Who benefits more from the Among Us proximity chat mod?
The new CrewLink mod for Among Us lets players use their microphones to talk to other nearby players through, giving the game another element for deception and coordination.
Being able to share information and communicate outside of meetings drastically alters how the game can be played. While both the crew and imposters can use this to their advantage, who ultimately benefits more from being able to talk?
How do crewmates benefit from proxy-chat Among Us?
Crewmates benefit in the most obvious ways when using this Among Us mod, as being able to share information allows the crewmates to coordinate on a level not really possible under normal conditions.
In particular, Among Us crewmates can announce where they are going and whom they are going with to passers by in order to ensure that some information about their whereabouts is given to the group should they get caught alone with an imposter.
This behavior encourages imposters to avoid traveling near other players for too long, as having so many players share their own locations can result in having no opportunities to kill, but imposters can’t just avoid groups either as players will have more knowledge about each other's movements, and a suspicious absence is just as bad for imposters.
Sabotages can do a lot of work with regards to splitting up the crewmates, but voice chat allows the crewmates to coordinate to answer these as well. In particular, anything which requires the crew to interact with two objects on opposite ends of the map can be made easier by having someone direct the crew where they need to go.
Lights are weakened too, as crewmates can use sound to listen to who is nearby in order to stay connected. Inversely, security features are strengthened as players can share information about what they saw on cameras or who is dead on vitals immediately, rather than having to call an emergency button.
How do imposters benefit from proxy-chat Among Us?
Despite the numerous ways that crew theoretically benefit from the ability to share information, imposters still have plenty of ways that they can come out ahead in proxy-chat Among Us. First of all, imposters have the ability to actually coordinate double kills, rather than having to rely on non-verbal cues and hoping the other imposter knows what they’re doing.
Additionally, the added layers of communication for crewmates don’t always restrict an imposter's ability to score a kill. For example, even if Among Us players can talk during light sabotages, imposters are still able to kill without being seen and leave others in the dark. If a lot of players are even talking, then the opportunity exists for imposters to talk alongside the crew, making their presence seem less abnormal.
Another advantage is for imposters in Among Us to lure crewmates into more favorable killing spots, rather than hoping they go somewhere safe naturally.
While it might seem like the crew benefit from being able to talk about tasks, imposters are much more convincing when they can talk about the tasks they fake.
Though this technically raises the bar for what it takes to be a convincing imposter, it does offer a lot of room for development and doesn’t always totally restrict imposters.
Overall, the proxy-chat mod for Among Us shakes up how the game gets played and gives it a fresh feeling, and while it might require some playgroup tuning, it’s surprisingly more balanced than it would first seem.