Among Us dev wishes they could have worked with Epic on Fortnite's 'Impostors' mode

The imposter strikes in Among Us.
(Image credit: Innersloth)

Epic Games recently kicked off a new Fortnite mode called Impostors in which ten players gather in a secret facility called "The Bridge" and variously attempt to complete tasks, commit sabotage, and quietly kill one another off, all while attempting to determine which two among them are the dastardly, titular "impostors." It is, as you may have gleaned from the description, very much like the mega-hit social deduction game Among Us.

The point didn't go unnoticed by Among Us community director Victoria Tran, who said on Twitter that "it would've been really, really cool to collab" with Epic Games on something. Among Us isn't an especially unique design—the original concept goes all the way back to the mid-1980s, and other recent videogames including Eville, Unfortunate Spacemen, and Werewolves Within have all provided different takes on it—but Epic's version, including the name of the mode, leans heavily into Among Us specifically.

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"I think it's just hitting me particularly hard today cause of all the bf dungeon stuff, plus this, and it hits so weirdly personal because it feels exactly like being a woman/POC in tech," Tran wrote. "It feels like a powerless 'lol what's the point anymore' of making our own stories/content."

Innersloth programmer Adriel Wallick didn't name Fortnite specifically, but made her feelings on the matter clear in separate tweets:

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Tran confirmed in a Twitter DM that Among Us developer Innersloth did not work with Epic on the mode, "although we would have liked to, and found out about it the same time as everyone else." She added, however, that the studio is "working on some really cool collabs with other indie developers" that it hopes to be able to reveal soon.

It's an unfortunate situation, because it would have been easy to avoid: Epic could have looped Innersloth into the project to some extent, or it could've whipped up its own, more obviously home-grown take on the social deduction genre. To be clear, it's not a huge loss for Among Us, which remains a tremendously popular game in its own right, but I can't help but feel like an official Among Us mode made in partnership with Innersloth would have gone over very well with fans of both games.

I've reached out to Epic for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.