For the last few weeks, the small indie game Among Us has been the talk of the world. This unique take on Werewolf/Mafia-kind of games where communication is both the key to survival and death at the same time — or the “social deduction” game, as the cool kids say it — actually has been around for quite some time. So if you’re starting to get bored with the game or just looking for more alternatives, here are 15 games like Among Us you can choose from.
15. Unfortunate Spacemen
As its title said, as a bunch of “unfortunate spacemen”, you and 15 other friends are stranded in desolate outposts and have to complete a bunch of randomized objectives to escape them; while being hunted by a secret shape-shifting impostor. The monster’s player then can either silently impersonate a crewmate to sabotage the team effort or just straight up mindlessly charging at the crew members. The spacemen aren’t completely helpless either as they’ll be equipped with various perks and items, but you’ll need a good plan and teamwork to take the monster down.
Thanks to its first-person perspective (and not-so-cartoony visual), Unfortunate Spacemen feels tenser than Among Us. The game also includes two additional game modes: six-player co-op Story Mode and nine-player Survival Mode. You can add bots to a multiplayer game as well for practice or create more unpredictable chaos. And it’s free!
14. Barotrauma
Set in the depth of Jupiter’s moon ocean, Barotrauma is a complex up to 16-players co-op survival horror submarine simulator. The horrors aren’t just coming from traitorous crew members looking to tear apart your operation or the ever-changing tasks each member have to do to keep your submarine afloat, but also from what terrors lie in the abyss. You can easily include a traitor or remove the feature entirely when setting up a multiplayer game. Or if you want a more stressful experience, you can even set a ‘Maybe’ option; that way you’ll never be sure if someone on your team is trying to get you.
13. Space Station 13
An oldie but a goodie.
Originally released in 2003 using a pretty archaic BYOND engine, it’s fair to say that Space Station 13 is the “original” Among Us. In an attempt to keep a space station operational, you can choose different jobs, from a janitor, security guard, medical staff, engineer, to something absolutely absurd like a clown or wizard depending on the server. However, random players are also chosen as antagonists — that also range from something mostly normal like a simple saboteur or rogue AI to nuclear-armed death squad or a weird assortment of monsters such as changelings and Lovecraftian monsters. Random space occurrences like a black hole will eat up your space station along with your crew as well, so you’ll have to keep an eye on that.
As I said before, it is quite a hassle to set up, join, and even play a game thanks to the old engine. And thus, many have been “trying” to remake and streamlined the game. But lots of them seem to have been abandoned or stuck in Early Access hell.
12. The Ship
All aboard Mr. X’s luxury 1920’s cruise liner and play the most dangerous game of all: manhunt! Unlike other impostor games, you and 15 other fellow passengers will all be assigned a target to kill. Armed with a wide array of cartoonish weapons and traps, it’s a race of wits and cunning to dispatch unsuspecting targets while avoiding your own death. You can choose to play between the 2006 original Murder Party or the 2016-released Remastered. Honestly, aside from a bit more graphical polish and bonus political figure skins for the remaster, both releases are pretty much the same.
11. Project Winter
If you want something more down-to-earth and less sci-fi, this is one impostor game you could try. In Project Winter, you and seven other people are trapped in the snowy wastes. Look for shelters, hunt in the wilderness to gather precious resources, complete tasks, and finally, maybe, you can call for help if the fatal blizzard, angry wild animals, or traitorous parties haven’t finished every single one of you yet.
10. Deceit
In this horror-themed six-player social deduction game, the mysterious voice is known only as of the “Game Master” has infected a third of your group with a virus. Your group must then traverse through three zones and escape the Game Master’s clutch.
During the normal phase, while everyone scatters to find items and deciding which members to weed out, the infected have to look for bags of blood. Then at the end of each zone, a blackout period occurs, allowing the infected to transform and unleash hell on innocent players. The uninfected have to find fuses and carry on until they can taste the sweet release of escape or death. Like Unfortunate Spacemen, Deceit is also free to play, so if you’re looking for more games like Among Us this title is definitely at least worth a try.
9. Trouble in Terrorist Town (Gmod)
The game of choice to test your “negotiation” skills before Among Us.
Also known simply as TTT, this is one of the most popular impostor game alternatives if you happen to own Garry’s Mod. Within a group of terrorists, there are traitors who are trying to eliminate all of them, utilizing a huge arsenal of weapons, including a deadly knife and bombs. Another player also plays as its counterpart: a detective who can use gadgets to help them hunt down the traitors.
Of course, both traitor and detective’s jobs won’t be that easy since weapons are scattered all over the map that everyone can use to “defend” themselves. If you’re good at being stealthy and sweet-talk people, you might be able to spread chaos without lifting a finger as a traitor. But one sloppy mistake and you can bet that everyone will hunt you down instead.
8. Murder (Gmod)
A popular Garry’s Mod custom game mode was first posted onto the Steam Workshop in 2013. It’s pretty similar to TTT, but there are only two roles: bystander and murderer. The bystanders have to find out who the murderers are and kill them, using a magnum that’s randomly given to at least one bystander. If a bystander accidentally killed their own, they will drop the gun, unable to pick it and be blinded for some time. The killed bystander will also be blinded to mask the identity of their killer.
Meanwhile, the murderer is armed with several abilities: an instant-kill knife, sprint to catch their victims, and able to see footprints to track down other players. But if the murderer doesn’t kill anyone for too long, their location will be revealed by black clouds. They can also drop their knife to create similar black clouds on-demand to trick their victims.
7. Impostor (Roblox)
Don’t have Garry’s Mod? Don’t worry, Roblox comes to the rescue. Featuring color-coded astronauts where innocent crewmates have to complete tasks and deduce who’s the traitor while the impostor lies, deceive, and murders others just like Among Us. This game mode is currently still in beta, though, so expect some hiccups for now and improvements in the future.
6. SpyParty
A game of deception with a much smaller player pool. SpyParty is a one-vs-one mind game between a sniper and a spy. As the spy, instead of tricking a bunch of player-controlled characters, you must infiltrate a cocktail party and imitate the movements of the NPCs in there as to not get shot by the sniper before completing your mission. As the sniper, you’ll have to figure out the spy player among the sea of NPCs and avoid shooting the guests. Somewhat more comparable to Assassin’s Creed‘s multiplayer modes, I suppose.
5. Town of Salem
If you have played Werewolf or Mafia before, Town of Salem should be right up your alley. In each game, seven to 15 players are assigned one of 48 roles, each with their own abilities and goals. Jailor can jail someone and stop them from doing anything for one turn, Godfather can kill one person each turn, and Guardian can cancel someone’s death, for example. Regarding goals, Town-aligned players have to get rid of the Mafia, the Mafia want to kill everyone but themselves, while Neutrals have their own objectives to complete.
The game operates on a day-night cycle, where at night is when all the fun stuff happens and during the daytime, the citizens have to cast a vote to execute a villager. This is when your smooth-talking will decide your and everyone else’s fate.
4. Throne of Lies
Throne of Lies is another modern take on Mafia. Set during a time of medieval conflict, Eight to 16 players are randomly assigned one of 49 classes, from the King, Assassin, Hunter, the Drunk, to a hapless Fool, all with their own abilities. Most will be loyal members of the good Blue Dragon faction, but each game will feature members of either the evil Cult or Unseen faction, with a few Neutral characters spread around to mix things up.
3. EpicMafia
Much simpler but also means lower barrier of entry.
The classic online version of the Mafia board game. First released way back in 2008, this web-based, text-based game includes 220 unique roles, webcam support, and it’s free to play. Perfect for when you want to practice your “techniques” quickly and cheaply. You can also play other 29 free minigames like Draw It!, Battle Snake, Chess, and more when you’ve had enough of tricking your friends all day long.
2. Secret Hitler
Just like EpicMafia, Secret Hitler is an online, web-based social deduction game. Five to 10 players are split into two teams: fascists and liberals. The game ends when liberals passed five liberal laws or assassinate the secret Hitler player. While the fascists must pass six policies or after three fascist policies have been passed, they managed to elect Hitler as the Chancellor. As a twist to the typical Werewolf/Mafia rule, all of the fascists know who Hitler is while the fascists are instead unknown to Hitler.
1. Viscera Cleanup Detail
In this space janitor simulator, you and up to 31 other players have to clean up all the blood and chunks left behind after horrific sci-fi accidents with mops and buckets. Team up, make sure every nook and cranny are squeaky clean, or just play around with physics and make more mess on the crime scene… Wait that doesn’t sound anything like Among Us or any impostor game at all. You are not supposed to be here.
