“Among Us” Is Good for Your Brain 

The hit video game “Among Us” made its boom in September of this year, despite having been created two years prior. Taking place in a spaceship, the game is a murder mystery with up to ten players.

In each game, there are one to two imposters who must kill as many crewmates as possible before getting caught. Crewmates win by completing “tasks” and imposters win by killing enough crewmates that the ratio of imposters to crewmates breaks even. 

If a body is reported, or if someone hits the ‘Emergency Meeting” button, the players are sent to a voting screen, where crewmates must defend themselves and imposters must lie to stay on the ship. This is where mental gymnastics becomes more relevant. 

Accusations are usually immediately thrown around, like “Red sus” or “I saw so and so fake a task/use a vent/kill a crewmate.” This usually results in the victim blaming an accuser or suggesting they were on the other side of the map. Impostors’ common tactics include, “but you saw me do this task/I was in a room with so and so and they didn’t kill me” or the more chaotic, “no, you.” 

The way this game shines is in a discord server, in which you can play with your friends and speak instead of typing during voting breaks. Speaking from personal experience, one of the most exciting aspects of “Among Us” is being the impostor, getting caught by one of your friends, and then immediately accusing your friend, trying to convince the rest of the group that you’re innocent. And not to brag, but I’m a pretty good liar. 

Quick-thinking is an absolute necessity when playing–as well as having a good memory. One may be asked which tasks they just completed, which direction they went, and who they were with. Being the impostor takes the mental dexterity of the former examples–plus, they need to kill a bunch of people. 

Most famous gamers have played “Among Us,” gaining thousands of views and subscribers. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed herself playing “Among Us” toward the end of October to encourage voting. 

Whether it’s to improve your quick-thinking skills, to encourage voting, or just for fun, “Among Us” is an addicting game full of exigence that helps craft a quick thinker–as well as a good liar.