Want a “twist” with a video game in it? Among Us is that “twist.”

I must begin by saying I was so overexposed to Among Us that I almost ended up not even trying it. But, of course, since I have friends (who doesn’t?) and no gathering is even remotely a gathering without someone bringing up these armless freaks with an astronaut suit, I figured, “Hell, might as well just go with the crowd!” 

Now, I gotta be honest: At first, I felt a bit dumb, not because I was playing it - I know some people still feel dumb playing video games but, you know, “boomers gotta boom!” - but because I was playing it proverbially “blindfolded.” For the life of me, I couldn’t comprehend what I was looking at, even though one of my friends tried patiently to “Amongusplain” the game to me. Just so you know, I just invented that term. Seriously! Try to Google it (spoiler: You won’t find it!)

Anyways, long story short, my ignorance was cured when I tried the Freeplay mode. Freeplay mode is an exploration-type mode that allows you to roam freely across the game’s premises and get acquainted with the mechanics without pressure from peers or time constraints. I think this feature was included not as a quality-of-life feature but as a necessity. Just imagine your friends having to endure a tutorial just because you happen to be an Among Us noob. Well, Freeplay fixes this. Yay!

On another note, the game requires a minimum of four players (at least in its competitive modes.) From the player group, the computer will assign some people as “impostors” without the rest of the “crewmen” knowing. 

The impostors’ role is straightforward: They either kill the rest of the non-impostor crewpeople or make it so they can’t complete their tasks. 

On the other hand, the crewmates must try to spot the impostors before they sabotage their plans. Sabotaging mainly involves messing with the facilities’ systems. If you’re an impostor, you can press the “Sabotage” button at the bottom-right corner, which opens up a map indicating all the potential sabotaging opportunities.

Suppose you are a non-impostor and have suspicions about someone else. In that case, you can summon an “emergency meeting” by pressing the “emergency button” (the big red button found prominently at the centermost area of the room - you probably won’t miss it). You may only press this button a handful of times and within specific timescales. After an emergency meeting ends, you must wait a “cooldown period” before you may push it again.

Save for the “door sabotage,” the emergency button will be rendered useless once the impostor succeeds in sabotaging. However, you can still report dead bodies to the rest of the crew, which will then prompt the emergency meeting regardless (you shouldn’t have to wait for that to happen, but it will happen eventually!)

From the crewmate's viewpoint, the fun part of the game is looking for any “red flags” displayed by the true impostors and, from the impostor’s perspective, going unnoticed and coming up with any alibis to get the rest of the crew off their neck. It’s an exciting experience that never gets old and won’t bore you for a long time. Sure, you won’t be playing this 24/7 (or at least I wouldn’t advise you to), but you can always go back and get similar thrills as the last time.

Among Us, as of this writing, has four different maps available:

●The Skeld (a type of spaceship)

●The MIRA HQ (headquarters)

●Polus (a planet)

●The Airship (pretty self-explanatory!)

Of the four, MIRA HQ is probably the one I liked the least, but it’s not a bad map overall. In general, all the maps, including the one I just mentioned, are very cleverly designed, and you should have a blast exploring them for the most part.

Lastly, the graphic design reminds me of Mother 3 (from the SNES era). One thing that’s hard not to notice is how the crewmen always seem to face sideways (even when walking up and down), which looks somewhat amusing. I don’t know if this was intended or if the developer was just too lazy to do sprite work for north/south directions, but this adds to the game’s quirky-yet-fun atmosphere. On a slightly more negative note, I’m not a fan of the UI that much (especially some of the fonts, which look a bit plain and boring), but It’s not a hill I would die on, to be honest!

Verdict

Bottom line is: Among Us managed to live up to the hype, and it deserves its place in the annals of gaming history. It’s not gonna make my list of the best games ever made, but it still sits nicely in my “games I enjoyed” ranking. Just one thing I’d like to add: Stick to private games! (Those with people you actually know) and don’t feed the trolls!

Have you enjoyed this review? Leave us your thoughts (but don’t try anything cute!)