Ohhhh hey! A silly hidden identity game that has nearly taken over the world! I've been a pretty big fan of the genre in board games for a few years now and this is the first video game I've seen take advantage hidden identity mechanics and it seems it has been a huge hit for much of 2020 (though it came out to no fanfare in 2018) that I had ignored until only recently. You play as a crew of some alien species that has been invaded by another alien species, the imposters, who slowly kill off the crew from trying to repair their ship and heading home. Over time you 'vote' after finding dead bodies left by the killers and our normal players attempt to deduce who is doing the murders while the imposters are trying to throw the regular players off the scent. This leads to some fun moments of scrambling as a caught-red-handed-murderer attempts to push all the blame on their recent accuser despite munching on a body mere seconds ago. I played several dozen matches over discord with some internet friends and that definitely seems the best way to play it - playing anything with internet randos sounds like a nightmare, especially a game like this with forced social elements like trying to work together to piece evidence for a good accusation. The artstyle of the game is minimal but it works quite well as a small indie project and the music is ambient and understated - pretty much exactly what you want out of an 'alien' simulator. Among Us is a solid time with friends during a pandemic where you can't really go out and I certainly enjoyed my time with it though I don't think I'll have much desire to return in the far future, I am certain it will be outdone by something else soon enough.

Reviewed on Feb 15, 2022


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