For a long time now, people have been speculating on how Among Us can develop some longevity. Although the game exploded as a Twitch phenomenon last year and its gameplay loop is endlessly replayable, Among Us is very simple, and ultimately didn't have much content to offer. Innersloth has been working to change that since Among Us got popular, and although progress has been slow so far, the Among Us roadmap trailer unveiled at Summer Game Fest shows that the game is about to explode with new updates. Perhaps the most important update that Innersloth promises is new player roles built into the game.
Among Us mods frequently focus on player roles. There's tons of mods out there that players can install in the game to give players new skills and objectives that add a nice twist to the Among Us formula. Innersloth is listening to that idea. Sometime soon, at least two new roles will come to Among Us: the Sheriff and the Scientist. Although Innersloth didn't give specifics on what these roles do, their sole presence is revolutionary for Among Us, and indicative of a huge shift in strategy within Innersloth. Among Us' gameplay will gain a much-needed breath of fresh air thanks to the new roles.
Sheriffs and Scientists in Among Us
The Sheriff role in Among Us has slightly more obvious functionality than the Scientist. In fact, a fan-made mod that introduced a Sheriff role was one of the most popular Among Us mods for a long time, both among normal fans and streamers. Odds are the Sherriff will contribute about the same skills as the mod, getting the chance to kill someone if the Sheriff thinks they're the Impostor. It's possible that the Sheriff will have other functionality, too. Maybe it'll have some investigative tools that it can use to narrow down potential candidates for the Impostor, helping them use their free kill more wisely. Sheriffs built into the game will keep Impostors on their toes and give Crewmates a crucial way of fighting back beyond the emergency meeting button.
The brief roadmap trailer didn't unveil what skills the Scientist brings to Among Us, but there's a few distinct possibilities. Every Among Us map includes either a medical area or a laboratory, and those locations might give Scientists special skills, like the ability to examine other players and try to determine their roles. Alternatively, the Scientist might have special functionality if they find a Crewmate's body in an Among Us match. For instance, a Scientist might get valuable information like exactly how long that player has been dead. Such a knowledge-centric name suggests that the Scientist will probably be based on finding rare information in one way or another.
The Dynamic New Among Us
New roles are important to Among Us because they introduce more variables to the game. In its current state, Among Us is much more predictable, with every game containing one or two Impostors threatening Crewmates who are focused on the same tasks and Impostor techniques that they've been playing around for the last nine months. The Sheriff and the Scientist make the game significantly more complicated without necessarily making Among Us harder or less balanced. These new roles are additional variables for each player to keep track of and resources that can decide the outcome of the game.
Player role mods are so popular in Among Us because new roles are the most fundamental way to change the way Among Us is played. New maps and increased lobby sizes are great, but at the end of the day, they still only facilitate the same Among Us gameplay loop in a slightly different context. An Among Us game with a Sheriff or a Scientist adds a totally new rule that will make every player think about the game differently, and it'll doubtlessly result in some brand new strategies that'll become part of the game's core. This is exactly what Innersloth needs to do to keep Among Us alive: introduce new elements that keep the gameplay fresh without totally abandoning the simple and fun loop that made the game so popular.
Among Us is available now for PC, mobile, and Switch. PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions are in development.