The social deception game "Among Us" was a mega-hit during the 2020 lockdown, but was actually released two years earlier, in 2018, making it one of the most notable examples of delayed success in the video game business. Oddly enough, the creators of "Goose Goose Duck," a free-to-play game that closely resembles "Along Us," have not only managed to replicate its format, but also its delayed popularity.

After spending a year in relative obscurity, "Goose Goose Duck" began exploding on Steam in mid-November. Even stranger, Goose Goose Duck and Among Us became popular for similar reasons: Among Us was a big breakthrough for Korean streamers in 2020; Goose Goose Duck went from 1,000 simultaneous Steam connections in early November to over 150,000 in early December; and Among Us was a big breakthrough for Korean streamers in 2020. It is not difficult to pinpoint what caused Goose Goose Duck to go from 1,000 concurrent Steam users in early November to over 150,000 in early December: on November 14, Kim Tae-hyun of the South Korean boy band BTS streamed the game.

Beware of other social scam games: If you want to be successful, you need to endure a modest player count for at least a year, then suddenly explode in popularity through the power of Korean influencers. If you can somehow work that into your plan, that's your best bet.

Goose Goose Duck introduces its own ideas into the Among Us formula and has many special roles as one example, but the basic structure is the same and even the art style is similar. We actually reported a launch in 2021 and said at the time that it was 'Among Us' except it was a duck."

I jumped in and played one round, and of course the kids talked loudly into the hot mic and told some very bad lies. I myself was not a very good player. Early on, I was accused of being a saboteur because I couldn't complete tasks in a reasonable and efficient order, but that was only because I didn't know what I was doing.

What was particularly difficult was that once the game started, I forgot whether I was the good guy, the goose or the duck, and I kept getting confused as to which I was. This problem was not helped by my special role as a mimic.

There is no doubt that I was a good guy, but after escaping death thanks to a tie vote after the initial accusations against me, I was finally voted to death for reasons only the most vocal player on the server could understand. Even if I had been a good guy, the serious players were probably right to eliminate me in order to do their job; I was not a good guy.

Goose Goose Duck is free to play on Steam (opens in a new tab). It is also in the mobile store.