Loved Squid Game? Here are six other TV shows to watch like it

The National

06-07-2025

After three seasons, Squid Game has come to an end — but not before leaving a lasting impact on audiences worldwide. The final season, which premiered on July 1, shattered Netflix viewership records with 60.1 million views in only three days, marking the platform's biggest-ever TV launch. It also debuted at No 1 in all 93 countries where Netflix tracks its Top 10 rankings.
For fans of Squid Game looking for more shows with similar themes of survival, here are six titles worth exploring:
Alice in Borderland
This Japanese thriller takes place in an eerily abandoned Tokyo, where a group of strangers must compete in a series of deadly, often psychological games to stay alive. Much like Squid Game, it blends action and strategy with moral dilemmas, forcing characters to navigate shifting alliances and question who they can trust when survival is on the line.
The 8 Show
This South Korean drama revolves around eight people trapped in a mysterious high-rise building, where time literally equals money — the longer they stay, the more they earn. What begins as a bizarre opportunity quickly turns into a tense social experiment. With its confined setting, escalating paranoia and commentary on greed and exploitation, the show echoes Squid Game 's mix of suspense and social critique.
3%
Set in a starkly divided future society, this dystopian drama from Brazil follows young candidates as they undergo a series of intense tests for a chance to join an elite, privileged population. Only 3% will make it and the rest are cast aside. With its focus on a rigged system, survival under pressure and the illusion of fairness, the show mirrors Squid Game 's themes of inequality and the cost of competition.
Physical: 100
This reality series from South Korea pits 100 of the country's strongest and fittest against one another in gruelling physical challenges. While there's no fatal outcome, the show shares Squid Game 's elimination format and intensity, pushing contestants to their limits and revealing the raw, competitive instincts that surface when only one can win.
Death's Game
This series offers a darker, more philosophical take on the value of life. After dying by suicide, the protagonist is cursed to relive several lives — each ending in a brutal death — until he understands what it means to truly live. Like Squid Game, it explores despair, regret and the consequences of personal choices under extreme circumstances.
Squid Game: The Challenge
This spin-off brings the fictional world of Squid Game into reality, with 456 contestants competing for $4.56 million in a near-exact replica of the show's infamous games, minus the deadly consequences. It captures much of the original's psychological tension, betrayal and alliance-building, turning fiction into a high-stakes real-life competition.