Is the imposter among us?

As an online multi-player social deduction game creates waves with its lurking hoodwinkers and heroic crew mates, we invite avid gamers to share hacks to ace it

If you're into serious gaming and still haven't tried the newest crop which is blowing minds, you're missing out on the good stuff. With minuscule, alien characters in custom space suits and giant visors, online multi-player social deduction game Among Us — developed by InnerSloth in June 2018 — caught the interest of the gaming community in 2020, thanks to famous Twitch streamers and YouTubers playing and reviewing it.

Set in outer space, any player who joins in, is allotted one of two roles randomly — a crew mate or an impostor. While the crew mate's role is to complete tasks and identify the lurking impostors to eliminate them, the impostors blend in, sabotage map systems, use vents and kill crew mates. Crew mates stand a chance to win by completing all tasks before being killed or by eliminating all the impostors. The impostors on the other hand, can win by a sabotage countdown or killing crew mates to make them equal to the number of impostors in the game.

A sneak-peek into the game's easy-to-use interface

With features that allow you to vote others out and security cameras, door logs and vitals indicators that help you strike down impostors, avid gamers share tips for newbies to ace the game.

Build your squad

Yogikrishnan Pillai

Yogikrishnan Pillai, 19, a second-year Bachelors of Arts student from St Andrew's College who runs a YouTube channel, adds how he discovered the game a month ago after watching YouTuber PewDiePie's review. "Initially, I started playing it with strangers. But the fun doubled when my college squad got involved, and used the discord voice chat," he says.

Tip: If you are an impostor, learn to use the vent smartly. Memorise the map well. If you are a crew mate, finish the tasks as soon as possible. If you trust a friend turn them into an alibi. So if one of you is killed, you can report the impostor by calling a meeting. It serves as the perfect ice-breaker for bond- ing on game nights.

Trust no one

Meghanjali Mitra

Meghanjali Mitra, 21, a fourth-year architecture student from Kolkata shares that the game is similar to the offline social deduction game, Mafia. "It requires you to sharpen your mind, use your wit and intelligence." To make the best of it, she suggests playing it with friends. As an architecture student, she loves the use of spaces, the interface and the cute character customisations.

Tip: If you are an impostor, create alibis. If there's a vocal player around you, stay close, so they don't rat you out. If you are a crew mate, don't go to the electrical section alone.

Killing them softy

Sanika Vasudeo

City-based Instagram content creator Sanika Vasudeo, 25, caught the Among Us bug from her gamer friends. "It is super addictive. Being a host allows you to customise the level of difficulty. We've had friends fight over the discord voice chat, delete the game and return once they have calmed down."

Tip: Crewmates using voice chat should mute their mic unless a meeting is called or a dead body is reported to avoid giving away the impostor's name. Impostors, watch out for red blinking lights in the Skild and Polis maps. Don't kill anyone there, because a crewmate is watching. A tip to kill crewmates is to cut the electricity off. Once everyone rushes to the same room and characters overlap, kill them and get away with murder.

Practice maketh perfect

Siddharth Sankar

Siddharth Sankar, 20, an engineering student at University of Queensland, feels that the simple game doesn't require you to have played it for months to become a pro. "The game targets a wide demographic. I think I will break some of my friendships while playing it," he jokes, referring to the manipulation in the game. There's a lot of networking too. "Creating an online lobby requires 10 players so, I've been meeting new gamers." He likes that the game teaches life lessons. "Even if you are with a bunch of people, you've got to stay alert and trust yourself to make the right decisions."

Tip: Practise in the free play mode. Whether you are an impostor or a crew mate, stand your ground and you'll be able to persuade anybody in the lobby.

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