Among Us

My Experience with Among Us

I downloaded this game about a month ago after seeing it mentioned on Reddit. I was skeptical at first because I don’t usually have time for online games that require a huge time commitment. But a friend insisted we try it one Tuesday night after work, and I have to admit—the first few rounds were genuinely fun. The basic premise is simple: you’re on a spaceship, there’s an impostor among you, and you have to figure out who it is before they kill everyone. Communication is key, and the chaos of trying to convince other players that you’re innocent while someone else is lying through their teeth is addictive. I played for three hours straight that first night. On my Samsung Galaxy S23, the game runs fine most of the time, though I noticed occasional lag when there are a lot of players and everyone’s typing at once. The cartoon graphics are charming enough, but honestly, I didn’t download it for the visuals. I wanted a quick mental break from work. What I got was a surprisingly engaging way to waste 20 minutes here and there. But after a few weeks, the novelty started to wear off. The games started feeling repetitive, and I ran into more toxic players than I expected. People leave mid-game constantly, which ruins the experience. And when I tried to report a player who was being horrible in chat, support was basically useless. I got an automated reply three days later that didn’t actually address anything I said. That left a bad taste in my mouth.

Features Worth Noting

The cross-platform play is probably the best thing about this app. I can play with friends on iOS, Android, and even PC without any hassle. That’s rare and I appreciate it. The customization options are also decent—you can change your character’s color, hat, outfit, and even a pet if you want to spend real money. The tasks themselves are varied enough to keep things interesting, though some of them are way too easy and others are annoyingly fiddly on a phone screen. There’s also a quick chat feature with preset messages, which is helpful if you don’t want to type everything out. The profanity filter is there, but it’s not perfect. I’ve seen some creative ways people get around it. The reporting system exists, but based on my experience, I’m not sure anyone’s actually reading those reports. On the plus side, the game doesn’t drain my Galaxy S23 battery as fast as I expected. I can play a few rounds during my lunch break and still have plenty of charge left for the rest of the day. The interface is simple enough that I figured it out in about five minutes, which is important to me because I hate reading tutorials. You can also create private lobbies with friends, which is how I usually play now because public games are a gamble in terms of player behavior.

What Needs Work

First, the ads are absolutely terrible. They pop up between rounds, sometimes literally in the middle of a game if you’re unlucky, and they’re those loud, unskippable video ads that make you want to throw your phone across the room. I get that the game is free, but this is excessive. Second, the support team is a joke. I messaged them about a player who was repeatedly harassing me in chat, and I got a generic copy-paste reply that didn’t even mention the issue I raised. It felt like they didn’t even read my message. Third, public lobbies are a mess. Half the time people leave as soon as they die or get voted out, which breaks the game’s balance. And there are tons of cheaters and exploiters who can somehow see through walls or speed-hack. I saw one guy move at double speed and when I reported him, nothing happened. The game also lacks a proper tutorial for new players, which means you’ll waste your first few rounds just figuring out what the buttons do while everyone else yells at you for being slow. That’s not a great first impression. Finally, the voice chat integration is clunky. You have to use an external app or the in-game text chat, which is slow and cluttered. For a social deduction game, communication should be smoother.

Pricing

The app is free to download, but you’ll be bombarded with ads unless you pay. There’s an option to remove ads for a few bucks, which I eventually did because I couldn’t take it anymore. There are also in-app purchases for cosmetic items like hats, skins, and pets. Most of these cost between $1 and $5. I bought a little alien pet for $2.99 because it looked funny, but honestly, it’s completely unnecessary for gameplay. You can play the whole game without spending a cent—you’ll just have to deal with the annoyance factor. The “free” experience feels intentionally frustrating to push you toward paying. That’s a business model I’ve seen before and it works, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. If you’re patient, you can earn some cosmetics by playing, but the grind is real. I’d rather pay a few bucks upfront and have a clean experience than be nickel-and-dimed for hats. The pricing isn’t predatory, exactly, but it’s not generous either. You get what you pay for, and if you pay nothing, you get an annoying experience.

Developer Notes

Innersloth is the developer behind this. They’re a small team, and I’ll give them credit for maintaining the game over the years. They do push out updates periodically—new maps, bug fixes, seasonal events. That’s more than some developers bother to do. But their communication with the community could be way better. When I reported that issue with support, it felt like I was shouting into the void. They also have a habit of breaking things with updates. A few weeks ago, an update made the game crash for me every time I tried to join a lobby. It took them four days to patch it. That’s not great for a game that relies on active player counts. On the other hand, they did add a new map recently that was actually pretty fun, so they’re clearly still investing in the game. They just need to fix the basics first: support, stability, and anti-cheat measures. The game’s been out since 2018 and these issues are still around. That’s frustrating.

Security & Privacy

I’m not a privacy expert, but I can tell you the app asks for access to your device’s storage to save screenshots and game data. It also requires an internet connection to play, which makes sense. There’s an optional account system if you want to save your progress and cosmetics across devices, but you can also play as a guest. I created an account and used a throwaway email just to be safe. The profanity filter exists but it’s easily bypassed—I’ve seen people type garbage in the chat without getting stopped. The reporting system exists, but as I mentioned, my experience with it was terrible. I haven’t heard about any major data breaches or security issues with this app, but given how small the team is, I wouldn’t trust them with sensitive info. I’d recommend using a burner account. The app doesn’t seem to collect excessive data beyond what’s needed for basic functionality, but the privacy policy is long and boring, and I didn’t read all of it. Take that for what it’s worth.