DUBIUM: the tried and tested Closed Beta of a new Among Us emulator
DUBIUM
A space station, a group of astronauts who have to repair various machines and a traitor ready to take them out one by one. If you've thought about Among Us, we don't blame you, because DUBIUM doesn't hide its source of inspiration in the slightest. Are we facing yet another clone of Innersloath's work, or will Mumo Studio's game be able to emerge among the many?We tell you in our test of the closed beta of DUBIUM.
Four against one
Two characters of DUBIUM DUBIUM, as already indicated, is a clone of Among Us , it is useless to go around it too much. It is not a carbon copy, mind you: it changes some game details that modify its structure and atmosphere. First of all, the maximum number of players is five. Four of these are Frontier, the good guys of the situation, who must be able to escape from the space station before it blows up and feeds the players to the sidereal void of the cosmos.The last one is a Traitor, literally the traitor of the situation who wants to escape alone. To do this, he must eliminate the other players one after the other, possibly in silence. DUBIUM is clearly more action than Among Us, as in addition to stealth elimination it is also possible to use various weapons, both melee and from distance. Furthermore, there is no voting system to "execute" the traitor on duty, so even if he is exposed (and if this happens automatically all the players find out who he is) the battle is not over.
The game map is also large and divided into two floors, with rooms and corridors. It is not at all impossible to escape the opponents and regroup, perhaps going to recover new resources to heal and return to the attack. Furthermore, in the event of the traitor's death, the game is not over. The Frontiers must still be able to complete a series of objectives to activate the escape pod and escape.
Objectives and abilities
A corpse being examined by one of the DUBIUM characters The Frontiers must being able to generate objects through a series of laboratories scattered around the map. To activate them, you need hidden resources in the space station. Each Frontier must basically explore, interact with a series of corpses of former inhabitants of the station and find out where to find access keys, which then allow you to unlock the aforementioned resources. This is a not very intriguing and somewhat repetitive mechanic, already after a few games, since it is a very simple and automatic process to perform. To complete actions such as picking locks or reactivating the circulation of oxygen all you have to do is complete a very trivial quick time event.Among Us, on the other hand, offers many mini-games, different both visually and at a playful level: even if simple and repeated, they are always pleasant to complete and are functional to the pace of play, which is always very high. DUBIUM, at least in this tried and tested, instead lowers the pace of the game and decreases the possibilities of interaction, especially in the case in which the traitor is not very skilled and fails to sabotage the other players in the best way.
At least , the traitor's "attack" strategies can vary due to the fact that each character has a unique ability. We talk about the ability to see through objects to discover the position of other players (so as to attack someone when no one is nearby), become immune to stealth kills and increase their defense (to attack face-to-face), analyze the tracks of others players to find out information about them and see their position for a short time (to find out if a player is in possession of a useful item or if he is unarmed). These are just a few examples, but on paper the uniqueness of the characters could be one of DUBIUM's strengths.
Graphics
The entrance to the DUBIUM DUBIUM map, which we tested in closed beta version and which is expected for an unspecified 2022, is developed by the aforementioned Mumo Studio, which has collaborated in the development of games such as Black Desert Online and Dead to Rights. This is their first independent project, but we are talking about a studio with some experience and which clearly wants to aim a little higher than the classic Among Us clone.The beta still had some limitations , with a lighting system that could be upgraded to make the game feel more "horror". It is above all the performance that should be optimized, since the slowdowns were regular. Overall, however, DUBIUM has well-crafted graphics to be indie, especially as regards the polygonal models of the characters and their animations. If what we have seen is a starting point and not an end, then the game could be visually pleasing. We also hope that new maps will arrive and that they are well characterized and different from the space station we tested, which is unfortunately a bit generic.
DUBIUM is a clone of Among Us, but offers a more dynamic style of play. action, without ever being hectic. For the moment, it suffers from a bit of content shortage, but being a closed beta months and months away from release, that's nothing to worry about. The characters' abilities may always make games a little different, but it will be necessary to see how the game is supported.
