This Is How To Spot The Imposter In Among Us

All of the sudden, it seems like everyone's playing online multiplayer game Among Us, a 2018 release from a small developer called Innersloth. The title, based on classic social deduction games like Mafia, has been recently experiencing a surge of popularity thanks to Twitch streamers, its low technical requirements, and its inexpensive price tag. In fact, it's so popular that the team behind the game has canceled its sequel in favor of beefing up the current version instead. 

Among Us is fun, endlessly playable, and breeds community, too. Winning each short game relies on completing just two main objectives: finishing your tasks and unmasking The Imposters (up to three at a time). Unless you've been randomly tapped to be one of The Imposters, that is. Then your objective is sabotage and elimination.

If you're looking to stay alive and rack up a win, you'll want to figure out the "tells" that separate the bad guys from your regular crewmates. After all, once the number of Imposters match the number of Crewmates, assuming all tasks haven't yet been finished, the Imposters win. So, besides using the map in Admin and cameras in Security to actually witness wrongdoing, what are the best ways to quickly figure out who's not on your side? 

One of the most reliable ways to figure out who The Imposter is simply to watch the taskbar at the top of the page.

A smart Imposter will probably stand next to a panel for a while and pretend to do a task. Once the task is completed, however, the taskbar should fill up in real-time. If it doesn't, and you see someone move away from a station as if a task has been done, this might show that you're looking at an Imposter. Then, once you suspect someone, you can follow that person's progress and see if the taskbar ever moves in response to his or her actions. 

This strategy isn't totally infallible. The taskbar won't register what others are doing in different parts of the ship. Or you may be dealing with a particularly sneaky Imposter, who simply walks away from a task when they see the taskbar go up. You wouldn't necessarily be able to distinguish who did the actual work there. 

Additionally, some tasks are visual tasks, which means you can see them being completed. Since Imposters can't complete tasks, following people around and watching them do a visual task can prove their innocence. 

Of course, watching someone vent or kill is a dead giveaway. Barring that, though, you can often find clues in the ways people act during the game (unless you're playing with true newbies). One way to figure out The Imposter's identity is to give a person opportunities to show that behavior — and take your own opportunities to watch them. For example, if you see two people enter a room together, that's a good time to lie in wait. 

The result will probably be one of two things: Two people eventually come out of the room, or one person comes out of the room. If both people come out of the room, it's possible that both are crewmates. If just one does, that's much more suspicious. If you go into the room after just one has left, you might find that someone is venting or has vented, or you might find a body. Assuming you're in one of the rooms with only one entrance, you now know the answer. Another possibility is that the door might close after both go in. If it does, you know an Imposter is in there doing nefarious deeds. 

Of course, if you find too many bodies, if you're seen with a body, or if you call too many emergency meetings accusing others, people might think you're The Imposter instead. That's the risk you take when you try to unmask someone else!