fifteen players, and can either be a "Crewmate" or an "Impostor". Each game has one to three Impostors in it. The number of Impostors can be changed at the start of the game.

Crewmates are given a list of tasks to complete at the start of the game. They can win if everyone does their tasks, or if they vote out all the Impostors.

Impostors can win by killing all the Crewmates, or killing enough Crewmates so that there are more Impostors than Crewmates. They do not have tasks, but instead have a list of "fake tasks". Impostors can pretend to complete these tasks to make it seem like they are not Impostors. Impostors can travel around the map using vents, and "sabotage" parts of the map (such as causing a reactor meltdown on The Skeld) to distract or kill other Crewmates.

Every player has a chance to call an emergency meeting or, when they see a dead body, to report it to everyone else. During a meeting, players can talk about who they think is the Impostor. This is the only time when players can talk to each other and vote. If a player gets the most votes, they are voted out, meaning they are removed from the game. Among Us does not let players use voice chat. Players can only talk by typing messages. Because of this, many players use services like Discord for voice chat.

When a player is killed by the Impostor, or if they are voted out, they become a ghost. Ghosts can not do things with other players, and they can not talk or vote during meetings. However, they can still do tasks, and see the rest of the game. Ghost Impostors can also sabotage to help their teammates. If both the Crewmates and the ghosts complete their tasks, the Crewmates will win.

Maps

The Skeld 
The Skeld is the very first map in Among Us. It was released with the game, and is the most popular map. It used to be the only free map in the game, and is set in a simple spaceship.

Mira HQ 
Mira HQ is the second map in the game. Unlike The Skeld, the map was released as paid content, and is set in a floor in a floating building that is the headquarters of the company MIRA. It was announced on August 3, 2019, and it was released on August 8, 2019. As of June 11, 2020, this map became free for all players to play. This map contains new features such as new tasks, a decontamination system and a door log.

Polus 
Polus is set in a base in a planet named Polus. This map, like Mira HQ, was also released as paid content. This map does not have vents for the Impostor, but holes that connect the different buildings. This map is quite big and open compared to the other maps. It also has a new camera system. As of June 11, 2020, this map also became free for all players to play. Most tasks/features in this map are only in this map.

The Airship 

The Airship is the fourth map in the game. It was announced at The Game Awards on December 10, 2020. It is based off of the Airship from "Infiltrating the Airship" in The Henry Stickmin Collection, another game Innersloth worked on. It has been released on the 31st of March 2021 for free.

Reception 
The game received mainly positive reviews but some criticized the game because 'after a while, you just see the same old maps', while on Steam the game received 'very positive' reviews.

Among Us got a lot more popular in the summer of 2020, because a lot of Twitch streamers started streaming themselves playing it, at some point making it the most viewed category on Twitch. There were so many new players causing servers to go down, even though they were designed for scalability. Developers decided to redesign servers to account for the influx of new players.

It is maintaining its popularity due to large YouTube creators making videos on it, like MrBeast. Some YouTube creators were introduced to it by The Henry Stickmin Collection.

Popularity 
The game got popular in some regions like South Korea and Brazil before getting popular worldwide. PuffBalls United stated that the game is more popular in Mexico, Brazil, and South Korea than the United States. According to ForteBass, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin first popularized the game worldwide on Twitch in July of 2020. 

The game was played by several content creators and streamers after it got popular.

Continued popularity 
The game's popularity continued into the following months. The pandemic also raised its popularity. The game popularized the slang word "sus" (note that it has been used before the game's popularity). The game also had many ironic internet memes, like Sussy, Sussy Baka, "When the imposter is sus", and "Amogus". as well as references to random or otherwise bizarre objects such as trash cans, fire alarms, and backpacks resembling the Impostor, often depicted in red.

Notes

References 

2018 video games
Android (operating system) games
IOS games
Online games
Party video games
Windows games