The indie game Among Us will soon receive its biggest update ever. Developer InnerSloth will add The Airship map it teased during at The Game Awards 2020 sometime within the next couple of months. This won't only add a fourth location to host sessions of the social deduction game, but it could have some major implications to Among Us' lore.
The story behind the murder-mystery game was never officially established by InnerSloth. Among Us lore is a mixture of observations from existing game maps and fan theories that have been weaved into a narrative which explains why its colorful astronauts are being hunted by the nefarious Impostors. The Airship update could throw a wrench into the understood Among Us story by connecting it further to the interactive animated series Henry Stickmin.
Before creating Among Us, InnerSloth co-founder Marcus Bromander gained attention on content-sharing site Newgrounds for his Henry Stickmin games. The series follows the daring adventurer Henry, who the game's government recruits to help take down a notorious criminal syndicate called the Toppat Clan. This band of thieves hides out aboard the bright red Airship that Among Us astronauts will soon have access to. While it's no secret that The Henry Stickmin and Among Us universes are somewhat intertwined, the Airship's appearance suggests they might actually be the same.
Is Among Us In The Henry Stickmin Universe?
InnerSloth has yet to confirm if this could be the case, but the Airship being added to Among Us is nearly identical to the one seen in The Henry Stickmin Collection. The only major difference in its appearance is the Toppat Clan logo has been edited to include a purple Among Us astronaut. The new version of the aircraft will also include new rooms (a kitchen, armory, and showers) that have not been seen in The Henry Stickmin Collection before.
While there might be some discrepancies in its design and interior, The Henry Stickmin Collection is rife with Among Us references. Twelve Among Us astronauts appear as part of the "Assemble the Crew" achievement, which features the armless space travelers as plushie dolls. The minor Henry Stickmin character Polus Petrovich was also revealed to have named Among Us's Polus map after winning a sweepstakes competition. These could be playful hat tips InnerSloth has included to cross-promote its releases, but it might go much deeper than that.
Based on the Crewmates' tasks, the bean-shaped beings are either researchers or looters studying extraterrestrial geology and biology. Somewhere along the way, they crossed paths with the Impostor parasitic alien species that will stop at nothing to kill Among Us' Crewmates. The colorful astronauts may also be an alien race that the Henry Stickmin series characters are aware of.
Aliens are proven to exist in the Henry Stickmin universe during the Stealing the Diamond episode. That means the Among Us astronauts could be exploring galaxies while The Henry Stickmin Collection story unfolds, and they're able to salvage the Airship for interplanetary travel many years in the future. All of this will remain speculative until InnerSloth confirms more details about the murder-mystery game's lore, but the developer is clearly bringing both of its franchises closer together.