The Resurgence of 'Among Us': How The Game Is Dominating Two Years After Its Release

It’s definitely rare that you see a game trending two years after its release, but if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. So what exactly is Among Us, and how did we get to the point where it’s becoming one of the most talked about titles in the gaming community?

Among Us is a multi-player murder mystery game that was originally released on PC via Steam and mobile in November of 2018. The game is set in outer space, and leads you on a journey of deceit. Each game session can hold four to ten players, and as a group, it’s your responsibility to work together for survival. However, one of the crew members is an impostor, whose goal is to kill everybody on board before being outed. Among Us is basically a combination of The Thing, and the classic PC/board game Clue (where there’s a killer amongst you).

In these last several days, Among Us has seen a sudden rise in popularity with 1.5 million concurrent players on the server. The huge spike in gamers, has caused the servers to be overloaded, and each day has brought a new record amount of players. Again, you may be wondering why Among Us is gaining so much momentum two years after its release.

The rise in Among Us can be traced back to Twitch. According to a report from Dot esports, an average of 500 channels streamed the game daily in the month of August. In the last week, that number has actually increased to 1,000 channels streaming the game daily, and with streamers like xQc and Hasanabi going viral for arguing during a livestream, the game was bound to get more attention from the general public.

In addition to xQc and Hasanabi being ready to kill each other (no pun intended), Man City striker Sergio Aguero recently made rounds in a terrible, yet hilarious, attempt to play the game on Twitch. Moments like these have resulted in curious gamers hopping on the Among Us train to see what the deal is with this game.

So now you may be wondering how you can get it on the Among Us action. As mentioned earlier, the game is available on PC through Steam and mobile, and Among Us also allows crossplay, meaning that you can play with your group regardless of whether or not they are on a computer, or a mobile device (and vice versa). While the PC version of the game is doing well, the majority of those 1.5 million players we mentioned earlier, are playing through the mobile version. 

As far as the cost goes, Among Us is $4.99 on Steam, but free through mobile platforms (with in-app purchases). Whether your group chooses to play on the computer, or through mobile, it will certainly be an adventure as you try to figure out who’s “the bad apple.” So yes, Among Us is the real deal.