Among Us facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Among Us |
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Cover art since June 15, 2021
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| Developer(s) | Innersloth |
| Publisher(s) | Innersloth |
| Designer(s) | Marcus Bromander |
| Programmer(s) | Forest Willard |
| Artist(s) |
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| Composer(s) | Marcus Bromander |
| Engine | Unity |
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| Release date(s) |
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| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Among Us is a popular online multiplayer game where players try to figure out who among them is secretly an "Impostor." It's a social deduction game, meaning you use clues and discussions to find the hidden bad guys. The game was made by an American company called Innersloth.
It first came out in June 2018 for phones and tablets (iOS and Android). Later that year, it came to Windows computers. You can even play with friends on different devices because it supports cross-platform play. It also came to Nintendo Switch in 2020 and PlayStation and Xbox consoles in 2021. There's even a special virtual reality (VR) version called Among Us VR that came out in 2022!
In Among Us, you play as colorful, armless astronauts in space. Most players are Crewmates, and their job is to complete tasks around the map. A few players are Impostors, and their goal is to secretly eliminate the Crewmates without being caught. Crewmates win by finishing all tasks or by voting out all Impostors. Impostors win by eliminating enough Crewmates or by causing a major disaster that isn't fixed in time. The game was inspired by the classic party game Mafia and the science fiction horror movie The Thing.
Even though it was released in 2018, Among Us became super popular in 2020. Many famous Twitch streamers and YouTubers started playing it during the COVID-19 pandemic. People loved its fun and exciting gameplay, and its cartoon characters became famous internet memes.
Contents
How to Play Among Us
Among Us is a game for 4 to 15 players. In each round, 1 to 3 players are secretly chosen to be the Impostors. There are five different maps you can play on:
- "The Skeld" (a spaceship)
- "MIRA HQ" (an office building)
- "Polus" (a planet base)
- "The Airship" (from Innersloth's Henry Stickmin games)
- "The Fungle" (a mushroom jungle)
Crewmate Goals
As a Crewmate, your main goals are to:
- Complete all your assigned "tasks" around the map. These are like mini-games, puzzles, or simple switches. They often involve fixing things like wires or downloading data.
- Find and vote out the Impostors.
Impostor Goals
As an Impostor, your main goals are to:
- Eliminate Crewmates without being caught.
- Sabotage critical systems on the map (like turning off lights or cutting off oxygen). If Crewmates don't fix these in time, the Impostors win.
- Impostors can also use hidden "vents" to move quickly around the map and hide. They can also pretend to do tasks to look like a Crewmate.
Meetings and Voting
If any player finds a dead body or presses the Emergency Meeting button, a group meeting starts. During meetings, players talk about who they think the Impostor is. They use the in-game text chat or voice chat apps like Discord. Impostors try to lie and blame other players. If someone sees an Impostor using a vent or eliminating a Crewmate, it's a strong clue!
After discussing, players vote for who they believe is the Impostor. The player with the most votes gets "ejected" from the game. If they were an Impostor, the Crewmates are one step closer to winning!
Ghosts and Special Roles
If you are eliminated or ejected, you become a ghost. Ghosts can still do tasks (if they were Crewmates) or sabotages (if they were Impostors). They can also float through walls and chat with other ghosts.
In a November 2021 update, new special roles were added:
- Engineers (Crewmate role): Can use vents like Impostors, but only for a short time.
- Scientists (Crewmate role): Can check a special device to see if any player has been eliminated recently.
- Guardian Angels (Crewmate ghost role): If a Crewmate becomes a ghost, they can become a Guardian Angel. They can temporarily protect a living player from being eliminated.
- Shapeshifters (Impostor role): Can temporarily change their appearance to look like another player.
Hide and Seek Mode
A different game mode called "Hide and Seek" was added in December 2022. In this mode:
- There are no meetings or voting.
- One Impostor is known to everyone and tries to eliminate all Crewmates within a time limit.
- Crewmates must hide or run away. They can complete tasks to make the timer go down faster.
- Crewmates can also use vents for a very short time to hide.
- Impostors cannot sabotage or use vents in this mode.
- Crewmates have a display that shows how close the Impostor is.
Customizing Your Game
Before each game, you can change many settings. You can adjust player speed, the number of emergency meetings, how many tasks there are, and if an Impostor's role is revealed when they are voted out. This lets you make the game as easy or as challenging as you like.
You can also customize your character's look with different hats, outfits (skins), visors, and even pets! Some of these can be bought in the game.
Game Development
How Among Us Started
| 2018 | iOS/Android |
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| Windows | |
| 2019 | "MIRA HQ" |
| "Polus" | |
| 2020 | Nintendo Switch |
| 2021 | "The Airship" |
| 2022 |
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| 2023 | "The Fungle" |
The idea for Among Us came from the party game Mafia and the movie The Thing. Marcus Bromander, one of the creators at Innersloth, had played Mafia since he was a kid. He wanted to make a video game version where players moved around a map and completed tasks.
Development started in November 2017. The game was first planned to be a mobile-only game with just one map, "The Skeld." The team wanted the ship to always be in trouble, and Impostors to be able to do tasks. But they found this too "stressful" and decided it didn't leave enough time for players to figure out who the Impostors were.
The game was released in June 2018 for Android and iOS. At first, not many people played it. The creators thought they were "really bad at marketing." They almost stopped working on the game many times. But a small group of dedicated players kept asking for updates, so the team kept adding new features like online multiplayer, more tasks, and customization options. The game came to Steam (for computers) in November 2018.
In 2019, two new maps were added: "MIRA HQ" and "Polus." These maps cost a small amount of money at first, but then they were made free in 2020. The fourth map, "The Airship," came out in March 2021. The creators kept updating the game regularly, which helped more and more players discover it.
Updates and New Features
In August 2020, the Innersloth team thought about making a sequel called Among Us 2. But they decided to focus on improving the original game instead. They wanted to fix the game's code to make it easier to add new content. They also worked on fixing server problems and adding ways to stop cheating.
Many new features have been added since then:
- Quickchat: In February 2021, a Quickchat feature was added. Players under 13 must use this, picking from a list of phrases. Older players can still type their own messages.
- Account System: An account system was added to help report players who don't follow the rules. This also allowed for features like adding friends later on.
- New Colors: In June 2021, six new colors were added for characters: Rose, Coral, Tan, Gray, Maroon, and Banana.
- More Players: The game now supports up to 15 players in a lobby.
- New Roles: In November 2021, the Engineer, Scientist, Guardian Angel, and Shapeshifter roles were added.
- Friend System: In March 2022, a friend system was added, letting players send invites and see who they recently played with.
- Hide & Seek Mode: This new game mode was released in December 2022.
- The Fungle Map: The fifth map, "The Fungle," was released in October 2023.
Console Releases
Because Among Us became so popular, Innersloth decided to bring it to consoles. They had to figure out how players would communicate without a keyboard.
- Nintendo Switch: The game was released for Nintendo Switch in December 2020. It supported playing with people on phones and computers right away.
- PlayStation and Xbox: Among Us came out for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021. These versions also support cross-platform play. PlayStation players even got special customization items based on the Ratchet & Clank games!
Popularity and Memes
Even though Among Us came out in 2018, it didn't become a huge hit until mid-2020. It first gained popularity in South Korea and Brazil. Many Twitch streamers and YouTubers, like Sodapoppin, xQc, Pokimane, and PewDiePie, started playing it. This helped the game become famous around the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic played a big part in its rise. People were staying home and looking for ways to connect with friends online. Among Us was perfect for this because it allowed people to socialize and have fun together.
The game's popularity grew quickly. In September 2020, videos about Among Us were watched 4 billion times on YouTube. By October 2020, TikTok videos related to the game had over 13 billion views! The game reached over 100 million downloads and had millions of players online at the same time. This sudden growth even caused the game's servers to get overloaded, but the developers worked hard to fix it.
Memes and Community Creations
Among Us inspired many creative things online, like original songs, fan art, and funny internet memes. The developers loved seeing all the cool stuff fans made.
The game also made some slang words more popular. For example, "sus" (meaning "suspicious") was used before, but Among Us made it super common. Other terms like "sussy" and "sussy baka" also became popular. There's even a meme called "Among Us everywhere" where people find objects that look like the Crewmate characters. In 2022, "sus" was officially added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary!
Players also created their own "mods" (modifications) for the game. These mods added new roles, game modes, and cosmetic items.
Game's Influence
Among Us has teamed up with other games and companies. For example, Fall Guys added Among Us-themed outfits. Characters from Among Us have also appeared in other indie games like Astroneer and Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. There are even Among Us-themed cards in the game The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Requiem.
Among Us has also added special outfits from other games and movies. You can find cosmetics from Arcane, Halo, Ratchet & Clank, and even the Scream movie series.
Outside of gaming, Among Us has appeared in many places:
- Among Us posters were used to advertise the movie Free Guy.
- The "ejected" animation was shown in a trailer for the animated series Snoopy in Space.
- The Emergency Meeting screen was used in a YouTube special called In Space with Markiplier.
- A chapter in the manga series Komi Can't Communicate is about the game.
- Among Us was even a question on the TV show Jeopardy!
- Characters played Among Us in the 2022 movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Fortnite also created game modes that were very similar to Among Us, like "The Spy Within" and "Impostors." At first, Innersloth was a bit upset because they weren't given credit. But later, Epic Games (who makes Fortnite) did credit Among Us as an inspiration. In 2022, Fortnite and Among Us officially teamed up, adding a Crewmate "back bling" and a dance from Henry Stickmin to Fortnite.
Adaptations
On December 28, 2021, it was announced that a manga based on Among Us would be published in Japan.
In June 2023, it was confirmed that an animated TV series based on Among Us is being made by CBS Studios. Famous actors like Randall Park, Yvette Nicole Brown, Elijah Wood, and Ashley Johnson will be lending their voices to the show.
Images for kids
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Cover art since June 15, 2021
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In this gameplay screenshot of the original map, The Skeld, the white Impostor has killed the blue Crewmate. White's vision of the pink player has been partially obscured by the wall. Any player, including the killer, can report the dead body and trigger a meeting.
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Sodapoppin, a streamer, is credited with popularizing Among Us on the live-streaming platform Twitch.
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A cosplay of Crewmate (left)
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Many internet memes about Among Us reference Crewmate's superficial resemblance to unrelated daily objects, such as this trash can, or a fingernail.
See also
In Spanish: Among Us para niños
