As a crewmate, there’s an inevitable presence at the start of every match in Among Us. My goal is to perform menial tasks assigned to me. However, someone disguised as a crewmate is trying to disrupt that. In spite of imposters and the possibility of ejection by my crewmates, getting the job done is the most pressing matter in the game.
Among Us is an online social deduction game that has exploded in popularity. Four to ten players act as crewmates and must complete objectives on one of three locations. Objectives are brief mini-games that vary in complexity. For example, one involves tapping on asteroids to destroy them and another is completed by pressing a button. However, up to three of those players could be imposters trying to sabotage and kill. Crewmates must finish a total amount of tasks or eject all the imposters to win. Imposters must stop the crewmates by killing them and sabotaging systems on the map.
Performing tasks gave me a sense of tension. Doing them causes an image to obscure your view and a bit of the environment. An imposter can use that opportunity to ambush you. There were moments in the game where I was doing a task knowing that an imposter could strike at any moment. Getting the job done was more important than my survival. Death emphasizes the fact that completing tasks is a top priority. Dead crewmates come back as ghosts that can move and perform tasks. During one match an imposter killed me as I was reattaching wires. My ghost ascended from my corpse and without hesitation I returned to my task. It’s a funny circumstance and an intentional decision by Innersloth. Allowing ghosts to perform tasks give players something to do instead of spectating. In fact, finishing your tasks as a ghost is conducive to winning matches. In a way, this makes the bean-sized astronauts seem like fearless workers. Even after death, you have to do your job in Among Us.
