Like any game that becomes popular enough, Among Us has attracted a fair number of hackers in the short time it’s taken for it to become one of 2020’s breakout games. This issue has taken several forms, with the latest example allowing players to make use of the game’s vents even when they’re not playing as impostors.
Despite being the main threat in every round of Among Us, the impostors have the disadvantage of being outnumbered by the crewmates, which is why the vents strewn about each map are so useful. With these, impostors are able to quickly travel across the map unseen, allowing them to discreetly leave the scene of a kill and making it harder for the remaining crewmates to discover them.
Ideally, vents are something only impostors should be able to access, but Reddit user Big_Nate_on_juice discovered that hackers are getting around that restriction. They shared a clip this week of them playing as an impostor and trying to pass for a crewmate, when all of a sudden they stumble upon an actual crewmate jumping into a vent, leaving them standing there in confusion until a meeting is called and they start to share their discovery in the chat. Why the crewmate thought venting in front of another player was a good idea is a question that remains unanswered, though.
This is clearly the latest case of people messing with the game to gain an unfair advantage. Players have been complaining about a cheating problem in Among Us pretty much since it started gaining mainstream attention this summer, as well as the various hacks being used to aid cheaters as both impostors and crewmates. These have included being able to see who the impostors are, removing the cooldown for kills, and increasing impostors’ movement speed and attack range.
For their part, the team at developer InnerSloth have been doing what they can to address the problem on their end, banning hackers and asking them to “please stop.” Whether that will actually compel hackers to quit cheating remains to be seen, but with any luck InnerSloth will be able to reduce instances of hacking before too long.
The situation with hackers and cheaters in Among Us is a bit of a weird one. Since the game lacks a progression system, there’s really no incentive for players to try to win at all cost, so it’s a bit of a mystery why hackers feel compelled to rely on cheats. Regardless of the reason, most players would agree that addressing the issue is one of the quality-of-life improvements that Among Us needs the most.
Among Us is available for Mobile and PC.