Among Us: Does it deserve its own success? | Review
Among Us | Review
We are sure that, at this point, you have all heard of Among Us at least a couple of times, but we don't think it's impossible that a good chunk doesn't know exactly what it is. Before getting into the real review, let's start with the basics. Among Us is an online game for 4-10 players divided into "crew members" and "impostors" (one to three). The impostors can recognize each other, while the crew members have no idea what role the other players play. If this description makes you think of Lupus in tabula or similar games, you are not wrong.The aim of the impostors is to eliminate the crew members, and vice versa. However, impostors can directly kill other players by approaching and pressing a button, while members must vote who they deem suspicious, to remove him from the game, during a crew meeting which, as a rule, starts to find a corpse.
This is the highlight of Among Us: for a limited time it is possible to discuss (via an internal written chat), explaining where we were at that moment, who we were with, who we saw coming out of a certain room and so on. Not knowing who to trust, but knowing that someone is necessarily lying, one must try to guess who the impostor is. If you are the impostor, on the other hand, you have to try to find a victim alone, eliminate it and move away from it unseen to create an alibi during the discovery of the body.
Unlike a Lupus in tabula, However, the crew members have a whole series of objectives scattered around the map (consisting of rooms and corridors). The goals are nothing more than extremely basic mini-games designed solely to keep us busy for about ten seconds and force us to move from one part of the playing area to the other. If all crew members manage to complete them, the impostors lose.
Occasionally, there are also malfunctions with a countdown that must be resolved in time, otherwise the 'crew. In addition, deceased players continue to play in the form of ghosts and, despite being invisible, unable to write in chat and unable to resolve malfunctions, they can still carry out their goals to help allies in life.
A match, depending on the number of players and their skill, has a variable duration, but we are still talking about 5 minutes or a little more on average, with peaks of 15 minutes in the event that the voting times until the last are used second. In total there are three maps, of increasing size and complexity: they are well made and knowing them is essential to set up an effective tactic (in the role of the impostor).
To what has been said we should add some other playful details, but overall now you know how Among Us works. At this point in the review, the real question is: does it enjoy?
Is Among Us Fun?
It depends (yes, I know, easy answer). Assuming you should be interested in the genre, the level of fun depends on the behavior of the other players. This is true of every online game, of course, but in Among Us it probably reaches its peak. In terms of gameplay, as explained, all you have to do is go here and there around the map and solve some mini-games (there are very few and you will learn them by heart in a few games). So don't expect great satisfaction with mouse and keyboard in hand.The fundamental point is the discussion phase. Assuming that there are no language barriers (or in other words that everyone knows English), it is necessary that all players have the desire to write in chat, explaining the classics where, who, when. Unfortunately it is not obvious, as I discovered during the many games played to make this review. There are situations during which those who report a corpse do not explain where they found it, preventing anyone from making a sensible investigative discourse. Some do not participate in any way and vote at random to "return to play". Others spam messages in chat (there is a time limit between one sending and the next, but it is a few seconds). There are also instant disconnections of those who wanted to be an impostor but are not or who have been eliminated and do not want to wait for the others to finish the game.
The truth is that Among Us is a party game that finds its peak only among friends. If you have at least 4-5 other people to share a session with (perhaps adding unknown players to get to ten) then get ready for hilarious games. Obviously it is essential to hear in the headphones: verbally it is much more convenient to be able to explain what happened and above all you keep company between one murder and another.
The future
In a nutshell , therefore, Among Us is potentially fun (but certainly not varied) with strangers, and hilarious with friends (but still not very varied). Buying it to play alone is a bet, but a bet you can easily pay. On PC (via Steam) the cost is only 4 euros, while on mobile it is free (there are advertisements every few matches, few compared to the average of classic freemiums).In addition, Innersloth has confirmed to have canceled the sequel to the game, Among Us 2, and to have decided to introduce all the new features in the first chapter (we assume for free, but it was not explicitly said). This means that for only four euros you get a game that will be officially supported for a long time and that, on paper, can only get better.
Mobile version (Android)
What you are reading is the review of the PC version of the game, but I also tested the mobile version. The real difference is in the control system. You can use a virtual thumbstick to move around, or slide your finger across the screen. In both cases, on small screens like those of most smartphones, it is slightly inconvenient to move the character and operate the various objects on the map. Obviously the mouse and keyboard are more accurate. Overall, Among Us remains enjoyable even on mobile. The fact that this version is free also allows you to try the game, before spending the four euros required by Innersloth on a computer.
