8 Gripping TV Series About Deadly Games to Watch While Waiting for Squid Game S3
These projects take us to worlds where courage, endurance, and cunning are essential tools for survival, and characters face difficult moral choices and endless danger.
Netflix has finally released a teaser for the third and final season of the Korean hit Squid Game. The thrilling show about deadly competitions will end on June 27.
Here are eight fascinating series to keep you entertained while you wait for the grand finale of Squid Game.
1. Liar Game, 2007-2010
Nurse Nao Kanzaki receives a black box. Inside she finds 100 million yen and an invitation to participate in the Liar Game.
She can't refuse: the only way out is to keep the money and return it in 30 days. Otherwise, Kanzaki will have to pay the debt out of her own meager savings. In an attempt to profit, the other players deceive their opponents and leave them without the coveted millions.
2. The 8 Show, 2024
Eight people decide to participate in a reality show in which the organizers offer to trade hours of their lives for money. The longer they stay in the game, the bigger the cash prize.
However, the contestants are not on a level playing field. Before the show starts, everyone draws a card with a number corresponding to a floor. The higher the floor, the more comfort and opportunities the player has. The main goal is to stay in the game as long as possible.
But only invisible spectators who need to be entertained can give valuable time to the players.
3. Night Has Come, 2023
Night Has Come follows high school students on a field trip that turns into a deadly version of the game of Mafia.
At first they don't take it seriously, but the first victims change their attitude towards the situation. The participants are assigned roles and enter a battle where only those who control their emotions can survive, while those who show weakness are doomed.
4. Panic, 2021
Panic reveals the world of secret and extreme competitions among high school graduates in a small town. Every year, the town organizes a dangerous game known as Panic in which participants are willing to risk everything for a chance at a better future.
The plot revolves around a group of young people who decide to take part in this deadly challenge.
The game includes a series of difficult and risky tasks where any mistake can cost lives. As events unfold, the participants face not only physical challenges, but also their own fears and secrets.
5. 19th Floor, 2024
After a car accident, two classmates wake up in a mysterious building. It turns out that they have entered a virtual game where the goal is to survive in battles with ghosts and evil spirits.
Now they are forced to fight monsters at night and conduct an investigation during the day to understand who is behind the dangerous competitions.
The Chinese series is similar to Squid Game in the concept of going through several rounds in a deadly game. In addition to the competitive element, there is also a detective plot. Therefore, 19th Floor will hook you not only with impressive action scenes, but also with a story about searching for the creators of the virtual arena.
6. Most Dangerous Game, 2020-2023
The series centers on the story of Dodge, a man in a desperate financial situation. In order to secure his family's future and pay for expensive medical treatment, he agrees to participate in a dangerous game.
The rules of the game are simple but cruel: for 24 hours, Dodge becomes a target for elite hunters willing to pay top dollar for the opportunity to stalk and kill him. The stakes rise with each passing hour, and staying alive becomes increasingly difficult.
7. Death Parade, 2015
After death, some people end up in a mysterious place that resembles a casino bar. There is a bartender called Decim who offers to play a game in which the stake is the salvation of the soul.
The winner gets the chance to be reborn, while the loser is condemned to oblivion. However, the opinion of the strict judge is influenced by a dark-haired girl who tries to remember how she ended up in this place and to understand what role she is destined to play.
8. Persons Unknown, 2010
The series from The Usual Suspects writer Christopher McQuarrie follows a group of strangers who find themselves in an abandoned and uninhabited city.
Kidnapped in various ways and with no memory of how they got there, they band together to find out what happened to them.
Finding the city isolated from the outside world and full of cameras, they realize that escape is impossible – crossing a certain line will cause a loss of consciousness due to a capsule sewn into their bodies.
