'Among Us' is an online multiplayer social deduction game from American game studio Innersloth.
The space-themed game mostly centered around the gamers taking roles of the Crewmates, and a predetermined number being Impostors.
The Impostors will then blend in with the Crewmates on their mission on one of three maps: a spaceship called "The Skeld", a headquarters building called "MIRA HQ", or a planet base called "Polus".
During gameplay, the Crewmates' goal is to complete tasks in the form of mini-games, such as fixing wiring, emptying garbage, or swiping an ID card, all of which should be done while having the main goal of finding out who the Impostors are and voting them out.
On the other hand, Impostors should sabotage the map, which results in either a problem that will cause the Crewmates inconveniences until fixed. This can include turning off the lights, messing up the communications, or cause some other problems.
The Impostors' main goal is to kill off enough Crewmates for an equal amount of Impostors and Crewmates left, which results in a win for the Impostors as they theoretically could not be voted out.
Among Us was first introduced as a game on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Microsoft Windows in November 2018, featuring cross-platform play between the platforms.
But the game didn't get good traction at the beginning.
The game gained massive mainstream attention in the 2020, due to the many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers started playing it.
According to programmer Forest Willard, the popularity was initially driven by content creators online in South Korea and Brazil. It was then Twitch streamer Sodapoppin who first popularized the game on Twitch in July 2020. This followed by many other Twitch streamers and YouTubers, including prominent content creators like xQc, Pokimane, Shroud, Ninja, and PewDiePie.
It was said that the game gained massive audience and attention in 2020 due to the 'COVID-19' coronavirus pandemic.
Among Us is a social deduction game, meaning that it allows players to uncover each other's hidden role or team allegiance, through in-game socializing. In the time when many people are restricted and under lockdown conditions, the pandemic was frequently cited as the main reason for the popularity of Among Us, as it allowed for socializing despite social distancing.
Some Among Us streams were among the most popular videos on the internet.
For example, back in September 2020, videos about Among Us were viewed by at least 4 billion times. At that time, the game already exceeded 100 million downloads, and had 1.5 million concurrent players (peaking at 3.8 million at the end of that month).
On TikTok, videos related to Among Us had over 13 billion views in October 2020.
In response to the game's popularity, Innersloth announced Among Us 2 in August 2020, but canceled the planned sequel a month later. The team instead shifted focus on improve the original game, with a release on the Nintendo Switch in December 15, 2020.
Due to its massive popularity, the online game that runs on the Unity Game Engine inspired many internet memes, fan arts, and has also achieved a large followings online. The game also popularized the slang word "sus" ("suspicious"),
Innersloth also opened an online store dedicated for Among Us-themed merchandise.
It was reported that half a billion people played the game in November 2020, making it had one of the most monthly players for a mobile game ever, beating giants like Pokémon GO and Candy Crush Saga, according to Nielsen’s SuperData.
