11 Shows Like Squid Game to Watch, From Reality Competitions to Dystopian Thrillers

In Squid Game, children’s activities can be intense — and even deadly.

Netflix’s viral South Korean thriller series is ending with season 3, which premiered on June 27. The show finds a down-on-his-luck gambling addict, Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-jae), who’s given the opportunity to pay off his debts in a fierce competition. Through a series of childhood games, more than 400 players are killed off until one person is left alive, subsequently winning millions of dollars.

“There are games within the games, and I call them psychological warfare,” Jung-jae told PEOPLE in 2024. “At one time, you’ll be enemies, and then the other time, they will be friends. So you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The show was Netflix’s biggest success ever, with over 2.2 billion hours viewed of the series, per Fortune. It’s even spawned a reality competition and a series of pop-ups. But Squid Game isn’t the only show that deals with complex wealth disparities and intense competitions.

From reality shows like Survivor to dystopian survival thrillers like All of Us Are Dead, here are 11 shows that Squid Game fans can watch after the series comes to an end.

Squid Game: The Challenge

Sometimes people like to recreate their favorite shows, but in 2023, Squid Game: The Challenge took this to another level.

Every single aspect of Squid Game — from the costumed employees to the colorful hallways, bunk beds and games like Red Light, Green Light — is recreated in this Netflix reality competition based on the hit show. The one difference? Players don’t die when they’re eliminated.

Through backstabbing, alliances and thrilling competition, players have the chance to win $4.56 million — a fraction of the 45.6 billion won that’s offered in the fictional Squid Game.

Watch Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix

Survivor

Who will lie, cheat and steal to take home the ultimate prize? Both Squid Game and Survivor ask this question.

Although no one dies in Survivor — which has been running since 2000, helmed by host Jeff Probst — it’s certainly not easy. Players must deal with unfavorable conditions, bad weather and starvation to earn the $1 million prize. Many tribe members have even gotten medically evacuated due to injuries. Plus, the votes and challenges evoke much of Squid Game’s hallmark suspense.

Watch Survivor on Paramount+

Alice in Borderland

Just like in Squid Game, Netflix’s Alice in Borderland sees players forced to participate in a deadly game.

Aimless gamer Ryōhei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) ends up in an empty version of Tokyo with a girl from his high school named Yuzuha Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) — and they must play a series of competitions to survive.

However, unlike Squid Game, many of the games are based on problem-solving rather than physicality. Players must continue to extend their “visas,” which represent their lives.

Watch Alice in Borderland on Netflix

3%

Brazilian dystopian series 3%  is another show that follows people who are struggling financially and enter a competition to better their lives. This time, 20-year-olds are ruled by a totalitarian government and play a series of tests to become part of the 3% of the population living on a wealthy island paradise.

They must go through a “process” run by the mysterious Ezequiel (João Miguel), which features a series of competitions to determine their worth. Like Squid Game, the show features layered and complex characters, led by Michele Santana (Bianca Comparato).

Watch 3% on Netflix

Black Mirror

Like Squid Game, many episodes of the dystopian anthology series Black Mirror explore the morally ambiguous ways people will try to make money — sometimes, with deadly results.

One of the most recent examples includes the season 7 episode “Common People,” which starred Chris O’Dowd, Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross.

Because of the show’s anthology approach, Black Mirror has accumulated a wide variety of famous guest stars since its 2011 debut, including Jon Hamm, Miley Cyrus, Salma Hayek and more.

Watch Black Mirror on Netflix

Panic

What if Squid Game was about a group of graduating high school seniors? That’s what Panic is all about.

The series follows a series of dangerous games to win $50,000, which is enough to free the teens from their harrowing circumstances in the small town of Carp, Texas.

The show’s protagonist, Heather (Olivia Scott Welch), is on a good path set to go to college before her mom spends her tuition, forcing her to compete in Panic against players like Dodge (Mike Faist), Natalie (Jessica Sula) and Ray Hall (Ray Nicholson). The game is run by a corrupt authority, as the two judges make the rules far harsher midway through.

Watch Panic on Amazon Prime Video

The Purge

In yet another series with similarities to Squid Game, The Purge is set in an alternate dystopian future run by a totalitarian government.

Just like the film franchise it is based on, The Purge is centered around one night a year where all crimes — including murder — are legal in America.

Of course, complete and utter chaos ensues on Purge Night in season 1; meanwhile, season 2 shows the night’s effects on society throughout the rest of the year. Both seasons are set between the events of 2014’s The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year.

Watch The Purge on Hulu and Peacock

Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

The 2007 anime Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor explores how betting can lead to violence.

In the show, gambling addict Kaiji gets the opportunity to compete in games against others to get out of debt. Like Squid Game, the games are brutal, dangerous and even based on some children’s games, like rock, paper, scissors.

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has even cited Kaiji as an inspiration for the hit Netflix show.

“I read some stories about these indebted people entering into these life-and-death games, and that became really immersive for me because I was struggling financially myself,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “I was even thinking that I would love to join a game like that, if it existed, to make a bunch of cash and get out of this terrible situation.”

Watch Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor on Crunchyroll

The 8 Show

In the South Korean series The 8 Show, players compete to earn money. Instead of being trapped in a funhouse on an island, though, they live in an eight-story building being filmed for a game show.

The participants must use their money to buy basic necessities, but when they learn that people living on higher floors are earning more, the game descends into anarchy.

Just like Squid Game, The 8 Show‘s characters are also identified by number, with Ryu Jun-yeol playing Third Floor/Bae Jin-su and Chun Woo-hee starring as Eighth Floor/Song Se-ra. There’s even a somewhat similar colorful, stair-filled hall.

Watch The 8 Show on Netflix

All of Us Are Dead

In the South Korean dystopian series All of Us Are Dead, The Last of Us meets high school drama. Instead of competing for money like in Squid Game, students must fight for their lives as a virus turns their friends into zombies within minutes.

The show explores how power corrupts in a similar vein to Squid Game. It even stars Lee Yoo-Mi, who played Squid Game’s pickpocketing, self-sacrificing player 240.

Watch All of Us Are Dead on Netflix

Physical: 100

For fans of grueling survivalist challenges, South Korean reality show Physical: 100 pushes contestants to the limits.

People in their top physical shape — including Olympic medalists and bodybuilders — must compete to be the last one standing via a series of intense tests.

Similar to Squid Game, both series also feature cash prizes. The winner of Physical: 100 takes home a hefty $3 million won.

Watch Physical: 100 on Netflix