It may have originally come out in 2018, but Among Us took 2020 by storm, and it's deserving of that spotlight. Innersloth has made the tense, multiplayer fun of in-person cloak and dagger games like Mafia and Werewolf work on PC, mobile, and consoles with a flourish. And the great times I've had slaying, lying, and sleuthing my way through its charming sci-fi world got me wondering why it took so long for this sort of game to catch on. There are still a few technical hitches to be worked out, just like the fussy engines on the Skeld, but that hasn't kept me from coming back to it again and again in my down time.
The premise of Among Us is simple enough that just about anyone can pick it up quickly: eight crew members dash around a claustrophobic, cartoon spaceship to complete simple minigames and fill up a shared progress bar. But among them are two hidden impostors with the goal of secretly murdering everyone until they equal or outnumber the crew and claim victory. And yet, like so many excellent multiplayer games, it's very tricky to master because it’s about fooling real people, not gaming an AI. You can't even fall back on the same successful strategies too often or your opponents will catch on, so sometimes you have to mix things up and maybe even act illogically to keep them guessing.The art is whimsical, with your bulbous, quirky astronauts stumbling around engine bays and reactor decks that look like the doodles I used to do in the margins of my notes in school. This is effective for a couple of reasons. For one, it keeps the mood pretty light, which is important in a game where you're going to be lying to, and being lied to, by your friends every single round. It's hard to take getting ganked in the middle of a task for the fifth time too personally when the animation for your demise makes you laugh after you're done yelling. The art style also makes interacting with the various machines and doodads on the map intuitive and enjoyable. I was able to drop right into my first match and get a decent grasp of what was going on without needing much help.
Some of my favorite impostor rounds have been those in which I coasted to victory in a public game by changing my handle to something unassuming, like "joey07", and acting like I'm a young kid who doesn't really understand the rules that well. Aside from how I type and what I do or do not choose to comment on, I can even make a big show of having a hard time getting around the ship or not understanding how crew tasks work. Knowing how to perform innocence, even to the point that you half believe you're innocent yourself, is a great skill to have. But it's a common enough strategy that if you overdo it, at this point, experienced players will catch on. So sometimes I have two cover identities: one that's way too obvious, and another that I want my opponents to figure out and think that's the final layer. But it's not. The mind games can get really deep, and they're my favorite part of Among Us.