Among Us

The Impostors

The Impostors

The Impostors are the primary antagonists of the 2018 social deduction game Among Us, a hit meme sensation of 2020, inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing. These bean-shaped spacemen are secretly alien menaces with shapeshifting powers. Their goal is to eliminate Crewmates on a science ship by tricking them into being ejected, causing oxygen depletion, initiating reactor meltdowns, or direct murder. This respect thread includes developer statements from their official Discord server.

Biology and Lore - Shapeshifting

  • Impostors are identified as alien ‘parasitic shapeshifters’ by the official game website. (source)
  • Impostors are not naturally the same species as Crewmates; they kill a Crewmate and shapeshift into their form to blend in, which is considered a piece of solid lore. (source) (developer statement; solid lore)
  • Impostors may possess shapeshifting abilities beyond what is shown in the game. (source) (developer implication)
  • An Impostor was able to reach the Crewmates’ home planet (MIRA base map), presumably by tricking ship inhabitants. (source) (developer statement)
  • Impostors can split in two at the waist to reveal a mouth and spear-like tongue during a kill animation. (source) (in-game kill animation)
  • The Impostor’s tongue ability is depicted in official art from the MIRA HQ trailer. (source) (official art)

Biology and Lore - Resilience

  • Impostors can survive events like ship oxygen depletion and reactor explosions, as suggested by a developer. (source) (developer suggestion; resistant to explosions and may not need oxygen)
  • Impostors may not require oxygen, implied by their ’exile’ into space in the official game trailer. (source) (implied by official trailer)

Biology and Lore - Sabotage

  • Impostors sabotage technology either by using Crewmate tablets or through their brains as ’techno aliens’. (source) (developer speculation)
  • Impostors can sabotage using a hovering display projected from their visor, as shown in ‘How To Play’ guide art. (source) (How To Play guide art)

Biology and Lore - Other

  • Impostors are identical in size to Crewmates, measured by the in-game bioscanner as 3'6" and 92 pounds. (source) (in-game bioscanner)
  • Impostors and Crewmates have floating, appearing/disappearing, Rayman-style hands, shown in-game and in official art. (source) (in-game and official art)
  • Impostors can shapeshift into Crewmates, whose true nature is ambiguous, with developers describing them as humans, bean-shaped, turtle people, filled with chocolate, or organless. (developer statements on Crewmate ambiguity)

Gameplay Abilities - Killing

  • Can kill Crewmates by snapping their necks. (source)
  • Can kill Crewmates by repeatedly stabbing them in the back with a knife. (source)
  • Can kill Crewmates by sucker punching them to the ground and blowing their head to paste with a gun. (source)
  • Can kill Crewmates by splitting in half at the waist and extending a spear-like tongue through the victim’s visor. (source)
  • Killing a Crewmate takes a split second, and the body is always sliced at the middle regardless of the animation. (source)
  • Can decapitate Crewmates, as depicted in ‘How To Play’ guide art matching the Impostor’s perspective. (source) (How To Play guide art; seen from Impostor’s perspective)
  • Killing has an in-game cooldown of 45 seconds on recommended settings in a standard match, scaling with the number of players (e.g., 20 seconds in a 2 Impostors match). (source) (in-game mechanic; cooldown varies with players)

Gameplay Abilities - Sabotage

  • Can sabotage mechanical doors, closing them temporarily; on the Polus map, doors require repair to open again. (source) (Polus map variation)
  • Can sabotage map lights, shutting them off until they are repaired. (source)
  • Can sabotage the reactor on the map, causing a meltdown that can be reversed. (source) (reversible)
  • Can sabotage the oxygen control on the map, causing oxygen to run out; this can be reversed. (source) (reversible)
  • Can sabotage communications, which causes Crewmate task lists to disappear and affects displays; this can be reversed. (source) (reversible; map-dependent effects)
  • All sabotage abilities have an in-game cooldown. (in-game mechanic)

Gameplay Abilities - Other

  • Can use air vents (or ground holes on the Polus map) to quickly travel around the map. (source) (Polus map variation)
  • Have better sight in the dark (1.5x Crewmate’s 1x) than Crewmates, useful for light sabotage, potentially a canonical ability. (source) (1.5x sight range; developer implied canonical)
  • Carry tablet devices, used for voting, confirmed by a developer; Crewmates use them for data download/upload. (source) (used for voting; confirmed by dev)
  • Can report dead bodies, including those they just killed, via a megaphone as suggested by the ‘How To Play’ guide. (source) (can report own kills; megaphone usage implied by guide)
  • Can return as ghosts after ejection if another Impostor remains, floating through walls, invisible, and retaining sabotage abilities (but not killing); a developer implies this is a game mechanic only. (source) (ghost form; invisible; can sabotage; cannot kill; developer implies game mechanic only)
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