Recently, the social scam game Among Us exploded onto the scene, becoming one of the biggest games on Twitch. The result was an explosion of creative energy that, barring memes, was like cosmic rays from a supernova, and inevitably produced something like this: recreated in VRChat, Among Us is a full 3D version of the Skeld map, with wires to connect, cards to swipe, buttons to push. And you can actually play imposters, murders, voting rounds, etc., just like in Among Us.

Despite the name, you don't have to play VRChat with a VR headset. First, you need VRChat, which is available for free on Steam; once VRChat is installed, you can launch the Among Us world from here. Alternatively, you can search for "Among Us" in the world browser.

This map was created by Jar, who is building VRChat's game world with a little funding from Patreon. It is not a 3D redesign of the entire game, but you can actually play rounds of Among Us. I tried it out (without a headset) and as one of two imposters, managed to kill two crew members (VRChat is a place for free expression) The player who was speaking through a microphone was speaking Russian (I think). My imposter partner left the game early, and I don't know what triggered the win - maybe the crew quit, or maybe it was a bug.

As much fun as the VR version of "Among Us" is, I don't know if a proper 3D version of this game would actually be better. The more complex (and in my opinion superior) social deception game "Project Winter" is also 2D and is well suited to the genre. I'm not sure why, since it simplifies the eye line, map recognition, and controls, allowing the player to focus on the tricks. Nevertheless, it was fun to kill someone in a small room and stand at the door whistling innocently while trying to stop other players from breaking in. Maybe there's something to it. (We'll have to see how Innersloth, the creator of "Among Us," feels about the obvious copyright violation for this particular VRChat map, however.)

In other Among Us news, some big-name streamers recently competed in a tournament, They did surprisingly well; I'm not sure how long the popularity of Among Us will last, but it's clearly more than a one-month boom.

Thanks, Polygon.