Viper vs. Detective

The Viper and Detective are two new roles that were added to Among Us on September 9, 2025. I had the pleasure and responsibility of taking both roles from just ideas on pieces of (digital) paper to fully fledged roles in the game! Check out the trailers for both roles below:

Role Responsibilities

• Take a small group of roles from conception to release

• Work with all departments to ensure the roles are release-ready and a marketing runway is in place

• Organize playtests with new and recurring playtesters

• Balance both roles to be viable in lobbies with no other roles and in lobbies with all other roles enabled

• Ensure the roles are compatible on a wide range of platforms from mobile to PS5

Design Goals

For this release, the design goals from last year’s roles release remained the same. However, there were two new targets I wanted to also aim for with these roles:

1. Create a Crewmate role that revolved around social deduction. Social deduction is ultimately the core of Among Us so I wanted to see if we could create a role that heavily leaned into it

2. Create an Impostor role that changed the thinking for players on both teams.

Looking back, I would say that both of these new goals were achieved!

1. The Detective prompted a lot more discussion in meetings. By interrogating the right people, the Detective can learn who the killer is.

2. The Viper definitely changed the whole dynamic of the game. Playing as the Viper, the player is thinking more about how to hide their kills and the other abilities they can use to maximize the role’s potential. Crewmates are also thinking more around bodies disappearing. Also, there is more discussion around the state of a dissolving body and who was around it when it was found.

Design Challenges

• Balancing Complexity - the Detective was by far the most complex role in Among Us. It was not only a complex role to develop, it is also a complex role to use as a player. For example, the Detective’s Notes ability contains a lot of information and has lots of depth. Balancing all of it in a readable and digestible fashion for players was important.

• Impostor Balancing - the Viper can easily be too powerful of a role. The ability to hide bodies and hide any evidence of a kill every happening is very strong. Throughout the development of the Viper, it was important to have both push and pull between the Viper and Crewmates across multiple facets!