Among Us quickly became everyone’s quarantine game of choice, becoming the most popular game of all time in terms of monthly players. It masterfully combined finger-pointing and chaos. But Among Us dresses it up in cute little bean form, so it still counts as fun escapism.
Among Us is the latest viral game to take over the internet, beating out triple-A releases, carefully marketed indie-darlings, and consistently updated live shooters. It is absurd that such a simple game, made by three people over two years ago managed to dominate the year so much. The following memes prove that the nonsense and improbability surrounding the game’s rise to the top are also heavily present within the game itself.
10 Self Reporting
Self-reporting has become an essential part of the subterfuge required to succeed as the Imposter. After all, no one would be daring enough to report a body they themselves had killed, right? Except they would.
It’s been done so much that even an honest report can quickly be turned into a suspected self-report. The underhanded tactic has become so trivialized that at some point during a game, someone is going to be accused of self-reporting.
9 Reporting Is Just A Shouting Match
Unless you’re playing in a lobby with a very short kill cooldown, witnessing a kill should mean it’s game over for the Imposter. But, due to the ability to self-report, they can report the body first and accuse you of being the Imposter.
Then you accuse them right back, and on and on it goes until no one knows what’s happening and the whole game has just devolved into you two pointing the finger at each other. Eventually, you’re both sent out the airlock and into the vacuum of space, left to ponder your crewmates’ stupidity and hoping for their demise.
8 The Chaotic Naming
For anyone with a form of colorblindness, Among Us is not the easiest of games. The wiring task has been updated to include symbols, and, in theory, the player names act as a good way of ensuring people are never too confused. Only in theory, however.
Miscreant players have taken to naming themselves colors, thus leaving the naming and color system in utter chaos and dashing the hopes of any colorblind person of being of any use. The only solution to this is for players to agree upon a standard callout system of names rather than colors, a feat of teamwork unheard of in the game.
7 You Can’t Just Stop For A Nice Chat
Now, there is every chance ConMan was the Imposter and only called the meeting to interrupt everyone’s tasks. But, it is also possible that they just wanted to share some positivity in a game that is obsessed with the darker sides of human nature.
Anything and everything is sus in Among Us. The rules and social etiquette seem to change game to game. Who knows what will be acceptable next game? Forget the pleasantries, this game is made to be played with your claws out.
6 You Say It Best When You Say Nothing At All
Sometimes, the best defense is nothing at all. The simple act of asking where the reported body was located can make you seem genuinely helpful and interested while requiring you to offer nothing at all. It also stops people accusing you of saying nothing, when in actual fact you have said nothing, as the reporter was likely going to say where the body was anyway.
Crewmates can then spend ages arguing amongst themselves about who did what and when while the Imposters go completely under the radar. Chaos, pure chaos.
5 Lie, Tell The Truth, Who Cares?
In any Mafia-esque game, lying is a core mechanic. You have to deceive people in order to win. Among Us is no different, probably because it started life called Space Mafia. The key to lying in Among Us is not getting caught and deflecting if you do.
Unless several people can call you out on the same lie, or a very trusted crewmate has their sights on you, all allegations boil down to he-said-she-said. When eject confirmations and visual tasks are off it becomes almost impossible to know who is telling the truth.
4 Games, In General, Make No Sense Anymore
Like these indie games prove, a huge budget doesn’t necessarily mean a game is going to do well or be good. This isn’t to say that big, expensive games don’t have more chances at success though. Naturally, games that have huge marketing campaigns and big names attached are likely to get tons of attention.
How then, did the little bean game become one of the most popular games of the year, even having US Senators play it? Well, it is quite good for starters. It’s quite heartwarming to see a project completed by only three people do so well in a market flooded with triple-A studios and games. Hopefully, Among Us will inspire future game developers to go ahead with their small projects.
3 How Does This Even Work?
If you need any proof at all that this game makes no sense then look no further than this meme. Creating a character and sticking to it is a surefire way to win the trust of the crew. “The friendly janitor wouldn’t lie,” they all say.
Which is ridiculous, as the above meme shows. Obviously, it was just a joke that is being overanalyzed for the sake of pointing out the insanity of this game, but that insanity is still there!
2 Mind Games
This seems clever, but it’s just a numbers game. Asking “where” is the best thing to say as it doesn’t really say anything. Every imposter says where at some point, so this will always catch one of them out. It still makes for a nice trick though.
This just highlights the arbitrary and absurd nature of the Among Us decision making process. There is no creed, no logic, no strategy. Just point your finger, shout, and hope you win. That being said, some are clearly better than others at the game.
1 The Ease Of Straight-Up Cheating
Cheating has occurred in games since games have been around, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. Luckily, people tend to play Among Us for fun, not to be too competitive. Cheating can still ruin the fun though.
The worst part is, you don’t even have to actually cheat to just lie and say you were on a call with someone. Anyone can do this, and as the dead player can’t speak for themselves, no one can prove you’re lying.
