Among Us

Among Us is a casual multiplayer online game focused on social deduction. Mechanically, it is a simplified and accelerated version of "Mafia": from 4 to 10 players try to survive by completing simple tasks, but one of them is actually a traitor. To win, the traitor needs to eliminate other crew members while constantly avoiding detection and removal from the group. Depending on the server rules, the average game time is from 3 to 15 minutes.

Like other casual games, Among Us is simplified to the limit. It doesn't have a complex game lore, a vast world, or long leveling. Even the characters look the same and differ only in color. For customization, there are pets and skins with hats. Maps are a set of rooms connected by corridors. Controls are reduced to a couple of actions, viewing the map, and moving.

Field of view is an important part of the gameplay. Players do not see the entire corridor or room at once, but only the space within a certain radius around them. Objects in the line of sight create their own dark spots, behind which nothing is visible. This encourages players to be attentive, look around, and check corners.

For the crewmates, many simple tasks are scattered around the map, such as "connect the wires by color," "turn the switch," "scan," "upload data," and so on. The quests are divided into common and unique for each player. By completing all of them, the crewmates will automatically win.

For the traitor, tasks turn into sabotage targets. Breaking the electricity will reduce the crewmates' field of view, making it easier to kill them. Communication failure will render cameras useless. Sabotaging critical systems, like the nuclear reactor, will push the crewmates to the brink of defeat. All this is done with one click on the sabotage map, allowing the traitor to be physically located at the other end of the map.

Both crewmates and traitors do not disappear after death but remain in the form of ghosts. They cannot communicate with living crew members, vote, kill, or report bodies, but they can pass through walls, open doors, and have a wide field of view. Crewmates can continue to complete their tasks, and traitors, if there are more than one in the group, can carry out light sabotage.

If a player is on the crewmate team, they need to:

The crew members' tactics are simple: stick together, watch each other, and don't split up. Know the map thoroughly, understand who could and couldn't have come from where. Also, know the connections of the ventilation system, where the enemy can crawl.

If a player is the traitor (impostor), they need to:

The traitor's tactics are more complex. He needs to ambush a lone crewmate, in the right place without witnesses, while providing himself with an alibi. Ideally, someone should see him in another place. Usually, a critical sabotage is needed, and in the ensuing chaos, stealthily eliminate someone. Some maps allow escaping the crime scene through ventilation, but without knowledge of the map and a bit of luck, you can always emerge under an observer.

Upon discovering a corpse, a discussion is called. Each player expresses their point of view on who could have done it, provides evidence, and votes to exclude the player they suspect. Being voted out means the character's death, but there may not be enough votes to make a decision.

Often, there is no evidence, and the traitor must be identified logically: knowing the map, the place of the murder, and who came from where. The traitor's task is not only to divert suspicion from themselves, if there is any, or to refute the accusation if the moment of the crime was seen by someone, but also to successfully frame a crewmate. This way, two crew members can be killed at once.

The killer's success is achieved through a symbiosis of correct actions and confident lying. It's not enough to simply imitate a crewmate, while avoiding extra eyes, disabling communication, and lighting. You need to convincingly prove that you are not involved, while yellow or green are unoccupied, behave suspiciously, and have no alibi.

With the gift of persuasion, it's important not to overdo it. Actively campaigning against someone — you'll be ejected after them. Staying completely silent — you're afraid, plotting something, out you go. Stating something unequivocally — means you are intentionally framing. Your voice cracked at an unexpected question — gotcha, traitor! During the discussion, you will have to carefully place accents and understand human psychology.

If there are two or three traitors, this significantly changes the social part of Among Us. After all, traitors are not friends, just partners. If one is exposed, the other will have to betray the first, not defend them. Otherwise, everyone will realize that this pair is together.

The emotional intensity increases when voice chat is used instead of text, and the game is played among friends, not randoms. Knowing how friends react to stress or lies, it's easier to guess — is this normal behavior or is the friend hiding something? Or maybe he is so PRO in communication that he carefully imitates a natural reaction?

All these possibilities in the head immerse the player even more in the process.

By the end of 2020, Among Us had three maps, functionally consisting of small and large rooms connected by narrow corridors. There is no definitively safe place on the map where you can group up and wait it out. But, as a rule, there is one very dangerous place where it's better to enter with three people, and a couple of dangerous rooms where you shouldn't linger.