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Until the release of the next map there are only three maps to choose from in Among Us, and after repeated playing, it seems that one of these maps holds up much more than the others.
While Polus and MIRA HQ both have their advantages, The Skeld remains the best designed and balanced map currently available in Among Us. Fittingly, The Skeld was also the first created map, and it’s the one most players start Among Us with.
What drawback do the other Among Us maps have?
Before going into what The Skeld does right, it can help to know what Polus and MIRA HQ do wrong first. Although both of these maps are perfectly playable, and still fun to mix into any session, they still have certain noticeable issues that make them somewhat difficult to play long term.
MIRA HQ is perhaps the Among Us map that is easiest to dissect. While the map is novel and interesting, it is arguably the most stressful and frustrating map to play on. While The Skeld and Polus can result in close games, MIRA HQ seems to result in games where one side dominates the other.
Either imposters are very good in the claustrophobic environment and know how to use vents to sneak kills, or the crew is too good at staying close and the imposters seem to never have a chance to kill.
Other Among Us maps don't have that issue as much, but Polus has a few unique problems that are also difficult to ignore during longer sessions. Polus is currently the largest map, and that leads to its own issues.
Namely, it’s possible to play Polus and feel like the place is a ghost town as there are few places where players naturally encounter one another. Even imposters on Polus can find themselves having to use the Admin table to find potential targets.
Polus also has the long isolated Specimen Room area which is both difficult to get to and unconnected from the map. Because this place is both totally separate from the rest of the map and lacks any vents for imposters to quickly hop between. it can be a risky location for imposters to use, leading to it having even less activity.
So what does The Skeld Among Us map do right?
It’s important to know what the other maps do wrong to understand why The Skeld holds up so well. First off, The Skeld simply lacks any major issues. The map has a very safe design that allows for creative games without limiting or shoehorning players to play a certain way.
The Skeld is large and spread out enough that players end up fanning out and completing their tasks as needed, but has tight corridors connecting everything that causes players to encounter one another periodically.
This means that imposters can find and track targets with relative ease while also having to plan around the likelihood that someone else is right around the corner.
In addition to this, The Skeld features a number of well balanced sabotages which give imposters the tools they need to help direct the game.
All this together help make The Skeld into the map which has the most replayability, and its why most Among Us groups end up defaulting to it at some point.
Hopefully the fourth Among Us map will avoid the stumbling blocks that affect Polus and MIRA HQ, and feature some of the same good design features which help raise The Skeld above the pack.
