Fortnite's new limited-time mode is essentially Among Us

fortnite among us
(Image credit: Epic Games)
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(Image credit: Epic Games)

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Fortnite is certainly no stranger to rolling other franchises and intellectual properties into its universe, as evidenced by the entirety of season 4's Marvel theme. Season 5 has brought us back to earth a bit (Kratos and Master Chief notwithstanding), but that hasn't stopped Epic from emulating an entirely different game.

Fortnite's new Spy Within limited-time mode is almost entirely a clone of Among Us, the immensely popular hidden identity deduction/deception game played by the likes of AOC.

It's a fairly similar setup, pitting agents vs. spies in a battle to identify the two culprits. Check out the video below from YouTuber Kanga for a look.

10 players start in a match knowing what team they're on—agents or spies—but not the team of any other players. Two players (the spies) will work to eliminate the other eight without giving away their identities. The eight true agents must complete a number of objectives before time runs out or they're all killed.

Just like Among Us, if a body is discovered, a player can call a meeting to hold a vote on who to jettison. Players are only able to use voice chat during these meetings, which adds to the tension of the objective-based gameplay.

OK, so maybe it's definitely 100% an Among Us clone, but you know what they say about imitation and flattery. This is definitely Epic capitalizing on its relatively new Fortnite Mode on the Houseparty chat app, which lets friends video call one another during games. Among Us has already catapulted to videogame fame, inspiring an onslaught of copycat games including a hugely popular mobile game in China. But knowing that the poster child for game-turned-cultural-obsession has created its own riff on the formula has to feel pretty good.

As the Spy Within event continues, other similarly themed LTMs created by community members will appear in Fortnite's mode select menu, so make sure to check back in every once in a while. There's a bevy of cosmetic items to grab if you like.

(Image credit: Epic Games)

 You can check out all our other Fortnite guides and news to see what we, as the kids say, find pretty sus. The new performance mode for low-end PC hardware will definitely help you keep with friends who've snagged a 3080.

Joseph Knoop

Joseph Knoop is a freelance writer specializing in all things Fortnite at PC Gamer. Master of Creative Codes and Fortnite's weekly missions, Joe's always ready with a scoop on Boba Fett or John Wick or whoever the hell is coming to Fortnite this week. It's with a mix of relief and disappointment that he hasn't yet become a Fortnite skin himself. There's always next season...