13 best Korean series like Squid Game that guarantee thrilling experiences; All of Us Are Dead, Sweet Home, and more

Here’s a comprehensive list to check out the must-watch Korean shows if you loved Squid Game.

By Moupriya Banerjee

Updated on Mar 05, 2024 | 06:58 PM IST | 1.9M

Official posters of All of Us Are Dead and Sweet Home: Netflix

Following its release, Squid Game witnessed a wild success across the globe. As the audience loved this Korean survival series with an extraordinary and unprecedented narrative, the search began for more shows of similar genres.

So, here’s a comprehensive list for you to check out some of the best series like Squid Game.

While not all of them feature deadly games and challenges like Squid Game, the pure suspense, fight for survival, and psychological aspects will keep your eyes wide open.

List of 13 best shows like Squid Game

1. All of Us Are Dead (2022)

Release Date: January 28, 2022
Cast: Lee Yoo Mi, Park Solomon, Choi Yi Hyun, Yoon Chan Young, Park Ji Hu
Genre: Horror, action, thriller
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

This acclaimed series is considered one of the best shows about the undead across the globe. Characterized as a survival thriller, the jolting series delivers a glimpse of a catastrophic high school, that had been affected by a sudden zombie virus outbreak. While the students frantically try to battle against the blood-lusting monsters, they also need to fight off zombies, who were their human friends just a moment ago.

This electrifying series establishes a world of walking deads with absolute brilliance, as it attempts at an unconventional take on the zombie genre. The impressive cast featuring Squid Game’s Lee Yoo Mi, Park Solomon, Choi Yi Hyun, Yoon Chan Young, Park Ji Hu, and more boasts the compelling narrative of this survival series.

2. Sweet Home (2022)

Release Date: December 18, 2020
Cast: Song Kang, Go Min Si, Lee Do Hyun, Park Gyu Young
Genre: Horror, action, fantasy
Season: 2
Where to watch: Netflix

If you love exploring series with dark twists that make your hair stand up, then next in the line is the fantasy horror series Sweet Home. This exhilarating series tells a tale of a horrifying world, where the humans turn into savage monsters, who are born from their inner demons. Amidst this chaotic scenario, one troubled teenager and his neighbors try to fight against the evils in order to hold on to their humanity.

Unlike the deadly game series Squid Game, no shady corporates are playing with the cost of lives, but Sweet Home delivers a brilliant take on interpersonal relationships, which plays the key role in a world of survival of the fittest, making it a similar web series like Squid Game. With star-studded casts like Song Kang, Go Min Si, Lee Do Hyun, Park Gyu Young, and more, the two suspenseful seasons of Sweet Home are guaranteed to give you Squid Game vibes.

3. The Uncanny Counter (2020)

Release Date: November 28, 2020
Cast: Kim Seojeong, Jo Byeong Kyu, Yoo Jun Sang, Yeom Hye Ran, Kang Ki Young, Kim Hieora
Genre: Thriller, mystery, action, fantasy
Season: 2
Where to watch: Netflix

This fantasy live-action series narrates the story of a bunch of demon hunters, who keep their identity hidden by posing as noodle-shop owners. Featuring Kim Seojeong, Jo Byeong Kyu, Yoo Jun Sang, Yeom Hye Ran, Kang Ki Young, Kim Hieora, and more The Uncanny Counter is a fresh take on the world of demons born from human’s negative emotions. This Squid Game-like series depicts a world of survival based on relational equations.

4. Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area (2022)

Release Date: June 24, 2022
Cast: Park Hae Soo, Jeon Jong Soo, Lee Joo Bin, Kim Ji Hoon, Lim Ji Yeon
Genre: Heist, Crime
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

This Korean interpretation of Money Heist wasn’t an absolute hit like the original one. However, the series successfully delivers the actual whirlwind narrative of robbers and hostages. This a brilliant survival series, where the hostages struggle against the burglars taking part in robbing a mint in unified Korea and the burglars fight against the police who are trying to put down the mastermind behind it all.

Amongst the star-studded cast, the main attraction is Park Hae Soo, who also plays a pivotal character in Squid Game. The remaining characters feature Jeon Jong Soo, Lee Joo Bin, Kim Ji Hoon, Lim Ji Yeon, and more who excel in their roles with utmost perfection.

5. Happiness (2021)

Release Date: November 5, 2021
Cast: Han Hyo Joo, Park Hyung Sik, Jo Woo Jin, Ye Won Mun
Genre: Action, drama, horror, thriller, mystery
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix, Viki

Again a well-crafted zombie series, that explores a thrilling apocalyptic tale, where infectious disease has become the new norm. As a deadly disease turns the infected into flesh-eating zombies, the residents of a high-rise building must fight against it to get a chance of survival.

With a similar survival and challenge storyline, it is one of the best Korean shows like Squid Game.

Happiness boasts its narrative with an impressive cast line-up of Han Hyo Joo, Park Hyung Sik, Jo Woo Jin, Ye Won Mun, and more. Just like Squid Game, this survival drama is bound to keep you on the edge of your seat.

6. Hellbound (2021)

Release Date: November 19, 2021
Cast: Yoo Ah In, Kim Hyun Joo, Kim Sung Cheol, Woo Jin Ah
Genre: Dark fantasy, drama, thriller
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

If Squid Game is your go-to suspense series, then Hellbound is bound to give you bated breath. Adapted from a webtoon named Hell, this brilliant series from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang Ho narrates a horror story combined with a moral dilemma, just as Squid Game does. When angels descend on earth to take the sinners to hell, a religious group takes notice and makes it about divine justice and condemnations.

One must notice as Squid Game depicts a deeper meaning, through a horrifying portrayal, Hellbound also delivers a metaphorical narration of humans and morality, making it a Squid Game-type series. With Korean stars like Yoo Ah In, Kim Hyun Joo, Kim Sung Cheol, Woo Jin Ah, and more this series is a must-watch for Squid Game lovers.

7. Extracurricular (2023)

Release Date: April 29, 2020
Cast: Kim Dong Hee, Park Ju Hyun, Nam Yoon Su, Jung Da Bin
Genre: Crime thriller, coming-of-age, psychological
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

This coming-of-age psychological thriller revolves around a model high-schooler who gets embodied into the world of serious crime to pay his tuition fee. Things derail when his classmates begin to take an interest in his double life. Featuring Kim Dong Hee in the lead role, and a brilliant take on a school psychological thriller that keeps you guessing, this is a series similar to Squid Game.

8. Kingdom (2019)

Release Date: January 25, 2019
Cast: Joo Ji Hoon, Bae Doona, Jun Ji Hyun
Genre: Horror, action, thriller, mystery
Season: 2
Where to watch: Netflix

Korean dramas have a special relationship with the zombie apocalypse and it is materialized through brilliant series like Kingdom. Based on the apocalyptic backdrop of the Joseon era, this thrilling drama explores a world devoured by a horrific zombie outbreak. Although the series involves a political aspect, when a crown prince learns about the ghoulish creatures slowly taking over his kingdom, he sets out to destroy them.

Kingdom is a genius attempt at an intricate narrative combined with undead, shady politics, and the struggle of the ordinary people against it all. Joo Ji Hoon, Bae Doona, Jun Ji Hyun, and more shine as the main characters in this hit Korean drama, making it a must-watch.

9. Vincenzo (2021)

Release Date: February 25, 2021
Cast: Song Joong Ki, Jeon Yeo Been, Ok Taecyeon
Genre: Crime thriller, action, suspense
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

While this super-hit K-drama might not be a mirror image of Squid Game, Vincenzo still manages to deliver a brilliant action-packed thriller that is guaranteed to keep you on your toes.

Featuring some of the best Korean actors like Song Joong Ki, Jeon Yeo Been, Ok Taecyeon, and more this drama unfolds an exhilarating narrative of a Korean-Italina mafia lawyer who sets on a justice journey, after conflicting with a large conglomerate.

10. Dr. Brain (2021)

Release Date: November 4, 2021
Cast: Lee Sun Kyun, Lee Yoo Young, Park Hee Soon
Genre: Thriller, sci-fi, suspense, mystery
Season: 1
Where to watch: Apple TV

Starring the phenomenal late actor Lee Sun Kyun as the lead character, this thriller series unfolds a good horror centered around a doctor who is obsessed with advancing human conspicuous. As his family dies in a mysterious death, he decides to investigate the truth through the method of retrieving memories from dead people. Things take a horrific turn as the memories begin to intervene with his own life and it becomes a survival against that consciousness.

11. Vagabond (2019)

Release Date: September 20, 2019
Cast: Lee Seung Gi, Bae Suzy, Shin Sung Rok, Moon Jeong Hee
Genre: Thriller, spy, crime, action
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

This action-packed suspense drama narrates the story of a stuntman who ends up discovering a national corruption scheme followed by his tragic plane crash. Like Squid Game, this mystery-thriller makes a good attempt at revealing the naked truth of big corporations, who don’t mind people dying if it benefits them.

12. Bloodhounds (2023)

Release Date: June 9, 2023
Cast: Woo Do Hwan, Lee Sang Yi, Kim Sae Ron, Park Sung Woong
Genre: Crime, Action
Season: 1
Where to watch: Netflix

Squid Game depicts the broken world of economic status, where rich people prey on the poor’s weaknesses. This 2023 drama Bloodhounds follows a similar storyline where two boxers team up against a vicious loan shark, who hunts the financially desperate. Actor Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi manage to deliver brilliant performances as the vengeful boxers

13. Dark Hole (2021)

Release Date: April 30, 2021
Cast: Kim Ok Vin, Lee Joon Hyuk, Oh Yoo Jin
Genre: Thriller, mystery, fantasy
Season: 1
Where to watch: Viki

A survival series that unfolds the horror of the world trying to survive against human-turned-bizarre figures emerging from a mysterious black fog of a sinkhole of a petrochemical company.

When it comes to producing thriller shows, South Korea grabs the best nods with a sea of Korean dramas and movies like Squid Game exploring the compelling genre of suspense mixed with horror, survival, action, and psychology.

So, as you wait for season 2 of Squid Game, tune in and watch these above Korean series like Squid Game, which are guaranteed to deliver a memorable experience.

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