Among Us Crew

Among us. 

The design could be more advanced. I’d classify it as a simple top-down game with good basic game elements. The concept is foolproof: find the impostors, avoid looking suspicious, and eject the right players. The basic game elements, like the eerie breakdowns or the fear of being sus make the game initially thrilling:) But even with these strengths, there’s one aspect that weighs down the gameplay. 

The side quests. 

They are time-consuming, boring, and just there to exist, while the impostors have fun sabotaging and killing! The wallet transfer side quest? That one was mean.

And most of the time, we’re selected as crewmates. When this happens, I often log off and choose another group. 

A good game avoids making players feel unsatisfied--ensuring all aspects of the game are balanced (not to be confused with enjoyable: a game that is balanced with boring and enjoyable parts is a powerful tool).   

Among Us would greatly benefit from changing the tasks from a one-player minigame to a two-player minigame to fix the side quests and make them useful in the game's progression. This way, everyone has a role in the game.

For example, the control room can have a minigame where players shoot rocks heading towards the ship. If a player misses, a rock attacks the entire spaceship, and all the player’s interfaces in the ship rumble too, and the impostors get exposed. These quirky, fun, and unexpected elements give the crewmates a chance, other than stalking people, to find the impostor. Therein lies a spark of competition. 

To counteract that, if another person messes up their minigame, the ship breaks down, and everyone is cut out of their disparate minigames to save the ship. 

This adds a lost touch of purpose to the bystanders of the game.  

By incorporating minigames and interactive challenges, there’s also something to fight for: instead of throwing a bunch of people around the globe and asking them to complete tasks and oust the impostor, the gamers are a crew--a team.  By empowering the team to seek and destroy impostors, the game designers can level the playing field and make the game more meaningful.