If you’ve seen what looks like Fall Guys set in space with a cowboy hat lately appearing all over your social media, you are not alone. Recently a game has emerged that looks incredibly simple but is fiendishly brilliant, it is called Among Us and it is taking the gaming world by storm, becoming one of Twitch’s biggest new hits despite being over two years old.
Imagine being the game’s creators Innersloth, and finding your little game which was only seeing 50 players at a time if they were lucky suddenly shoot up to over a million, cause that is exactly what happened. Among Us is simple, you are apart of a 10 man crew assigned tasks on a spaceship but unbeknownst to you, there is a mole in your midst, an Impostor whose job it is to sabotage and eliminate you.
It is up to you and your teammates to figure out who the culprits are by discussion. This is where the real genius of Among Us lies as you really can’t trust anybody. One time, I found a body and next thing I knew, the impostor had convinced everyone else that I was the real culprit and ejected me out of the ship. It’s also a real thrill when you become the impostor and seeing your fellow players with no idea who it is.
So, why after 2 years did this game suddenly become a hit. Well in many ways it’s thanks to one Twitch user “sodapoppin” who with his over 2.7 Million Subscribers, received a suggestion from Pluto, a member of Twitch’s Partnership Team. Because the game requires you to play with other people, soon enough fellow streamers are getting on board and before you know it you have a real hit on your hands. You can watch the livestream here.
Speaking with Kotaku, the small three-person team admitted they weren’t experienced enough with marketing the game back in 2018, living up to the studio’s name. But despite the uphill battle, they continued to work and support the game well after anyone would have expected them too. The game did see some success in regions like Korea and Brazil thanks to smaller YouTubers discovering it, but it wouldn’t be until the recent Twitch exposure that has seen it absolutely explode in popularity even outranking new hits like Fall Guys.
The team had actually finished supporting the game at the beginning of the year and while there is desire to add more content for the newly found audience, most of that is gonna be channelled into the brand new Among Us 2, a sequel the team didn’t even know they could get off the ground until recently. While it will be difficult to predict the long term success of the game or if it will just be a flash in the pan. Playing through the game on both Mobile and PC I had a lot of fun with the game and as I discussed earlier it is really thrilling with the whole notion of sabotage, you really can’t trust anybody playing this game and that is what is most appealing about it.
The game is free on Mobile and only 5$ USD right now on Steam.
The founder and Editor in Chief of UnboxedTV. Nintendo lover and not afraid to admit it, can always go for a good Indie Metroidvania with a nice cold Cider.