If you had a set of tasks to complete, for the most part, you should be able to complete them without any issues. But imagine trying to complete those tasks with others with the thought that someone could be among you whose only purpose was to betray any trust anyone might have and use that trust to kill you. How would you go about your time? Would you always be trying to look over your shoulder? Would everyone you see give you that feeling that you are being watched and you could be next? When you think about it, betrayal can mess with you in many ways. But do developers Schell Games, Innersloth, and Robot Teddy, bring the fun of teamwork, betrayal, and blame? Let’s find out with Among Us VR for the Quest 2.
Among Us VR is a party game that takes the 2D teamwork and betrayal where you grab your crew and your VR headset to work together as a team completing a variety of tasks while trying to figure out who among you are the Impostors while trying not to be killed all in Virtual Reality. So before you go in trying to sabatoge and kill everyone, there are a few things that you should know. First, find your favorite place to sit or stand. Second, this is a social game, so don’t be afraid to speak up, just not speak loud so that everyone can hear and understand everyone. Third, make sure your headsets and controllers are charged as you don’t want to be the host of the game, only to have your headset run out of power and the game quits because your headset decided to. And finally, have some fun, get ready to laugh, and blame everyone. With that said, let’s continue…
When you first start Among Us VR, there are a few options such as selecting your color and hat as well as settings. If you have been playing Virtual Reality for quite a while, then turn on smooth turning, but if you are just getting started and may get a sense of motion sickness, there is a Blinder Strength bar that you can adjust. Just make sure you are comfortable before you start playing. Movement is pretty simple, you move with the left thumb stick, the A and X buttons open your Map, and the trigger buttons are used for interactions. It really is that simple and so is the base gameplay. Up to 10 players are part of a crew, called Crewmates, and depending on the number of players, 1-2 of the players will be the Impostors. The job of the Crewmate is to go around completing different tasks while the job of the Impostor(s) is to sabatoge different areas on the map and then try to kill Crewmates one by one without being caught by successfully hiding in vents or making sure no one else is around when you strike. But you have to be careful if you are one of the Impostors because any one of the other Crewmates may see what you have done and it can be game over for you. But before jumping into a game, go ahead and go through the tutorial as it will give you a brief idea of how to move and what to do.
Once you complete the tutorial, it’s time to do what this game does best, and that is throwing you into a social atmosphere. But I will say this, the ages vary of who is in the game, which means sometimes you will have the best lobby of players, and sometimes you will have younger players who may not have discovered their inside voices as much as some would like. But this also means you can get people to use language. So you have a few choices. Leave it all like it is, mute players, or even start your own game and decide to have it a chat only where everyone can go into their map and select their responses. If you do want to have a private game or start your own game, there is a game code that you can let your friends know so that way you know who is going to be in your game
When the game starts, you find out your role as either a Crewmate or Impostor. In some of the games I played, some players were openly admitting that they were the Impostor only to throw everyone off their possible trail of betrayal and sabatoge. In the middle of the main room, the Cafeteria, there is the main button. This button is used to report a dead body or call an emergency meeting. I will admit, there have been some emergency meetings called as soon as the button is ready to go and I have seen some of those players getting kicked out of the game. So be careful to press the button too early as it does take everyone away from the tasks that they have to complete. However, this also could be used as a mind trick to get some players to start to think who might be the Impostors or maybe it’s not. It really just depends on the intent of the players.
From calling emergency meetings to reporting a death, there will be a short time to discuss and then everyone gets a chance to vote. During the discussion period, it’s important to try and gather the facts or start blaming just because. There is the skip vote option if one agrees it’s not worth it to cast their votes, but others will vote to kick or vote who they think the Impostors are, all because they said they thought they saw someone in a room with a candlestick all based on what someone else has said that they thought or made up what they saw. If you vote for the “Impostor” and the one you voted for is not the Impostor, well, that means that there are still Impostors left who could end up killing you. If you do not complete your tasks or there are not enough crewmates left alive, then the ones who are the Impostors win.
When you are killed as a Crewmate, you are a ghost, but still can complete your tasks. However, only other ghosts can hear you. But I have to say there is some fun when it is your turn to become an Impostor as you sabatoge the rest of the ship from making the lights go out to trapping the doors and then try to prove your innocence while others don’t believe you and then you are voted as an Impostor.
Let’s talk about the graphics and sound. Everything in Among Us VR from the visuals of the surroundings to being able to read the map clearly without any issues with the sounds of the game even with everyone talking really comes out as pleasant and enjoyable. And if you can get an amazing lobby of fun people playing around and laughing, you will just have that much more of a great time.
There are a few things that I would love to see here. For one, more maps at launch. Right now, there is just one map, but even with the one map, I was still having fun. But when new maps get added, it is just going to add even more replayability. Second, I would love to see an option sorted by age. As I mentioned earlier, some younger players have not learned about their inside voices as there is no need to be screaming. And finally, additional modes. There could be modes like Freeze Tag or make it where there are only two Crewmates while the rest are the Impostors just to add to the mix.
Among Us VR does bring the fun of betrayal and blame into Virtual Reality where anyone of any age can play. In a world where it’s wrong to point and blame someone for either telling the truth or not, it’s great to find a place where not only the blame of others and ourselves can be made the stars of the show, but welcomed with open arms. And couldn’t we all use more places with such welcoming and open arms?
Among Us VR is out now for Oculus Rift/S and Quest 2 on the Oculus Store and Steam VR. And if you are looking for even more hats to add to your collection, make sure to check out the new Hot Pack: Crew Favorites from the platforms mentioned. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Schell Games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
To learn more about Innersloth, please visit their site, follow them on Twitter, follow them on TikTok, join their Discord, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
To learn more about Robot Teddy, please visit their site and follow them on Twitter.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I need to get back in to betray and blame.