InnerSloth

You can cobble together a narrative of responses to the horrors of 2020 from the games that shot to fame at different times. Early on, we looked for games that helped us understand the COVID-19 crisis – Ndemic’s virus sim Plague Inc topped iOS charts in February, eight years after release. Then, as the lockdowns kicked in, we sought out games that offered refuge. For a while, the socially distant game of choice was Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We became more reliant on games as social spaces, and especially those that hinted at physical contact – see Fall Guys, in which players jostle together like kids in a ball pit.

Now, weary of government failures and paranoid about whether our neighbours are following the rules, we seek consolation in games of treachery, where the disasters without are mirrored by enemies within. InnerSloth’s Among Us launched to zero fanfare in 2018 but is now one of the most-played games on Steam. Here, teams of squishy astronauts carry out drudgework on claustrophobic maps while trying to expose one or more bloodthirsty imposters. Whenever a corpse is reported, a meeting is called, and players have 60 seconds to vote on a culprit for execution.

The work of just three people, Among Us is a reminder that the right concept at more or less the right time is worth any amount of marketing money or self-consciously topical framing. But its success isn’t just about backstabbing the zeitgeist: it’s a great example of a game in which simple rules create endless opportunity for mayhem. Unlike the similar Unfortunate Spacemen, it doesn’t emphasise manual skill – rather, strategy is about social dynamics. Some imposters throw off suspicion by leaping to the defence of others. Shy souls, meanwhile, can’t help but look like they have something to hide. Crucially, all this is as much fun to watch as to play. Among Us remains a Twitch favourite months after its player count spiked in July last year, with no less than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streaming the game over the winter.

InnerSloth planned a sequel, but is now updating the original instead to avoid splitting its audience. We’re not sure much needs to be added. Where the comforts of ‘wholesome’ games ring hollow after a while, Among Us offers a more complex and enduring catharsis. On the one hand: yes, there are people who are trying to end the world, but if we pull together we can flush them out. On the other: watching imposters escape justice is a powerful tribute to human ingenuity in adversity. It’s terrifying, but in a way reassuring, to realise just how awful other people can be.