With upward of 350 million registered players, Fortnite is one of the most popular battle royale games on the market. Now, Epic Games has announced a new game mode, one that’s more than a little reminiscent of another popular multiplayer title.
Epic Games announced Fortnite’s new Impostors mode with a trailer earlier today. The new game mode adds a two v. eight hidden role game where Agents must defend their base by rooting out Impostors. As some have already pointed out, the new mode is suspiciously reminiscent of InnerSloth’s Among Us.
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The new mode takes place in The Bridge, a secret facility run by the Imagined Order. The Order runs the Fortnite island from behind the scenes. However, unknown Impostors have infiltrated the Bridge. Players take the role of either the Agents maintaining the Bridge or Impostors plotting to seize it. Agents will have multiple tasks to complete, such as repairing the Battle Bus, calibrating drops, and monitoring the Storm. They’ll also need to root out the Among Us-like Impostors hidden in their ranks. Agents can do this by Forcing a Discussion and voting to expel a suspected Impostor from the Bridge.
The Impostors, meanwhile, win by eliminating the Agents before being discovered. Impostors also have their own tasks to complete, which may tip the Agents off to their identity. However, they have various tools to aid in their deception, such as teleporting players and temporarily turning every character into Peely the Banana. Impostors can also buy time by pausing active assignments. But the Impostor’s greatest weapon is deception, tricking Agents into expelling one of their own from the Bridge.
The similarities between Impostors mode and Among Us are pretty apparent to anyone even slightly familiar with the game. Among Us developer InnerSloth later told IGN it did not collaborate with the Fortnite developers on the new game mode. In fairness to Epic Games, Among Us did not invent the idea of a hidden role or social deduction game. Board and card games with a similar premise have existed for decades. Among Us itself was inspired by the party game Mafia, created in 1986. However, Among Us was the first to turn the formula into a major online sensation. So, it’s reasonable to assume Epic made the Impostors mode to capitalize on InnerSloth’s success.
This would hardly be the first time Epic Games gave Fortnite a new mode when a genre becomes popualr. For example, Epic initially intended Fortnite to be a co-op zombie shooter before battle royale games took off. Epic even fought a lawsuit from the developers of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which popularized the genre. In that light, any current accusations of trend-chasing may not be unwarranted.
Fortnite is available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: Epic Games, IGN
