Among Us — the incredibly easy-to-play, viral backstabbing game where you spend the majority of your time lying to your friends while doing cutesy inane tasks aboard a rickety deathtrap — is getting perhaps one of its biggest updates yet: one that will decidedly change the game and one that’s more than a little inspired by a popular mod that got squashed under the momentum of the official franchise.
As you’ll read in the full blog post, version 2021.11.09 introduces crewmate roles for the very first time, giving your humble workers superpowers, like being able to tell who’s dead (Scientist), sneak through the same vents as the imposters (Engineer), or shield other crewmates from getting killed (Guardian Angel). There’s a new type of imposter, as well: the Shapeshifter, who can change their appearance to look like any other crewmate.
If those sound familiar, it’s probably because they’re very similar to roles in Town of Us, which used to be a popular mod for Among Us until it was depreciated in recent months. As a huge fan of the mod, I’m both excited and a little disappointed by the news — Town of Us had loads of intriguing roles that constantly keep veteran players guessing, and here, we’re only getting a few. Among Us’ developers say they want to add more roles and an additional map, though.
The update has more than roles: developer Innersloth is also adding achievements and paid cosmetics (the company says they’ll help pay for server costs for the free mobile version in particular; PC and Switch versions cost a mere $4.99). You can get free “Beans” currency just by playing the game to unlock some cosmetics, but others will cost “Stars,” which you’ll need to buy.
You have to unlock the cosmetics by following branching paths, which could be fun but also means you can’t necessarily just pick the items you want.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22999488/pasted_image_0__1_.png)
To coincide with the new currencies, account linking is also here, so you can take your items and experience across PC, mobile, Switch, and more to come. However:
Exception: Stars purchased on Nintendo Switch™ will only be usable on that system. In the future, Pods & Beans earned on Switch can be shared across most systems. It’s not currently available with this update, but we’re working on it!
As the company previously revealed, Among Us will also launch on Xbox and PlayStation consoles on December 14th, and it’s teasing additional announcements before then.
