Shows like Squid Game: 9 gripping picks

Some shows aren't just watched, they pull you into the game. Squid Game wasn't only talked about for its deadly playground rounds. It was the way every episode made you ask "What would I do here?" and forced you to decide alongside the characters.

And once the finale lands, everyone reaches for the same question: "What else is there like this?" If you're chasing that same feeling, these nine picks never let the tension drop.

1. Alice in Borderland (2020)

There's a reason this is the first title anyone recommends after Squid Game. A group of people are forced into deadly games to survive in an abandoned Tokyo. Every game runs on its own logic; some reward intelligence, some nerve, some outright betrayal. As the episodes go on, "Who will win?" gives way to "What is behind this world?" If the strategy of the games was your favourite part of Squid Game, start here.

2. Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor (2007)

Often named as one of Squid Game's inspirations, Kaiji tells the deadly-game story through psychological warfare rather than action. Drowning in debt, Kaiji enters a series of merciless games for a shot at changing his life. Every move has a mathematical answer, and beating your opponent takes seeing a few turns ahead rather than being the strongest in the room.

3. Escape Room (2019)

A handful of strangers are invited to a big-money escape room, and it doesn't take long to realise the rooms weren't built for puzzle solving alone. Every room is a new game, every game a new way to die. It barely lets up, which makes it a strong pick if what you liked was the mission structure of Squid Game.

4. Nerve (2016)

An online dare game that looks harmless at first slowly takes over the players' lives. The more money you want, the more dangerous the task you accept. It's less a life-or-death arena than a story about the pressure of the digital age, but the idea of the game starting to control you feels very familiar.

5. Stay Alive (2006)

Older, but still built on an interesting idea: a group of friends play a horror game, and however they die in it, they start dying the same way in real life. It plays as nostalgia today, yet it remains an enjoyable watch as one of the earliest films to drag a video game into reality.

6. The 8 Show (2024)

It draws on the same vein as Squid Game, but leans on human psychology rather than physical games. Eight people shut themselves in a building to earn money. The longer it runs the bigger the prize, and as the rules shift, so do the people. Watching how human nature bends around money is every bit as tense as the games themselves.

7. Night Has Come (2023)

A group of high school students are forced into a mysterious game of mafia. Someone dies at the end of every round, and surviving means identifying the right person. With its constantly shifting balance and the sense that nobody can be trusted, it's a strong option if the psychological side of Squid Game is what held you.

8. Jumanji (1995)

A classic, and first-time viewers are to be envied. Once the board game starts, its rules spill into the real world; wild animals, disasters and dangers only end when the game is finished. We get dozens of "the game became real" stories now, but Jumanji is one of the founding texts of that idea.

Bonus: Black Mirror S3E2, Playtest

One of Black Mirror's most memorable episodes, Playtest follows Cooper as he tests an experimental horror game. The game reads his mind and turns his deepest fears into something real, leaving you circling one question: which part of this is real and which is the simulation? For a single episode, it hits as hard as a full psychological thriller.

Deadly games, psychological experiments, rules that leak into the real world: every title on this list is gripping enough to fill the gap Squid Game left behind, at least for a while. If you're after the kind of show that makes you say "one more episode", start here.