A Fresh Take on a Beloved Game
Making an animated show is hard. Making one based on one of the most popular video game series of the past decade, with its own time capsule of memes, is an unenviable task. Yet somehow, Paramount Plus' Among Us show floats where others would sink, delivering an animated video game adaptation that's easily one of the funniest cartoons we've gotten in a long time.
Based on Innersloth's mega-popular murder mystery game and animated by Titmouse (Star Trek: Lower Decks), Among Us follows a crew of colorful astronauts hauling ore across the galaxy for their corporate overlords. But as they sprint around the ship keeping everything running, crewmates start turning up dead—reduced to bloody chunks with a single comedic bone poking out of their jellybean-like bodies like an anime meat gag. Turns out there's an alien imposter among them, and the crew has to suss out who it is before they all wind up dead.
Why It Works: Character-Driven Comedy
What showrunner Owen Dennis' (Infinity Train) Among Us series does to hit hard as a phenomenal animated series is deceptively simple: it just makes a funny, character-driven show. Yes, it's still a product of its time, with anti-corporate humor baked into its DNA, but it never feels tacked-on or corny. Nor does its politically tinged humor feel like a desperate plea to escape the margins of its source material.
The imposter has their work cut out for them, because this crew wastes no time succumbing to The Thing-inspired paranoia, resulting in a mélange of the goriest deaths and sharpest jokes a cartoon—let alone a video game adaptation—has delivered in ages.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Video Game Adaptations
Many video game adaptations have succumbed to the pitfall of justifying their existence to day-one gamers and newcomers by treating their narratives as reference checklists. This checklist invariably leads shows to contort themselves, dutifully cramming in every meme, Easter egg, and non sequitur for their fandom, making gamers point at their screens like Leonardo DiCaprio. It's a dogmatic approach that's good for a cheap pop with audiences and a low-effort social media post pointing out parallels that follows, but it also ages fast.
Among Us, a multiplayer title released in 2018, didn't explode in popularity until the pandemic locked everyone indoors and thrust it into prominence. Its resurgence was comparable to Doechii's mainstream rise in rap. Because of that, there was a real fear that by the time the animated show rolled around, three years after its 2023 announcement, it would've become a Johnny-come-lately show that'd lean on stale memes to keep itself hip with the kids who'd already moved on a hundred times over to new multiplayer game flavors of the month.
Star-Studded Voice Cast
The series features a stellar voice cast including Elijah Wood, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Patton Oswalt, who bring the colorful crew to life with comedic timing and emotional depth. Their performances elevate the material, making each character distinct and memorable.
A Delightful Mix of Comedy and Horror
The show balances laugh-out-loud humor with genuinely tense moments of horror. The deaths are graphic but played for laughs, creating a unique tone that sets it apart from other animated series. The paranoia among the crew drives the plot, keeping viewers guessing who the imposter is while delivering sharp social commentary on corporate culture and trust.
Overall, Among Us on Paramount Plus is a must-watch for fans of the game and newcomers alike. It proves that video game adaptations can be original, funny, and emotionally resonant without relying on nostalgia or cheap references.
This article is based on reporting by Gizmodo. Read the original article.
Originally published on gizmodo.com