By Hermaione Sanchez

It is a big change to go from Animal Crossing,  a game about making friends with cute animals in a town, to Among Us, a game about working in a spaceship with a murderer pretending to be a crew mate. 

Among Us is a game that was released in June 2018, by InnerSloth, a 3 person indie game studio. The creators have recently stated they are also working on a console version of this game. The game received a rush of popularity due to famous YouTubers and streamers playing it. The game consists of 4-10 players; each player can choose a unique color and style their character with the variety of hats and accessories the game offers. 

It takes place inside a spaceship where 1-3 players are imposters; meaning their job is to pretend to be a crew member and kill off everyone else while maintaining their real identity a secret until the end. The rest of the players are crew members. Their job is to run around the spaceship and complete tasks. These tasks include wiring, downloading data, and fixing problems the spaceship may have. Besides that, they are also responsible for finding the imposter. Throughout the game, any crew mate can find a body and report it. This is when all players discuss who they think the killer is and try to vote them off. The person who gets the majority of votes gets thrown off into space. If the imposter is voted off, the crew members win the game. At the time of discussion, the imposter should try to blame an innocent person and win the game. The imposter, however, can too report a body and try to throw off the other players. Their goal after all is to blend in and kill off everyone to win the game.

You may be asking yourself, if the game was released two years ago, why would it barely start gaining popularity? Well there is not one answer to this, but many. The game in its mobile form is free, and you get to play with people all over the world, or your friends by hosting a game and sharing a code. If you want to play on PC, it is only $5. Although there are ads after almost every match, they are not too annoying; sometimes I don’t even notice them. Another reason for the rise of this game is the situation that we’re in. Due to social distancing rules, people can’t exactly hang out with their friends. This game allows them to come together and share laughs through party chats, making it ideal for quarantine. The intensity in the game makes it fun and thrilling. Having to trust people and blame people is nerve racking but can entertain you endlessly, especially with the right people.

So, pull out your phone, download Among Us and give it a try!