Game Insights: Among Us

About Among Us

Since it’s launch in 2018, Among Us (a game by Innersloth) has seen over 90 million downloads globally and played by users of all ages. It’s popularity boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after many popular YouTubers began live streaming their game play.
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Among Us is a multiplayer game of teamwork and betrayal. Players are tasked as Crewmates or the Imposter. A game will include mostly Crewmates who are tasked with activities to complete as they roam around Sky Headquarters. Imposters look like Crewmates but they are tasked with sabotaging Crewmate efforts by killing them off before the game ends. 

Once one Crewmate is killed players can vote on who they a ‘suss’ on as the Imposter. The objective is to establish who the imposter is. The chat function with Among us provides a space for Crewmates to chat about who they think the Imposter might be.
 
Among Us is free to download on Apple iOS and Android devices. You can also view how Among Us collect your usage data here: Among Us (innersloth.com).

What Are The Risks?

Playing with strangers: The most popular mode of play is ONLINE with players joining public/open games where you will be connected with, play and chat with strangers. ​

Harmful language: The objective of an imposter is to kill, so conversations will lead to this theme. When in game play mode a user can click on the setting cog wheel to turn on the chat censor. This will block commonly known swear words from appearing in the chat. They will be covered with *****.

In app purchases: players may be tempted to purchase skins and accessories for their playing avatar/character. 
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Advertisements: players will be presented with ads before joining a game, these are unfiltered. 

Can I Turn Off Public Game Play?

​No, it’s not possible to turn this feature off. This means if you are not supervising your child whilst playing, they may select ONLINE and be able to instantly join public spaces. In public games players communicate with strangers.

​Can my child play Among Us without connecting to strangers?

There are three ways that a player could enjoy playing Among Us without playing with strangers. It’s all about how you select to play. Players have a few choices for how they commence play, therefore it’s important your child knows how to set this up safely or you will need to do this for them. ​

Option 1: Host a PRIVATE game. It is possible to play Among us in ONLINE mode without connecting to strangers. Players can set up safe games by hosting (starting) their own games and launching it as Private. They can then share the game code with their friends. A new code is generated each time a game starts so they will need to be communicating via another platform to share codes. This means you will need to have iMessage or Facebook Kids Messenger to send codes to each other. 

​Option 2: Play LOCAL mode. Local allows players to connect to game servers that exist on the same WiFi network. For example anyone connected to your home WiFi (such as siblings or friends) can play together from separate devices. One player starts a local game and if the other players are connected to the same home WiFi network the game will appear in the list of available local games.

Option 3: Play solo in FREEPLAY mode. You can also enjoy playing Among us solo by playing Freeplay mode. Players are tasked with 4 challenges as they roam roll through Sky Headquarters. 

​How to access Among Us:

The game can be downloaded via the Apple App Store, Google Play for Android devices or on PCs via the Among us website. You can also start playing Among Us instantly on a browser on a PC by going to Among Us Play Online.

Learn the lingo

Crewmate - A player in Among Us tasked with collaborating with team mates to succeed at a mission and guess the imposter. 
Imposter - the play of a game whose object is to sabotage Crewmate success and may kill Crewmates. 
Tasks - A set of activities players complete throughout any given game
Host - A player the sets up a game of Among Us for other players to join.
Maps - three types of maps or worlds you can play in The Skeld, MiraHQ & Polis.
Sus - a term used in chat to highlight who you are suspicious of.
Sky -headquarters - Where you play Among Us.
Freeplay - a function in Among Us that allows you to okay solo with the challenge of completing task an board Sky Headquarters.