What party game inspired the creation of Among Us?

The party game that inspired the creation of Among Us was Mafia. Mafia is a social-deduction game in which players receive hidden roles, civilians try to identify the criminals, and the Mafia attempts to eliminate everyone else.

Among Us adapts that basic hidden-traitor idea to an interactive science-fiction setting. Crewmates complete tasks while one or more Impostors secretly sabotage the group and kill players. Meetings and voting replace the discussion-and-elimination structure of a traditional Mafia round.

The game also drew inspiration from the science-fiction horror film The Thing, especially its atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty about who is secretly hostile. That influence explains why Among Us combines a party-game framework with space-survival imagery.

Among Us was developed by Innersloth and first released in 2018. It initially attracted a modest audience before becoming a global hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, when online multiplayer games became a popular way to socialize.