What Is the Imposters Mode?

We’re going to walk you through what Fortnite’s Imposters Mode means for both that game and Among Us. But first, we need to answer a more basic question: what is the Imposters Mode all about?

The short (and honest) answer is that Imposters Mode is a mode that jams the Among Us gameplay into the world of Fortnite. This means 10 players enter a station and must complete a variety of tasks. But two of these players are secretly impostors trying to kill the crew and sabotage the equipment. The rest of the players must figure out who the imposters are before the imposters win.

Among Us, But Make It Worse

On paper, the idea of Fortnite doing an homage to Among Us may not sound that bad. After all, games have a history of building on each other. For example, Donkey Kong was the first platforming video game, and it eventually led to the development of Super Mario Bros. However, nobody would claim that Super Mario Bros. was a simple rip-off of Donkey Kong.

Nobody would say that because Mario innovated on the platforming concept. At the end of the day, there were only two real similarities with Donkey Kong: the protagonist and the gameplay basics of platforming.

With the Imposters Mode, though, Fortnite copied much of the essential Among Us formula while managing to make things worse instead of improving them. So unless you play Among Us and long for dumb licensed skins and the world’s stupidest emotes, you’re going to find the Fortnite version to be a derivative disappointment.

Among Us Devs Call Fortnite Out

It’s one thing for gamers (and game writers, for that matter) to call out Imposters Mode as lazy crap. But the real fun began when the Among Us devs got involved!

Programmer Gary Porter took to Twitter and really went off on Imposters Mode. He pointed out that the Imposters Mode map and The Skeld (the original Among Us spaceship map) are basically the same. “It's okay tho,” he noted sarcastically, “they flipped electrical and medbay and connected security to the cafeteria.”

If Fortnite is going to try to copy another game, right down to the gameplay and maps, then it’s time for players to admit that Epic is now creatively bankrupt.

Why Copy Among Us To Begin With?

There are countless popular multiplayer games out there. So if Fortnite was going to rip another game off, why did they do it with Among Us?

The cynical answer is that Among Us is a game that gained popularity primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine. Gamers and non-gamers alike were stuck inside the house and looking for new ways to interact with each other.

A year and a half later, one thing is clear: the pandemic isn’t really going anywhere, especially with mass numbers of people refusing to get vaccinated. Since Fortnite was already popular as much as a social experience as a game, ripping off Among Us is a naked ploy to add those still quarantining and avoiding social gatherings to the existing base of Fortnite players.

Fortnite Begins To Show Its Age

That brings us to the final question: even if we accept why Fortnite decided to rip off Among Us, why is Fortnite ripping off concepts at all given its massive success?

Another short and cynical answer is that Fortnite has been a ripoff from the very beginning. The basics of the “battle royale” formula were shamelessly stolen from PUBG with a dash of Minecraft mixed in with the building element. And in a twist of karmic fate, Epic ended up being surrounded by new battle royale games trying to cash in on Fortnite’s success.

For a skilled developer, this would be the time to innovate and do something new. But for Epic, it was time to rip off another popular game and hope that their army of 12-year-old fans would actually believe they were doing something new.