There’s little question that indie developer Innersloth’s multiplayer social deduction game Among Us became a major hit with gamers in 2020 when lockdown orders forced many to hunker down at home, away from family and friends. The success of the sci-fi themed cross-platform title has continued through 2021, winning Among Us a number of video game awards, including Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2020 and Favorite Video Game at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
One of the results of the breakthrough popularity of Among Us, which originally launched in 2018 to much less fanfare, is that a number of companies have sought to either collaborate with Innersloth, released Among Us-inspired games, or been accused outright of copying the game’s winning formula without proper credit. Although not the biggest controversy of 2021, Epic Games received a fair amount of backlash when it announced what was essentially a 3D clone of Among Us with its Fortnite Imposters mode.
An Among Us collaboration with the 2D action game Samurai Gunn 2 is the latest to spawn from the game’s popularity. Launched on December 16, the Among Us update introduced a Crewmate to Samurai Gunn 2, who can mutate into an Imposter if the player completes enough tasks. Even the character’s moves take inspiration from Among Us. The Crewmate can empty the garbage, eject into space, and install vents to teleport, while the Imposter can impale, backstab, and camouflage itself. Additionally, new stages have been added to Samurai Gunn 2, including The Skeld from Among Us and a final showdown on the spaceship’s roof.
Samurai Gunn 2 is an action brawler that released in July 2021 that allows up to four people to battle it out, but can also accommodate solo players. Besides the Among Us Crewmate and Imposter being recently added to the game, new characters and stages have been regularly introduced since the game’s launch. These include the rotund white creature from Devolver Digital’s adventure game Minit and Ana from the 2020 platformer Spelunky 2.
Along with the Samurai Gunn 2 collaboration, Arcane-themed League of Legends cosmetics were recently added to Among Us, in celebration of the release of the LoL animated series. Players can access these cosmetics through the new Among Us Cosmicube progression system. Perhaps one of the more unexpected collaborations happened in November, when Innersloth teamed up with BT21, a fictional group of characters created by the real-life members of South Korean boy band BTS. In a trailer, the eight BT21 avatars were dressed up as Among Us crewmates, though their distinctive BT21 characteristics were still apparent.
Samurai Gunn 2 is available in Early Access on PC, with a Switch version in development.
