Among Us seemed like an unlikely candidate for a VR adaptation (its genre is very much underrepresented in VR), but when it was announced for the Quest 2 and PC VR, it kind of made sense. It’s coming to PSVR 2 as well when that launched, but we tried it out with a Quest 2 headset for this review.
After the announcement, we were also happy to see that Schell Games was developing the game, as they were responsible for one of our favorite VR escape room games with I Expect You To Die. Bundling their expertise with the acclaimed gameplay of Among Us (which somewhat surprisingly picked up a bunch of GOTY awards) was an exciting prospect, and the end result feels like a satisfying game that doesn’t fall into the trap of appearing like a gimmicky VR take on a popular formula.
Part of that is that VR is used to great effect for immersion here. You literally find yourself looking over your shoulder when you’re the imposter, afraid that someone might see you. When lights get turned off, it’s way scarier than it ever was in 2D, and if you’re alone in a room it suddenly feels terrifying because you don’t know if it’s because your nearby friends have already been murdered and if you’re next. It’s easy to panic, while at the same time it’s important to keep your cool – this makes Among Us work, and it translates really well to Among Us VR.
Movement options include smooth locomotion and snap turning, and you can adjust the latter to an angle you’re comfortable with. As we’re quite used to VR, we stuck to smooth locomotion, and didn’t experience any discomfort – not even when things got hectic after seeing a murder and rushing to get to the safety of other crewmates.
Which brings us to the social element of Among Us VR, which brought back memories of Werewolves Within as the crew meetings are spent talking out who’s the imposter and what everyone’s seen and done – and whether or not their stories can be believed. Smooth talking helps, but there are also body language elements that you can pick up on – both in the crew meeting and during a round, where you might spot someone looking around suspiciously to see “if the coast is clear”. In VR, this adds a new layer to the paranoia that was already a part of the original game, and it manages to make things feel fresh again.
We actually felt like Among Us VR is even better than the original game for this reason, but whether or not it stays that way will depend on enough players joining a round. Few VR games manage to maintain a loyal online player base, but we’re hoping that Among Us VR is going to be one of them.
Score: 8.3/10
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