10 Awesome Things You Never Knew About Among Us

Innersloth's spaced-themed whodunnit, Among Us, has absolutely taken the gaming world by storm.Its easy to learn gameplay, cute aesthetics, and minimal cost (both in terms of hardware and price) have combined with tense and chaotic finger-pointing to create a truly viral game.

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It's the perfect game to play while social distancing, as all you need is a phone and either good lying or sleuthing skills.Well, neither is really necessary, but both help.So, how much do you really know about Among Us?It's been out for over two years already and has amassed a litany of facts and tidbits that fans can dive into.

10 It Used To Be Called SpaceMafia

Inspired by the party game, Mafia, Among Us used to take that inspiration quite far.The working title of the game was SpaceMafia, which does a perfectly adequate job of describing the game.

It is, at its core, Mafia with a space skin slapped on.However, the finalized title of Among Us is much better suited, creating suspense and fear that really festers throughout the gameplay.

9 It Nearly Got Cancelled (Several Times)

Among Us didn't start its life as an internet phenomenon.In fact, at launch, it only had about 30-50 concurrent players, and lacked online multiplayer.Programmer Forest Willard said, in a Kotaku interview, that "It didn't release super well," and "We stuck with Among Us a lot longer than we probably should have from a pure business standpoint."

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Willard went on to say, "we tried to quit and we should have quit several times."It's lucky they didn't, as Among Us is still averaging around 100,000 concurrent players according to Steam's analytics.

8 More Popular Outside The US

Given how many US streamers play Among Us and the fact that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also joined in on the fun, you would be forgiven for thinking the game was most popular in the US.

In fact, Forest Willard said, also in a Kotaku interview, that the US was losing to countries like Brazil, Korea, and Mexico.This is good news for fans of the game worldwide, as it means there will always be a lobby (and unsuspecting victims) waiting.

A viral smash hit is inevitably going to make any developer see dollar signs and want to cash in on the hype generated, that's why sequels exist.After the viral success of Among Us, a second game got announced in a post on Innersloth's itch.io page but was then cancelled a month later in a follow-up post.

The developers stated that they were going to instead focus on turning the original into the best game it could be.While these two posts definitely gave some fans whiplash, it's good to see Innersloth are focusing on improving the experience of what players have already purchased.

6 Game Publicity Moments

For a space bean murder game, Among Us was involved in some pretty heavy political moments.Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined popular streamers for a session on Twitch in order to encourage more young people to vote in the 2020 US presidential election.

Also on Twitch, the US Navy got into hot water for trying to recruit viewers while brandishing offensive names on their characters. It's hard to imagine the developers foresaw this set of events for Among Us, but stranger things have happened.

5 It's Littered With Easter Eggs

Easter eggs are a popular and fun way for developers to pay homage to their inspirations.They have been included in many video game franchises over the years, with the Call of Duty zombie Easter eggs always a hot topic when a new zombie map is released.Among Us is no exception, containing references to Rick and Morty, popular real-life brands, and Innersloth's latest game, The Henry Stickmin Collection.

RELATED: Among Us: 10 Easter Eggs Most Fans Didn't Notice

One Easter egg likely unnoticed by many fans involves the QR task on Polus.No, not scanning the code itself, that's old news.The staff picture changes, and sometimes players can see a Bean imitating one of the poses from the famous Drake meme.

4 Seasonal Changes

Games that want players to keep returning often offer new content as an incentive for continued play.Seasonal map changes have occurred in games such as Killing Floor 2, and Call of Duty.Recently, Among Us impressed fans with some Halloween decorations hung around the maps, but did you know that you can alter your device's clock to unlock other seasonal changes?

If you change to Christmas Day and host a game, you and everyone else playing will unlock new hats.If that minimal aesthetic change isn't enough to entice you, then how about being able to mess with your friends?Set the date to April 1, April Fools day, and the Skeld will be mirrored, confusing even experienced Imposters and bamboozling helpless crewmates.

3 Those Beans Are Surprisingly Advanced

Amateur astrologists can look through the telescope on the Polus map and take in the sites of the universe.One thing they may see, but not recognize, is a Dyson Sphere.No, not a new vacuum cleaner, well, sort of actually.

A Dyson Sphere is a made-up device (or as scientists like to say, 'theoretical') that is wrapped around a star in order to collect all the energy radiating from it.They are believed to be something that will one day become necessary for space-faring civilizations, and those adorable little beans built one!Inside those round visors are genius brains.

2 Shares Many Similarities With The Thing

If you described a situation where a group of scientists in a remote location has to complete tasks while trying to figure out who among them is a shapeshifting alien imposter, many people would think you were describing John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi horror classic, The Thing.

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The film is probably older than most of the people playing Among Us, so you'd be forgiven for not knowing it.In it, scientists in an Antarctic research station battle against a hostile alien parasite, much like our little beans do.As well as the similar premise, the alien in The Thing uses its long tongue to stab and grab people, just like one of the kill animations in Among Us.

1 Canonically, The Imposters Win

It makes sense the Imposters can win by killing all the crew, or by sabotaging the ship, but doesn't it seem odd that the crew can win just by completing all their tasks?In this win scenario, any remaining Imposters would remain onboard the Skeld, likely being transported to the ship's next location.

The Mira HQ DLC page states, "after a long journey on the Skeld...surely there aren't as many Imposters here..."The Polus DLC Pages seems to hope that the planet is "far away from any would-be Imposters."Who's going to tell them?

NEXT: Among Us: 10 Annoying Things People Do

How about a round of Gwent?

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Issy is an avid film lover, writer, and game-player based in the UK.He combines his love of film and games in his writing, trying to find as many connections between the two mediums as possible.When he's not writing, playing, or watching, Issy loves to DJ and look after his growing collection of houseplants, as they make him feel more adult. See his more incoherent ramblings on Twitter: @veedztweets