“Among Us” is a multiplayer online video game with over 217 million downloads. Everyone has been playing this online phenomenon just from over the course of the past couple months.

In order to play the game, people can have up to ten players as each person is assigned the role of a crewmate, but there is at least one-to-three imposters among them. The objective of the game is for all crewmates to finish their tasks on the spaceship, before the imposter kills them. Each round a body is found, and the crewmates must discuss in voting off who they think the imposter is to win the game.

It sounds like an average video game, so why is there such a rave going on about it? The truth is, Among Us is actually very engaging to play with friends as it is similar to playing Clue or Mafia. People are able to put their critical thinking skills to the test in solving the mystery as a crewmate.

Players will use the process of elimination, but the funniest moments are when innocent players are accidentally voted off. Crewmates immediately recognize their mistake and experience an instant feeling of regret. If they are not a crewmate, players have to use their words of deception to pull off being the imposter. It is very exciting to see how far imposters can get away with their mischievous acts of shifting the blame off of them.

“I think ‘Among Us’ is a really fun game to play, whether you’re bored or want to do something with your friends,” said NDB senior Faith Conry. “There are not a lot of opportunities to meet up with people due to the pandemic, so being able to all play a simple online game together is really enjoyable.”

Famous Youtubers and Twitch streamers have also contributed to the game’s rise in popularity. Content creators such as Pewdiepie, Corpse_Husband, Sykkuno, and more gain millions of views on their Among Us videos, because of how much people love watching them play.

“Pewdiepie and all the other creators that play ‘Among Us’ with him are so entertaining for me to watch, like Corpse,” said NDB senior Shea Hanson. “Pewdiepie has the biggest Youtube channel on the platform with the most subscribers out of anyone, so when he started playing the game, it blew up.”

“Among Us” is the number-one game with over 300,000 positive reviews on Steam that has everyone playing during this time of isolation. Content creators have helped spike the game’s ratings and engaged their audiences, which resulted in even more people downloading it for their own enjoyment purposes. “Among Us” is an exciting game to play while spending time with friends or to just casually watch people stream on Youtube.