How To Play Among Us As A Horror Game

I usually try to hop on Among Us once a week to link up with my friends back home and get rowdy either trying to get away with virtual murder or ratting each other out. But they like to keep things spicy. So, they put together a sort of alternate game mode by customizing the in-game rules and getting us to follow certain gameplay etiquette. And with the vewy scawy Halloween season right around the corner, this makeshift game mode is quite fitting and helps freshen up the traditional paces of Among Us.

Basically, think Dead By Daylight, or any similar game, but in Among Us. Here's the setup: you have one imposter and nine (or however many) crewmates, but the imposter announces who they are right at the beginning of the match. The imposter counts to 10 while the crewmates scramble to get out of sight, complete tasks, hide, and make mad dashes to dodge the imposter once they start hunting down the crew--there's no voting phase necessary, just survival.

What makes this style of play work is the tweaking of the custom rules. Here, you'll want to have the imposter's kill cooldown timer set to the lowest possible (10 seconds) so they can really act like a serial killer. However, you'll have to limit their vision range as low as possible (0.25x) to make it challenging for them to actually find crewmates. To make things a lot more thrilling, we set all players' movement speed higher (at least 2x, but 3x works too).

There are a few rules that can't be hard-coded into the game, so you need to make sure players mind some general manners. The imposter cannot use any sabotages. They also should not vent (not that it would help them much anyway). Crewmates cannot call emergency meetings or report dead bodies--this wouldn't really help anyone because there's nothing to discuss since the imposter is revealed from the start. However, everyone can communicate with each other at all times during the match. Not only is it funny as hell to hear everyone wild out when they spot the imposter chasing the team down, it's also helpful for keeping tabs on the killer's position.

The goal remains simple: For crewmates, complete your tasks before the entire crew is killed. And of course, for the imposter, kill everyone before they finish their tasks.

By twisting the traditional rules of Among Us, you get a pretty unique thrill seeing the imposter running by or chasing after you. You know you can get out of sight since they have limited vision, but you're well aware that they're mashing that kill button while hunting you down. Especially when you're preoccupied with a task and only hear your teammates screaming position callouts that are nearby, it creates a different type of tension.

Depending on the group you're playing with or the map you're on, you can (and should) tweak the rules a bit to find a good balance for both sides. What I outlined works well for my friends and is likely a good starting point for others, but switching up the number of long and short tasks can help balance things out.

Of course, we aren't the ones who came up with this mode, as you may have seen other streamers or content creators play Among Us in this way--I'm sure that's where my friends got it from, too. But you can be the one to introduce it to your friends if you have a good group to play with. Admittedly, it's also best if you're able to communicate through voice chat apps like Discord, but this mode does make things more approachable since you don't have to engage in discussions or the lying/blame game aspect (especially if you find that a bit uncomfortable).

I really do miss when folks would come up with emergent styles of play and make up rules to create an experience that was never intended to be in the game. (I often think back to playing Project Gotham Racing 2 on the original Xbox and hopping into lobbies for the made up "cat and mouse" mode.) Among Us in particular gives room for these kinds of modifications to spice things up--and if there are any styles of play that you've tried, or if you already played this Friday the 13th-style spin on the game, we'd love to hear about it!

For more on the breakout multiplayer game, be sure to check out all our coverage of Among Us below:

• Among Us: Tips To Win As Imposter And Get Away With Murder
• Among Us Crewmember Guide: How to Spot Imposters And Survive
• AOC Streaming Among Us Works Because It's Genuine
• The Best Moments From AOC's Among Us Stream
• Among Us Totaled More Than 4 Billion YouTube Views In September
• 5 Best Deception Games Like Among Us