Two months later, Epic Games finally coughs up the truth of Fortnite’s ‘inspiration’ behind its Impostors mode. But is it enough?
Back in August of this year, Fortnite revealed its newest game mode, Impostors. A group of up to ten agents were tasked with finding out who among them was an Impostor, while the Impostor worked to sabotage the agents. It sounded familiar then, and it still sounds familiar now.
A few Among Us developers seemed to agree with the rest of the internet, stating things like: “it would’ve been really, really cool to collab” with Epic Games, and that “at the very least even different themes or terminology” should have been used to separate the games.
In Fortnite’s latest patch notes, however, Epic Games finally gave Among Us the recognition it deserves. They note that its Impostors game mode is “inspired by Among Us from Innersloth”, giving the wildly popular indie game its deserved credit.
Whilst some might applaud the admission and small mention, there are no details beyond that. The post is missing important links that might garner new Among Us players and drive the indie developer’s sales up, and the in-game mode doesn’t make any mention of its “inspiration” either.
Yes, Among Us is based on party games like Werewolf and Mafia. Innersloth aren’t the first people to try turning these sorts of deduction games into virtual ones, but they’ve put a unique spin on things by adding sabotage mechanics and using a distinctive art style.
Even Among Us’ co-founder Marcus Bromander acknowledges that they “didn’t patent the Among Us mechanics”, probably because trying to gatekeep something so inspired by a party game would be difficult. That said, he’s completely right when he questions how much effort it would’ve taken to make the Impostors mode more original.
We didn't patent the Among Us mechanics. I don't think that leads to a healthy game industry. Is it really that hard to put 10% more effort into putting your own spin on it though?
— Puff EU 2024 Tour (@PuffballsUnited) August 17, 2021
Remember those sabotage mechanics that made Among Us feel both unique and more fun for its impostors? Keep in mind that Fortnite has those too. Epic Games’ claim of its Impostors mode being “inspired by Among Us” is hardly accurate and it’s not even a full admission.
Suffice to say, I’m still kind of disappointed. But it’s not all bad news. Bridges may be mended in the near future, if the tweets exchanged between both games’ Twitter accounts are anything to go by.
Big fans! We never got to talk about how you inspired us. What do you think about working on something fun together sometime?
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) October 12, 2021
You can get Among Us on PC, Xbox One & X|S, PlayStation 4 & 5 and Nintendo Switch now.
