The Among Us game has taken the world by storm in the last months. Because of its success in gaming communities from YouTube and Twitch, millions of players flock to play this simple but fun game.
Despite looking like an overnight success, a look at the history of Among Us shows that the game has been around for two years. Its boom in recent times can be linked to the isolation caused by COVID-19.
So, is the game worth the hype, or is it just everyone’s response to missing social interaction? And are there any other ways you can spice up your Among Us gameplay?
Among Us Game for PC
The Among Us game is an online murder mystery and adventure game created by InnerSloth, an independent game developer. Part of the reason why it is so successful is because of its simple gameplay: basically, you are on a space mission with a team. Within your group, there will be one or more imposters poised to sabotage your team’s tasks and kill your members.
As the game progresses, the remaining players have to guess who the imposter is. Imposters, on the other hand, have to sabotage the entire operation without being caught.
The company released Among Us on June 15, 2018, on different platforms. You can play the Among Us game on your PC, Android, or iOS.
Developers
Innersloth is an independent game studio from the United States. Its entire crew is composed of three people: Forest W., Marcus B., and Amy L. They are a team of programmers and artists with a passion for video gaming. What is special about them is that they do all of the work in-house. They crunch their own numbers and make their own merchandise, something big-budget games have the luxury to do.
They have other games in their library, like Dig 2 China and the Henry Stickmin series. Fans of the Among Us game may enjoy these too and can access them on Innersloth’s website.
Rise to Popularity
No one knew what 2020 had in store for them, and this goes especially for those at Innersloth. The Among Us game has successfully infiltrated internet culture this year, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With everyone staying at home, people turn to games for fun or to pass the time. Thus, many have seen the success of games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Jackbox games. However, the Among Us game can thank popular game streaming site Twitch for its success.
Millions of Twitch streamers have played Among Us during quarantine, and they have garnered millions of views as of late. In fact, Among Us has had about 1.5 million simultaneous players at a given time. You can also attribute its success to its crossplay abilities, meaning people playing on different gadgets can still play together.
Beyond these, the nature of Among Us is its strongest suit. It is not complicated for non-gamers to pick up, but it has enough stakes for real passionate ones. The personalities of people in chats, even though you might never know their name, also brings a lot of humor to the Among Us gameplay. As the cherry on top, a round of Among Us with friends never gets old.
This game creates a community at a time when people miss physically being around theirs.
Among Us Game Settings
Before you go for a round of Among Us, you may want to check out these game settings to make your game more interesting. These features can affect the success of your imposters or your crew, depending on how you use them.
To access these, you have to go to the computer in your spaceship’s waiting room. From there, you can find the “Settings Tab.” Click on that and adjust your game settings however you want.
Here is a short guide of what each of the features means.
Imposters
Possibly one of the most important game settings is the one for Imposters. Tweaking this setting will adjust the number of imposters you will have in your game. However, the game itself can adjust this if your team does not meet the number of crew members needed.
You have the option of choosing one, two, or three imposters per game. The more imposters you have, the more kill cooldowns you will want because this makes your game longer and more interesting.
No one wants to get killed in an Among Us game, but without them, it makes it much more difficult for crewmates to win. Adjusting kill cooldowns can strike a balance between imposters and crewmates’ tasks.
Kill Cooldown
For those of you who do not know what a kill cooldown is, it is the time imposters must wait in between kills. As you may expect, this can drastically affect your gameplay.
Shorter kill cooldowns with many imposters can create an unequal playing field between the two teams. Long kill cooldown count with a lone imposter is too big of an advantage to crew members.
Kill Distance
Coupling up with kill cooldown is kill distance. This is the range an imposter has when killing someone. It can be short, normal, or long.
The Among Us game is full of conniving players, so be sure to choose the right kill distance settings before playing.
Emergency Meetings
If you have had a round of the Among Us game, you would know the importance of emergency meetings. These make it easy for the crew members to warn each other about suspected imposters.
Emergency meetings call for all players to confer in the middle of the map. This pauses everyone from doing their tasks and can make them prematurely vote someone out of the ship.
More emergency meetings can mean less gameplay and can lessen the stakes of your game. A lot of players prefer holding just a couple of meetings per game, in order to keep it fun, intense, and interesting.
Emergency Cooldown
Still, some people prefer having a number of emergency meetings at their disposal. This opens doors to abusing the emergency meeting button, something long-time players of the game have had too many experiences with in the past.
To address this, the Among Us game has an emergency cooldown setting. This is how long it will take in between emergency meetings.
Discussion Time
Once you do have a meeting, usually when someone is found dead, you get a fixed amount of time to discuss. Those who have suspects can state their case, and those suspected can defend themselves.
Even if you have not played the Among Us game on PC, you might have seen screenshots of chats during discussion time. These meetings can get funny, and are the subject of many memes online. This is also the only time you get to talk to your crew members, other than while you are waiting for the game to begin.
You can adjust your discussion time depending on your preferences. This at most still takes a few seconds, but if you have a large group talking—every second counts.
Voting Time
After discussing, you will have a fixed number of seconds to vote. However, you can still discuss during this time. Long voting times can range to over a hundred seconds, sometimes only half a minute.
If you think no strong cases have been made, you can skip a vote.
Confirm Ejects
Should you want to amp up your game, you can turn “confirm ejects” off. This setting tells you and your crew if the person you voted out was an imposter or not.
Obviously, having this off raises the stakes of your game. Knowing if you are making the right decisions can drive your attention towards the real imposters. This setting is best off for pro players or for people who are starting to get Among Us game fatigue.
How to Play Among Us Game on PC
You have two types of rooms you can join in the Among Us game: public and private. The former is played mostly amongst friends, with room codes available only to them, while the latter is when you play the game online with other unknown players.
Playing the game is different depending on your assigned role, so we have broken down the basics of Among Us for both.
To begin, a similarity between the two is that they are a part of a group of four to 10 people. It will not matter if you are playing online or through a local network, you will have the same access to settings either way. (But imposters are limited to one when you have the minimum number of players.)
Also, you will only find out about your role when the game starts. This goes for both crewmates and imposters.
To start, your goal as a crewmate is to finish all your tasks before alien imposters get the upper hand and successfully sabotage your mission. For imposters, the goal is the opposite: kill members and sabotage the success of the crew’s mission.
Crewmate
When controlling your character, you can use your keyboard or your mouse. The default setting of the game is playing through the mouse. However, by going to the game settings before playing, you can change this to Mouse+Keyboard. You will be using the WASD keys if you choose a keyboard.
To begin doing your tasks, click on the map in the upper-right-hand corner and find the rooms with yellow exclamation points on them. Go to them and you will find the object that needs handling. Tasks differ in each room.
As you go about your tasks, you can get killed or find a dead crewmate’s body. If you experience the latter, you can choose to “Report” your findings. A meeting will be held, and you can share your suspects.
If you have a suspect before people start dying, you can call for an emergency meeting. This will be found in the middle of your map. A breakdown of this will be found later in the article.
With each meeting, you will have time to discuss and vote someone off. You can skip votes, and if there are equal votes for crew members, no one leaves the ship.
If you have the unfortunate luck of dying, you can still complete your tasks, although you can no longer talk to your living crewmates. You are going to have to see them discuss their suspicions, with only you knowing the truth. Talking to other ghosts is possible though.
Imposter
Just like with crewmates, you can play the game using your mouse by default. But you can change it in the game settings to allow you to play with both your mouse and your keyboard’s WASD keys.d.
As the game begins, you will have fake tasks to do to look less suspicious. This makes you blend in with the crew and can let you get close enough to kill them. You will also have access to a map in the upper-right corner of your screen, which will reveal doors and areas for sabotage.
If you are planning to kill off a crew member, you have to come near them. You will know killing is a possibility when a “Kill” button lights up in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
After doing this, some choose to report the bodies themselves or run away through the vents. Dead bodies will be found either way, so you need to have an alibi and take part in discussions yourself.
Your other features include locking down rooms, turning off lights, and turning off the ship’s oxygen. All these will give you a higher chance of killing, especially the last one. If no crew members attend to the oxygen, the people on the ship die.
Among Us Game Maps
The Skeld
The most common map in the Among Us game for PC and mobile is The Skeld. This has relatively simple tasks making it the easiest to play on. It also has a smaller space compared to maps like the Mira HQ.
Its rooms are the admin, hallway, electrical, medbay, weapons, and reactor. The center of this entire map is the cafeteria, connected to the three wings of The Skeld.
Not a lot of players know how to change maps within the game, which makes The Skeld the most popular. It is the default map players are on. Also, most may think that what’s not broken should not be fixed. The Skeld is the Among Us game’s most basic map, but it is also the most balanced. Because of this, this is the map with the most level playing ground for crewmates and imposters.
Expect this map to have changes according to seasons. Last Halloween, it was designed with pumpkins and spiderwebs to get into the spooky spirit.
Polus
The next map available on the Among Us game for PC and mobile is Polus. This is not an indoor map and is on a large purple planet. Being an open space, this map posits new challenges like the weather. It has a lot of blizzards, making navigation just a little bit harder for all players.
Those ejected from Polus land on a very hot molten core. Before anyone is ejected, there will be 12 new tasks to do. This map also has a different security system and door mechanics, which is another extra challenging layer.
MIRA HQ
When you send files from The Skeld, the screen shows a folder called “HQ.” This is most likely referring to MIRA HQ, which is the headquarters for your entire mission. MIRA is a space organization dedicated to exploring and researching the depths of the galaxy. With all that researching, they are why you have alien imposters on your ship too.
This map is much larger than The Skeld. It has about eight new tasks, a new security system, and new ways of sabotaging. Because of its extra features, coupled with its size, MIRA HQ is the most beneficial to imposters. The fact that it has different vent mechanics is enough to make you believe that.
Among Us Game Language You Should Know
Chats in the Among Us game are time-bound, so many players have resulted in using a few Among Us game lingo to make discussions quicker. These are the four most common ones.
Sus
Sus means suspicious. When making a case about a suspicious character, players say “_____ sus,” or “_______ kind of sus.” This also helps people who find it hard to spell the word on their phones, or in general.
Who?
When someone reports or calls for an emergency meeting, many players ask “Who?” This is simple: they want to know who you are suspicious of. Best not confuse this with “Who died?” or “Who reported?” because this information will be seen on discussion screens.
Where?
Another common question is “Where?” This is usually used before or after crewmates ask “Who?” When players use this, they want to know where a dead body was found or where you found suspicious activity.
Vent
Vent is a special place only imposters have access to. When people say “vent” during the discussion chats, it means they saw someone use the vents or near the vents. All maps have vents that imposters can navigate through.
Customizing Your Characters for the Among Us Game
When you enter the Among Us game waiting room, you will see a laptop on the left of your screen. Pressing this, you will have access to character customization. You can choose your hats, your character’s color, pets, and skins here.
There are a lot of free hats for players, some are even holiday specials. A lot of Among Us game players report changing their device’s date to October 31, 2019. This unlocks Halloween decorations and character accessories.
The benefit of playing the Among Us game on PC is that you have the most access to the game’s skins. You can dress up as a wall guard, a doctor, and more. These items also come with an extra hat, and a scroll down the skin rabbit hole will reveal many customizable bundles.
A more fun customizable feature is a pet. Once you get a pet for the game, you will have a mini you running around with you as you complete your tasks or kill other players.
While character customization does not sorely affect gameplay, it can shape your strategy. Imposters with distinct features can be much easier to identify. On the other hand, crew members with special features are easier to track.
Tips for Crewmates
This game is easy to pick up but can also be hard to play. Still, there are tips and tricks that can make your gameplay easier. Keeping track of these can mean life or death for you and your crew.
The Among Us game teaches you that it’s in the little details.
Check Visual Tasks
It will be easy to tell if an imposter is faking a task through visual tasks. When some tasks are done, there is a corresponding visual seen on everyone’s screens. Examples of these would be clearing asteroids, emptying the garbage, and submitting scans.
If you see someone “doing” these tasks, but do not see the tasks being done, then you have got your “sus” right there. You can also track this through the green bar in the upper-left corner of your screen. When tasks are completed, the green bar fills up.
Complete the Tasks
A lot of the hype around the Among Us game centers on catching imposters. While this is a fun and important feat of the game, crewmembers should know that another sure win is possible only through completing all the tasks. The imposters’ goal, at the end of the day, is to keep you from finishing them.
Attend to Sabotages
Finishing your individual tasks can bring you closer to winning. But doing this can deter you from attending to immediate concerns.
A lot of Among Us games abruptly end because teams ignore imposter sabotages like decreasing O2 levels. Others forget to attend to light problems, making it easier for imposters to sneak around killing crewmates. Another large problem caused by sabotages is that they disable emergency meetings.
There must be an unspoken agreement amongst members to attend to urgent matters together. That way, imposters cannot target anyone of you finishing a task. However, if the doors lock on you, imposters can go on a killing spree and leave all you by escaping through the vents.
Best not to let sabotages escalate to that.
Keep Your Eyes Open for Suspicious Activity
In keeping your eyes open for suspicious activity, you can visit rooms that let you watch other players. There are different stations per map. An example of this would be the Polus’s vitals kiosk, a feature that lets you check living and dead players. Other maps have computers that track people’s movements. Through this, you can check how your crewmates (and imposters) navigate the ship.
More often than not, if someone is wandering around not entering rooms, that person is an imposter. Also, keep your eyes open for other players following you, and learn to avoid them by entering a room with many players. Some choose to call an emergency meeting, but if you do this, remember to have a strong and convincing case.
Last, you can get imposter hints by watching meeting discussions closely. Imposters can stage alibis for one another, so be suspicious of two or three players always vying for each other’s innocence.
Call for Emergency Meetings Wisely
When very suspicious and in doubt of your odds of surviving, press the emergency meeting button. This can be found in the cafeteria for The Skeld and MIRA HQ. If you are using the Polus map, it is in the Office.
Calling for an emergency meeting is a large responsibility, so make sure that you can argue a strong case when you press it. To keep people from abusing this, emergency meetings have cooldowns, a set time where you cannot call for an emergency meeting.
Use the Bio-Scanner
The most important visual task is the bio-scanner. This is most visible to players’ eyes, so it helps to keep track of people who get to use it. Imposters can never use this so they cannot fake it.
The bio-scanner limits your suspects.
Tips for Imposters
Use Sabotages
Sabotages are in the game to make it easier for you to kill crewmates. You can leave them with no oxygen to breathe, which is a sure win, or seal doors and lock crewmates in for the killing. This feature makes the killing more strategic, heightened by the fact that there are intervals allowed between sabotages.
Imposters can also use sabotage on themselves. When playing the Among Us game on PC, people notice that imposters will destroy something and fix it themselves. This makes them look innocent, and people will be less suspicious of them as a result.
Fake Your Tasks
Staging sabotages cannot be your only strategy because people will quickly get suspicious of you. So, you have to fake your tasks, and you have to plan which tasks you will fake. There is a list of visual tasks found above, so make sure you take note of those to avoid being caught early.
Pre-plan your tasks so that you have a strong alibi when discussions ensue.
Report Bodies
Self-reporting is not a new strategy for imposters, but it certainly keeps working. You can report on the bodies you have killed as a way to make it look like you found it, clearing your name during voting sessions. Be wary of doing this though; if you do this too often and too early, crewmates will not trust you.
This strategy is best done during the climax of the game, or a few meetings after the first one. Gain their trust first, then cry wolf. This clears you for the rest of your Among Us gameplay.
Team Up With Other Imposters
There is an unspoken agreement with teammates in the Among Us game. For imposters, it means vouching for each other’s innocence and protecting each other’s alibis.
Without speaking, you can follow your fellow imposters closely and support them in what they are doing. When they stage sabotages, you act like you are going to fix them. As other members enter the room, you can strike your kills together.
You can also take turns in staging sabotages, so it all depends on how smoothly both of you will work together.
Vents
Not a lot of imposters use the vents, but this is their strongest suit in winning. Using the vents makes it easier for imposters to move around the game without people catching them. For example, you can kill someone in a room and not leave the front door. Use a vent and go to the furthest room possible.
By lurking around through the vents, you can also kill quicker. Not only does it lessen suspicion but it also makes killing more efficient. However, it’s best to stay wary. A lot of crewmates keep a close eye on the vents, so if someone catches you, make sure they do not live to tell the tale.
Use the Cameras
Using security cameras benefit crewmates keeping an eye out on each other. As an imposter, you should know that you can use this to your advantage too. You can keep track of lone crewmates, what they are doing, and where they are doing it. By doing this, you can sneak up on them using the vents and go for a quick kill.
Knowing where security cameras are will also help you avoid killing on camera. There are crewmates whose strategies include watching everyone else closely on screen, so best be wary of them too.
Among Us Sequel News
The Among Us sequel, in light of its cult fame in 2020, is delayed in production. Innersloth has made the executive decision to improve on the first game as this is experiencing an influx of millions of players every day. It will be less expensive for them to improve than to remake, too.
For now, people can expect an update and/or a sequel to be not that different from the original game. Nonetheless. an update may mean larger groups of players, more colors, new maps, and new game settings.
These are all guesses, but you can be sure that Innersloth works hard in attending to technical issues too, like servers and account systems. Either way, you can be sure that the Among Us game is not going anytime soon. Innersloth is doubling down on the potential of the game by adding more features.
Final Word
The Among Us game for PC and phone is a ray of light in the time of COVID-19. It is bringing gamers and non-gamers together for a round of fun but intense gaming. Part of the appeal of the game is its simple premise but complex personality.
There is no telling what the future of the Among Us game is, but the gaming community did not see its success coming in the first place.
