Spoiler warning for Alice in Borderland and Squid Game.
Both Squid Game and Alice in Borderland released their third season in early fall of 2025, and since then, comparisons between the two have instantly popped up. The similarities stare you in the face, with both centering on deadly games, characters competing for high stakes, and failure leading to instant death. Underneath the surface layer, however, lie different messages for each show. Squid Game focuses on deceptively easy kids’ games to showcase deeper human instincts to win, pitting the competitors against each other and testing their morals for money. At the same time, Alice in Borderland uses puzzles, card games, and psychological systems to explore how long humans can last when their lives are on the line. The difference between the two series is easily seen in their key “games” of the first season: Dead or Alive vs. Red Light, Green Light; Seven of Hearts vs. Marbles; and Witch Hunt vs. The Final Squid Game.
Both series begin with simple games that unravel into something more twisted: Dead or Alive in Alice in Borderland vs. Red Light, Green Light in Squid Game. In Dead or Alive, the players were presented with 2 rooms: one that killed them and the other that led them to the next room. This game involved strategy, as the protagonist, Arisu, could determine which door to choose based on the building’s layout. In Red Light, Green Light, the players follow the instructions given by a large doll at the front: when the doll’s back is turned, they’re allowed to move. If the doll looks at them and they move, it’s instant death. Both games seem childish, but their purposes at the beginning are entirely different. The logic in Alice in Borderland shows how their world values intelligence and problem-solving, where survival isn’t just about the chances, but instead proving you deserve to get days added to your “visa” (a timer that keeps you alive in Borderland). In Squid Game, the first game requires no strategy; only blindly following the rules of the doll at the front, and hoping no other player decides to sabotage you by pushing you while the doll sees. Failing to comply leads to execution, a fact some players were unaware of when entering the games. It shows how Squid Game lacks the control the players in Alice in Borderland have, similar to the powerlessness they faced in poverty, which pushed them into the game in the first place. Alice in Borderland offers tools to trick the system, while Squid Game requires a do-or-die mindset.
Both series have a game that requires the players to turn their backs on those they trust the most to win: Alice in Borderland’s Hide and Seek vs. Squid Game’s Marbles Game. In Hide and Seek, Arisu and his friends enter, thinking their trust will protect them. Three people have a sheep role, and one has a wolf role, which can be transferred through eye contact. Only the person with the wolf status at the end of the timer can survive. The game quickly becomes painful; each tries to sacrifice themselves to help the others. In the end, Arisu ended up with the wolf role, unable to find any of his friends to pass it over to. This game is classified as a “hearts” game, meaning it’s psychological, fitting the damage inflicted on Arisu when he outlives the people he loved. The Marbles Game approaches the same theme: players were paired up without the knowledge that their partner was their opponent, and to win, they had to collect all their partner’s marbles in 30 minutes. People paired with others they trusted most, only to be turned against each other, leading to disastrous consequences. Some players deceived their partners, such as Sang-woo, who tricked Player 199, and Gi-hun, the protagonist, who tricked a player with dementia to gain his marbles. Others choose to sacrifice themselves for their friends. In the end, both the protagonists, Gi-hun and Arisu, lose their friends. Alice in Borderland focuses on confusion and chaos, while Squid Game focuses on emotional betrayal. While Alice in Borderland asks, “Can you solve this to save your friends?”, Squid Game asks, “Who will you become to survive?” One show sees human relationships as detachable when a zero-sum game is involved, and the other sees them as susceptible to moral pressure.
The finale in each season summarizes the central values: Alice in Borderland’s Witch Hunt amid chaos, and Squid Game’s Final Game as a confrontation. The Witch Hunt, also categorized in the hearts section, involves the murder of a girl, Momoka, and the search for the murderer, also known as the “Witch”. After one main character, called the Hatter, mysteriously dies, the players start frantically searching to find the Witch. Certain players go on rampages, killing everyone, with the mindset that one of the people they murder is bound to be the witch. Arisu discovers that Momoka, whom the Witch initially killed, was a dealer, someone running the games behind the scenes, and she committed suicide to initiate the game. It exposes that certain players, like Momoka, are helping the games, and their visas are tied to eliminating players through the games they design. Mob violence takes over, and fear overcomes reason, which blinds the other players from finding out that Momoka ended her own life. In contrast, the Final Game involves only Gi-hun and a money-hungry Sang-woo on a Korean playground. The two childhood friends must fight to win. Gi-hun defeats Sang-woo but refuses to kill him, asking him to walk away from the game with him instead. Sang-woo chooses to end his own life instead. Squid Game’s tragedy comes not from uncertainty, but from choice, and recognition of the person one has become after the games. Alice in Borderland focuses on the disorder that drives the games. At the same time, Squid Game explores the morality of people under strenuous conditions, emphasizing one show’s focus on logic and the other’s examination of human character.
Despite their shared genre, whether one is collecting marbles or going through different doors, they have different meanings of what it means to survive. Alice in Borderland focuses on survival as a psychological manipulation, where teamwork and acuity are required to endure. Squid Game uses simple games to critique society, where people are so materialistic and driven by necessity that they are willing to sacrifice their character for their goals. When cornered by debt, the players in Squid Game don’t hesitate to use any means to break free. The questions each show presents, from “How can you trick death?” to “What will you do to survive?”, are what keep viewers hooked for the following seasons. And that’s just season 1 of each show; seasons 2 and 3 have much more in store.
