10 Best Death Game Manga Like Squid Game

While Squid Game’s Season 3 may be coming out sooner than expected, the show certainly leaves behind a void. With its high-stakes games and clever social commentary, Squid Game had fans hooked from the very start. After its second season’s shocking end, fans have simply been itching for more. However, while the Netflix series is a wonderful execution of the death game trope, it is not the only one to do so. The trope has existed in manga for a long time, each of which takes its own twists on the genre.

From being forced to compete in mecha-powered death games for the survival of their world to having to learn how to lie to avoid a life-changing debt, these manga explore human nature and morality. Just how far will one go to ensure their own survival or win a life-changing amount of money? Those are the questions these manga try to answer using increasingly graphic scenarios where the high stakes couldn’t be higher. All the while taking readers on a wild ride that will keep them entertained and give them much to think about. 

Alice in Borderland

Boasting a TV adaptation of the same name, Alice in Borderland features depressed high school student Arisu Ryouhei, who is about to graduate but unsure of his future. His life turns upside down when he and his friends Karube and Chota see fireworks and lose consciousness. When they wake up, they are in a post-apocalyptic world called Borderlands.

Here, Arisu and his friends are forced to play deadly games with their very lives on the line. Anyone who loses a game or refuses to play is brutally killed. As the three friends try to survive and figure out the truth behind this new, dangerous reality, Squid Game fans will soon find themselves on the edge of their seats.  

Tomodachi Game

High school student Yuuichi Katagiri has always valued friendship above everything else. But that changes when he and his friends are brought to a strange room and told one of the friends is responsible. The group is then forced to play a series of games to settle a large debt.

The only way to win the Tomodachi Game is to not doubt your friends. But as tensions run high, Yuuichi’s trust in his friends is tested. As secrets are uncovered and betrayals suffered, this psychological thriller manga becomes more and more like the renowned Squid Game, especially in light of Season 2’s ending.

Liar Game

College student Nao Kanzaki is the most honest person you’ll ever meet. One day, she receives a package with 100 million yen and an invite to the “Liar Game Tournament.” The rules are simple: Nao must steal other players’ money who will attempt to do the same to her, and after 30 days, each player must return the 100 million yen they originally received.

If they fail to do so, they will end up in debt, but they can keep anything extra stolen from other players as personal profit. Initially, Nao decides not to participate, simply safekeeping the money until she needs to return it. But when the 100 million yen is stolen from her, Nao is left with no choice but to learn how to lie. 

Darwin’s Game

When 17-year-old Kaname Suduo gets invited to play an online video game, he easily accepts. But unbeknownst to him, Darwin’s Game is actually a game of life and death. Forced to compete, Kaname uses his unique abilities to survive and try to find the Game Master, whom he must kill to escape.

While Darwin’s Game lacks the social commentary and psychological depth that’s made Squid Game a fan favorite, it more than makes up for it with its beautiful art and strategic fights. With 10 million copies circulating as of 2024, fans clearly resonate with Darwin’s Game’s delivery. It’s a fan-pleasing change of pace, making this action shonen a refreshing take on the death game trope.

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As The Gods Will

Shun Takahata is a below-average student whose life takes a dark turn when he witnesses his teacher’s head explode. Shun and his classmates are then forced to survive deadly games. The first of which, much like Squid Game, is a deadly game of red-light-green-light.

A doll watches the students as they are forced to play for their lives. Anyone who moves while the doll is looking dies. As all of his classmates die one by one, Shun ends up the sole survivor, winning the game by pressing the button on the doll’s back. Unfortunately, this doesn’t put an end to the series of games. However, unlike Squid Game, Shun has no reward to look forward to.

Battle Royale

Adapted from Koushun Takami’s novel of the same name, the Battle Royale manga is a death game classic. The story starts with protagonist Shuuya and his class believing they are on their way to their graduation ceremony. Instead, the class is taken to an isolated island and forced to wear explosive collars around their necks.

Then, Shuuya and his classmates are told they must kill everyone else to win and leave the island alive. If anyone refuses to participate, their explosive collar denotes. Much like Squid Game, what follows is a high-stakes story of the lengths humans will go to survive. 

Gantz

Gantz is unique in the death game genre in that its participants are already dead. High school students Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato lose their lives trying to save a homeless drunk. But in a surprising twist, they are brought back to life and given a series of missions. 

These missions usually involve killing alien invaders inhabiting Earth. The participants receive points for completing them. And once a participant has enough points, they can get a second chance at the life they once had. 

Blue Heaven

Blue Heaven follows the world’s largest luxury ship of the same name as it encounters a wrecked ship in the middle of the ocean. On the captain’s command, the crew searches the wrecked ship and finds two survivors. One of whom is heavily injured while the other is in perfect health.

This is the audience’s first hint that something might be wrong, and as the crew brings the two survivors on board, a nightmare begins for staff and passengers alike. As people are murdered one by one, the ship’s captain must figure out the motives of the one responsible and put an end to his madness. The manga’s premise is almost similar to the game Among Us, but what makes it appealing to the Squid Game fans is the air of mystery and betrayal surrounding the ship.

Life Is Money

Fukurokouji Meguru needs 100 million yen for his sister’s heart transplant, and no matter how hard he works, he can’t raise the money. When all hope seems lost, Meguru is invited to compete in The Nightmare Game. The rules are simple. Meguru and nine others must live in a complex for 10 days for 50 million yen each. 

However, if a participant does not survive, their prize money is divided among the remaining contestants, motivating the participants to kill each other. Interestingly, physical violence is prohibited. But if any participant experiences strong emotions making their heart rate rise above a certain threshold, they are killed. Much like Squid Game, Life is Money’s cast uses psychological warfare to eliminate other contestants, all for a life-changing sum of money.

Bokurano

Bokurano takes a different approach to the death game trope, seemingly starting out as a typical mecha manga. A group of middle schoolers come across a cave where they make a contract with mysterious Kokopelli to play a series of games. What they don’t know is that they are actually agreeing to pilot the giant mecha Zearth against other similar mechas to save Earth from destruction.

When the first Zearth pilot dies, a darker reality surfaces. The children learn that they must use their life energy to pilot Zearth, sacrificing their lives in the process. This living nightmare only becomes worse when the kids realize the ones they are fighting are also kids from different Earths, fighting to preserve their own realities in a massive death game.