While everyone is stuck at home due to COVID-19, many people have turned to online games that rely heavily on communication to help preserve some form of social interaction. Although “Among Us” was released two years ago, it has only recently become popular.

“Among Us” is a multiplayer game where every player takes on the role of a cartoon character in a spaceship. The players have to complete tasks over a series of short timed rounds while trying to find the imposter, who is a murderous alien acting as a crewmember. The objective of the imposter is to blend in by completing tasks while trying to kill crew members until nobody is left.      

Senior Isabelle Saquing was introduced to the game by her sister and has been playing for a couple months. She introduced it to many of her friends and said she thinks it’s a great way to connect and communicate with people during the pandemic.

“I really like to problem-solve and use clues,” Saquing said. “I think that’s the really fun part of the game. I also like that it is a very collaborative game. It brings a lot of people together, and you’re able to just talk with people over this fun activity even when we’re all in our own houses.”

For Saquing, the game has also increased her interest and participation in the online gaming community during the pandemic, mainly through platforms like YouTube and Twitch. According to game analysis site SullyGnome, daily “Among Us” viewers on Twitch averaged around 100,000 people by the end of August.

“I have been looking at YouTube videos of people playing games more often, and I have definitely gotten more into the video gaming world in a sense,” Saquing said. “I’ve definitely gotten more acquainted with streamers or Twitchers and stuff like that.” 

Senior Christelle Chatelain also only started playing “Among Us” a couple months ago following a recommendation from a friend, and now says she plays it everyday. According to her, unlike some other games, it’s easy to start playing even if everyone is separate and you have to work together.

“I think it’s different from other games because it’s a game that you can play on your phone with a bunch of other people at once, just on a call,” Chatelain said. “You don’t have to be there in person with your friends. At the same time, you all work together to try to figure something out and it’s just fun to have a game that is always different every round.”

Junior Vivian Streber agreed that “Among Us” is different from other games she has played because of the added value of communication in succeeding. She has been only playing the game for about three weeks but said she already really enjoys it.

“I have seen murder mystery games in the past, but the aspect of where it really heavily relies on communication as the main way of solving things, that is kind of a new experience for me in video games,” Streber said.

Because Streber has been only playing for a short time, she feels she is at a slight disadvantage compared to those who have been playing since the game started trending late in the summer. However, she hopes that with practice, she will have more fun and become a better player.

“Sometimes I don’t know how to start [the tasks] which is a little frightening sometimes because if you do a task for more than 20 seconds, people think you are the imposter,” Streber said. “But I think once I play longer and get to know the game better, it will be a lot more fun, and I’ll be better at it. It just takes practice.”

Junior Niomi Rives is also fairly new to “Among Us.” She said that her favorite aspect of the game is getting to argue with her friends in emergency meetings where players decide who the imposter is. She encourages LASA students to play it because she thinks it is a great way to spend time with your friends.

“It’s just a video game, but I think right now, people have a lot of free time and they don’t really know what to do,” Rives said. “If you feel like you’re lonely right now and you’re not really talking to your friends that much, I think “Among Us” makes a really good excuse to just be able to talk to your friends.”