April 1st - aka April Fools' Day - is a day filled with fake news and less-than-truthful announcements. However, online social deduction game Among Us developer Innersloth decided to step up its prank game and, instead of simply making a fake announcement, implement an entirely new limited time gameplay mode. Among Us players interested in experiencing the game's April Fools' Day mode should log into the game before April 2nd at 12AM UTC / April 1st at 8PM EST, as the mode will be disabled at that time.
Among Us challenges players to step into the role of crewmates and complete set tasks while avoiding the murderous imposters. The game, which was first launched in June 2018, rapidly gained popularity in 2020 as a way for friends to stay connected while forced to remain at home due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To celebrate the game's continuing popularity, Innersloth recently announced the release of several collector's editions, including the Imposter Edition and the Ejected Edition, which come with bonus goods including hats, lanyards, and plush crewmates.
For April Fools' Day 2022, Among Us has announced and released Horse Mode, a gameplay mode that turns the usual bipedal crewmates into four-legged centaur-like creatures. The "horsemates," as Innersloth called them, originated as a joke drawing posted to the game's Twitter in April 2021. These horsemates are larger and more difficult to move around than the standard crewmates, and are capable of making a "neigh" sound voiced by Innersloth programmer Gary. A new kill animation has also been implemented which plays when a horsemate is eliminated by an imposter. While Horse Mode has not been added to the Among Us' 2022 roadmap, it has quickly gained popularity among fans who are hoping to see 'horsemates' become a permanent feature.
This is not the first year that Innersloth and Among Us have celebrated April Fools' Day with a limited time gameplay mode. In 2020, April Fool's Day saw the release of a flipped version of the spaceship map The Skeld, which was temporarily rechristened "ehT dlekS." The flipped map, which increased the game's difficulty due to giving players only a single day to get used to the new layout, returned for another 24-hour period in 2021. After the conclusion of April Fools' Day, players discovered that they could continue playing on the flipped map by altering the game's settings and setting the in-game date to April 1st. It is possible that Horse Mode may remain accessible after April 1st using a similar workaround.
Whether or not Horse Mode is added to the game permanently, Among Us fans can still expect lots of exciting new content in 2022. A recent trailer revealed that Ghostface, the iconic killer from the Scream franchise of horror films, will be added to the game as an optional costume. The Ghostface skin, which allows crewmates to don the killer's signature robe and mask, is slated to be added to Among Us on April 5th.
Among Us is currently available for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.