‘Mysterious Society’ Gives NFT Perversion to Video Games Like ‘Among Us’

Game “Social deduction” Among us is a guaranteed success: millions upon millions of people use online gaming as a way to stay connected and have fun with distant friends. But can the game NFT repeat such success?

That’s what new game studio Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow hopes to discover in the beta version of the game. Secret society this Friday is a casual web game in which players will also try to discover the killer in their midst.

While the overall approach of Among Us in Mysterious Society remains the same, including its easy-to-understand rules and hand-drawn look, the atmosphere feels more like a clue. Players can dress their avatars in clothing, accessories, and other customizations offered as tradable NFTs (minted in Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network) throughout the game.

Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow was founded by CEO Chris Heatherly, who has a long history in the video game industry, including running Disney’s popular children’s playground Club Penguin and later overseeing Universal’s gaming division. He then worked on NFT projects before deciding to open his own studio.

“What I was missing was that there just wasn’t enough focus in the tech space. Web3 for casual social games that you can play with friends,” Heatherly told GG about Decipher. “It has huge scaling potential that we can use to introduce newcomers to some of these Web3 ideas, like ownership and trading, tokens and the like.”

He believes that one of the main reasons why blockchain games have not caught on with a wider audience is that they are often too complex and aimed at hardcore gamers, and the barriers to mastering crypto technologies only make them even less understandable.

Several investors are also betting on Heatherly and Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, which announced Friday it closed a $3 million seed funding round to coincide with its beta launch. Shima Capital led the round with participation from Sfermion, 32-Bit Ventures, Arca, GSR Markets, Lyrik Ventures, Press Start Capital and Flying Falcon. Polygon Labs also provided a grant for the research.

The secret society strives to make things accessible. Upon release, it will be a completely free game with additional NFTs. Simple asset storage wallets will be provided for players who do not want to deal with self-custody wallets, although these are also supported.

Screenshot from “Mysterious Society”. Image: Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow

Over time, the team plans to explore user-generated content, implement a token, and launch something similar to the “battle pass” seen in games like Fortnite, a paid upgrade that allows players to unlock additional content. The studio will also release mobile versions of the game in an attempt to reach a significant audience on iOS and Android.

Beta players will receive a free NFT for participating, and Heatherly said they will also be given five access codes each so they can invite their friends to join the cartoon murder mystery.

“Every other Web3 game is trying to attract users one at a time, right?” said. “We’re really trying to gain groups of friends.”

Edited Ryan Ozawa.