An Among Us clone is at the top of the iOS downloads chart in China, but there's more to the story than just the existence another popular game rip-off.
There's an Among Us clone from a Chinese dev that came out last week and topped the iOS download chart in China. Among Us is available on Steam and iOS in China, but it doesn't have a Simplified Chinese localisation, so it hasn't had the same success as in the West. pic.twitter.com/BAEs5c3f7pNovember 3, 2020
Werewolf Among Us was the most downloaded free game on the App Store in China last week, according to the South China Morning Post. Released on October 28, the clone was downloaded more than 478,000 times in just a week. Even though there are several Chinese copies of Innersloth's Among Us that are basically just reskins, this one reigns supreme.
But it's more complicated than that. The core concepts of Among Us were actually popularized in China years ago by a game called Werewolf, which spawned several sequels. As the SCMP reports, 2017's Werewolf Kill was the most famous, sitting in the top five App Store downloads for months. But Werewolf is itself a variation of a Russian party game called Mafia, created by a psychology professor in the late '80s. The '90s saw the game take on a werewolf theme in several card variants, including 2001's The Werewolves of Millers Hollow, released in France.
Among Us, which is known in China as Space Werewolf, may be spawning clone titles that are gaining popularity, but the popularity of Werewolf reigns supreme. That's likely because Among Us doesn't have a Simplified Chinese localization, so Chinese players struggle to play it, even though it's available there on both Steam and iOS. "Among Us is definitely addictive...but English is so hard I get a headache from playing," a player tells SCMP.
So, while there is a popular Among Us clone topping iOS charts in China, remember that it's not technically an Imposter.
The Among Us patch notes will include more professional translations in December.
