Ludography
73/100
Players595 ratings
82/100
Critics4 reviews
More scores
Metacritic9 critic reviews
85/100
Metacritic usersuser score
70/100
GameFAQsEasy/Just Right
3.59/5
Player reviews
92% positive661,839 reviews
Steam Deck
Playable
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$4.99

Where to get it

Among Us cover

2018 · Casual · Indie

Among Us

Timed Nintendo exclusive

Play with 4-15 player online or via local WiFi as you attempt to prepare your spaceship for departure, but beware as one or more random players among the Crew are Impostors bent on killing everyone!

Released
15 June 2018
Platforms
AndroidChromebookNintendo SwitchNintendo Switch LitePlayStation 4PlayStation 5WindowsXbox OneXbox Series X/SiOSmacOS
Genres
CasualIndiePartyScienceSocial deductionStrategy
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Co-opMultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
ActionSurvivalStealthParty
Country
United States
Age ratings
CLASS_IND 12GRAC 15+ACB PGUSK 6PEGI 7ESRB E10+CERO B
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, English, English (UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal) and 3 more
Copies sold
324 million as of 2021-06-15
Time to beat
2hmain story4hwith extras10hcompletionist
Composers
Forest Willard

About

Among Us is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by the American game studio Innersloth. The game allows for cross-platform play; it was released on iOS and Android devices in June 2018 and on Windows later that year in November. It was ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020 and on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2021.

Among Us takes place in space-themed settings where players are colorful, armless cartoon astronauts. Each player takes on one of two roles: most are Crewmates, but a small number are Impostors. Crewmates work to complete assigned tasks in the game while identifying and voting out suspected Impostors (who appear identical to Crewmates) using social deduction, while Impostors have the objective of killing the Crewmates. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film The Thing.

›Story

One Crewmate has been replaced by a parasitic shapeshifter. Their goal is to eliminate the rest of the crew before the ship reaches home. The Impostor will sabotage the ship, sneak through vents, deceive, and frame others to remain anonymous and kill off the crew.

While everyone is fixing up the ship, no one can talk to maintain anonymity. Once a body is reported, the surviving crew will openly debate who they think The Impostor is. The Impostor's goal is to pretend that they are a member of the crew. If The Impostor is not voted off, everyone goes back to maintaining the ship until another body is found. If The Impostor is voted off, the crew wins!

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Among Us is a multiplayer game for four to fifteen players. Up to three players, based on the number of players and the game host's choice, are randomly and secretly chosen to be the Impostors each round. As of 2026, five playable maps are available: a spaceship called "The Skeld", an office building called "MIRA HQ", a planet base called "Polus", "The Airship", a setting from Innersloth's Henry Stickmin series, and the Fungle, a mushroom jungle map. The Crewmates can win the game one of two ways: either by completing all assigned tasks or by ejecting all Impostors.

Impostors can likewise win in two ways: either by killing or ejecting enough Crewmates, so that the number of Crewmates matches the number of Imposters, or by sabotaging a critical system on the map (provided the Crewmates do not resolve it in time). At the start of the game, Crewmates are assigned "tasks" to complete around the map in the form of minigames, minipuzzles, and simple toggles, mostly consisting of maintenance work on vital systems such as fixing wires and downloading data. Impostors cannot complete tasks but may pretend to perform them to feign appearance as legitimate Crewmates. Impostors, however, can perform sabotages, ranging from minor (such as disabling lights, limiting the Crewmates' vision) to critical (such as disabling oxygen generators), requiring immediate counteraction by Crewmates to prevent their deaths.

Development

Among Us was inspired by the live party game Mafia, and the science fiction horror film The Thing. The idea for the concept was originally given by Marcus Bromander, co-founder of Innersloth, who had played Mafia since he was a kid. In the original game, function cards were dealt and players wandered around a house, aimlessly, while another person secretly killed the players, drawing a finger around their neck. Most of its mechanics were still present in Among Us, but the team wanted to "alleviate the need to create an interesting home model and have someone wandering around in a boring environment". So, they decided that the game would be space-themed and also added tasks, which, according to Forest Willard, programmer at Innersloth, "changed several times during development".

Development began in November 2017. The game was initially intended to be a mobile-only local multiplayer game with a single map. Bromander paused development on Innersloth's other game, The Henry Stickmin Collection, in order to build Among Us's first map, The Skeld. When they began developing the first map, they intended that the ship was always in crisis and that the Impostors could do tasks.

Reception

Among Us was well received by critics. On the aggregator website Metacritic, the PC port received a 85 of 100 score based on 9 critic reviews, while the Nintendo Switch version received a 79 of 100 score based on 9 critic reviews, both them indicating "generally favorable reviews". It was also considered one of the "Best PC Games for 2018", being ranked 17th, and as the "#38 Best Discussed PC Game of 2018". Since December 2020, IGN considered it one of 2020's best reviewed games so far.

Elliott Osange of Bonus Stage considered that the game is "silly fun", but felt that it is more fun "to be an Impostor". Craig Pearson of Rock, Paper, Shotgun had the same opinion, found playing as an Impostor "a lot more fun" than playing as a Crewmate, which he called "exhausting". In reference to the game's popularity among streamers, Evelyn Lau of The National said: "Watching the reactions of people trying to guess who the imposter is (and sometimes getting it very wrong) or lying terribly about not being the imposter is all quite entertaining." Alice O'Conner of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described the game as "Mafia or Werewolf but with minigames".

Legacy

Among Us has done collaborations and cross-overs with other games and studios. The first game they collaborated with was Fall Guys, who added Among Us-themed skins to their game. Characters from Among Us have made cameos in the indie games Astroneer, Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, Cosmonious High, Samurai Gunn 2, and Fraymakers, and Among Us is referenced in several stickers in the game A Hat in Time. In a major update in collaboration with Innersloth, indie developer Triband added characters and 35 Among Us-themed levels to the game What the Golf?

Several Among Us-themed cards are included in The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Requiem. Among Us also appears a skin for the Hearts suit in Balatro, using Crewmates in lieu of the King, Queen, and Jack. The Crewmate was added as a playable DLC character in Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble in January 2025. Triband also developed a similar collaboration for What the Car?

Awards

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Android15 June 2018Worldwide
iOS15 June 2018Worldwide
Windows16 November 2018Worldwide
Nintendo Switch15 December 2020Worldwide
PlayStation 514 December 2021Worldwide
Xbox One14 December 2021Worldwide
PlayStation 414 December 2021Worldwide
Xbox Series X/S14 December 2021Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Basis for
Among Us 3D
Built on it
Town of UsClassic UsAmong Us: Ranked (Unofficial)
Editions
Among Us: Ejected Edition

Games like this

Collections13 collections

Years

Features

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.