Mimic Developer on His Unreal Engine 5 Take on Among Us — VGTimes Interview

Mimic is an asymmetric multiplayer horror game in which players must figure out which member of the group is actually a monster hiding in human form, convince everyone else, and get rid of the threat before it is too late. Of course, that also means an innocent player can end up being killed by mistake. It sounds a lot like Among Us, but Mimic has several ideas of its own, including full 3D graphics, a grim sci-fi horror atmosphere, and the ability to let a Twitch chat take part in key decisions. To learn more, we spoke directly with the developer behind Mimic during gamescom 2026.

The game was presented by its creator, Ryan Laley. He is developing Mimic almost entirely on his own and handles nearly every aspect of production, from programming to art design. Only smaller tasks, such as certain sound effects, are outsourced. Laley is an Unreal Engine specialist who works with a wide range of studios, from major companies to indie developers. He has been working on Mimic in his spare time for the past three years.

According to Laley, Mimic draws inspiration from movies such as Alien and The Thing. And it shows. The atmosphere of a dark spaceship with danger lurking somewhere aboard immediately brings Ridley Scott's 1979 film to mind. Meanwhile, the idea that a seemingly friendly human could actually be hiding a monster underneath is pure John Carpenter territory.

Looking at the screenshots and footage, Alien: Isolation is another obvious comparison. Even the animation of the android grabbing a person by the throat resembles a similar scene from the 2014 game.

Multiplayer sessions support between five and ten players. Each participant has their own objectives, and there are multiple ways to complete them. The catch is that one of the players is the Mimic, disguised as a human and ready to shed its skin and attack the crew at any moment.

There are no weapons in the game, so regular players cannot simply attack each other. The impostor, however, can hunt down crew members and kill them. But there is another complication: an AI-controlled android patrols the level.

If you notice another player acting suspiciously, you can report them to the android. The robot will then begin pursuing the suspect. Naturally, it is easy to make the wrong call and have an innocent player eliminated instead. In that case, the group has effectively helped the Mimic and made its job easier.

Players can also connect the game to Twitch, allowing viewers in chat to vote on who the android should attack.

On average, a multiplayer match lasts around 10 to 15 minutes.

Mimic will enter Early Access on October 27, 2026. The full release is currently planned for late 2027.

For all its modern technology and unusual ideas, Mimic is still built around the familiar social deduction formula popularized by Among Us. Do you want to start hunting impostors again — or convince everyone else that you're innocent while secretly playing the monster? Or did the 2018 original already give you enough of that experience? Share your thoughts in the comments!

VGTimes has been operating since 2011 and over that time has attended dozens of exhibitions and festivals, where our journalists have gathered a wealth of exclusive material. For example, in 2019 we attended a closed showing of Cyberpunk 2077 at gamescom, in 2017 we prepared a photo report from WG Fest, in 2020 we were at the largest gaming event in Central Asia — CAGS, and we have visited IgroMir several times, where we met Hideo Kojima and other famous developers. In 2024 we traveled to the Land of the Rising Sun for TGS 2024, where we were amazed by the scale of the Tokyo event. In 2025 we witnessed one of Asia's premier gaming exhibitions — ChinaJoy in Shanghai. We also made it to the Thai edition of gamescom 2025 in Bangkok, and at the start of this year attended CES 2026 in Las Vegas and later Computex 2026 in Taipei.