Among Us: Fourth map to be bigger than Polus
Updates for Among Us have been few and far between, with development of the game getting stalled and stagnating due to a series of crises that have arrived with the game’s sudden success. Nonetheless, development of the game is progressing and from what we’ve heard the newly planned map is going to be the biggest one yet.
Why does the map’s size matter in Among Us?
Larger maps have some fairly obvious effects on the pace of Among Us as a whole, as the bigger the map the longer it can take crewmates to get to their task locations. Additionally, the size means that imposters are more likely to be able to sneak in a kill and evade without being seen by the other Among Us players.
Additionally, larger maps are more ready for increases to the player count. While Among Us currently only supports a maximum of 10 players in a lobby, mods can be used to increase the player count and Polus is quite capable of supporting 12-15 players and 3 imposters for playgroups that want to mix it up a bit.
But for those who play with 10 or less players, the downsides of larger maps can be ignored if the host sets players speed higher than the default. Polus very frequently gets played at 1.25x speed in my own playgroups, and I’ve seen others play at 1.5x.
Among Us needs big maps more than it needs small maps
Two of the maps currently available to play in Among Us are already quite small. MIRA HQ quite frequently feels claustrophobic, with its tight corridors and small rooms. Additionally, for an already small map, an entire wing of the map is rarely used after beginning the game. With the exception of a single task, there is almost no reason to return to the landing pad throughout the game.
The Skeld is slightly bigger than MIRA HQ, and has no unused or unusable space. Even the lesser used rooms like the communications room lie along a high traffic pathway and is used for a few tasks and one sabotage crisis.
Polus, on the other hand, is the only map in Among Us where a playgroup can comfortably increase its player count. While it also suffers from a large section of the map being less used, as the specimen room is often ignored or forgotten due to being so isolated from the rest of the map, it still manages to be bigger than the other maps.
Hopefully when the new location gets implemented it will come alongside ways to increase the player count.