Among Shadows is the kind of videogame genre arithmetic that often proves less than the sum of its parts, but I’m cautiously enthused by its talk of disease, betrayal and Elden Ring: Nightreign-flavoured swordwizarding. The gist: this is a fantasy action-RPG with an Among Us-style social deduction element. You are a member of the Order of the Secret Fire, sent into a supernaturally blighted region to track down sources of corruption, while looting gear and levelling yourself up.

When the Blood Moon rises, you must escort the local Lord and their people to the map perimeter, fending off zombies, fanatics, wraiths, and other boglins spawned by the magical lurgy. The trouble is, one or more of your team is a dirty rotten traitor, dispatched by the underworld to cultivate the plague, lay traps, and stealthily murder other players. Every night, players have the option of calling a meeting to compare notes and weasel out the wrong ‘uns. Here’s a cinematic trailer – there’s an in-game video on the Steam page, though it’s not localised in English.

OK, so the Steam page video isn’t exactly a display of FromSoft-level bladewanging, though I quite like the posh costumes. As I said, Among Shadows is an obvious specimen of the bandwagon-repainting mentality that has also given us a million themed variations on Balatro and Vampire Survivors. (Have they done a sporty Survivorslike yet, by the way? Because “Umpire Survivors” is right there.) Still, I do think developers TMXN Games are onto something interesting with the social deduction/backstabbing element.

Treachery abounds in the Souls games and Elden Ring, whether you’re talking about certain slaphead trickster NPCs or the player Mound Makers of Dark Souls 3, who pose as friendly summons in order to harvest bits of spine for their bonepiles. I like that Among Shadows is sort of trying to take that atmosphere of mistrust even further, even if the implementation suggests a developer banging Hot Trends together like Ken and Barbie. It’s releasing later this year.