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A global hit, Alice in Borderland thrills audiences by forcing ordinary people into deadly arenas to outwit cruel game-masters and their own panic. Its mix of intense action, psychological twists, and relentless time pressure leaves viewers seeking their next thrill right after the credits roll.
These shows test the fragile nature of society when desperation and strategy are the only tools left for the players. Fortunately, the past decade has brought many similar survival dramas that expand on these themes. These 7 series expand on Alice in Borderland's survival-game thrills in terrifying new settings.
They introduce new cultural elements, complex ethical challenges, and terrifying settings that will keep viewers tense long after the screen goes dark, delivering a fresh dose of suspense and psychological horror.
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Disclaimer: The following series are ranked in no particular order. This article solely contains the writer’s opinion.
Squid Game, Sweet Home, and 5 other must-watch series for Alice in Borderland fans
1) Squid Game
In this Korean series, 456 cash-strapped individuals accept a mysterious invitation to compete in six childhood games for a life-changing jackpot, only to discover that elimination means death. As alliances form and betrayals mount, the organization’s masked staff records every moment for unseen VIPs.
Squid Game turns nostalgic activities like Red Light, Green Light into gruesome spectacles that feel both playful and deeply terrifying. Unlike Alice in Borderland's puzzle-heavy structure, this series focuses on simple games, letting character drama and class anger drive the suspense.
Its candy-colored sets and green tracksuits have become symbols of economic cruelty. The ensemble is excellent, but actress HoYeon Jung’s street-smart pickpocket and actor Lee Jung-jae’s debt-ridden gambler give the violence a human depth that lingers well after the final doll stops turning its head.
Where to watch: Netflix
2) Sweet Home
Reclusive teen Cha Hyun-su moves into a decrepit apartment complex just as humanity mutates into monsters embodying personal desires. Trapped inside, tenants must decide whether to trust their infected neighbors or let paranoia tear them apart.
Where Alice in Borderland uses Tokyo’s empty streets, Sweet Home turns domestic hallways into claustrophobic battlegrounds, with each doorway hiding a new CGI horror. The series excels at body-horror—tongue monsters and grotesque spider-like creatures feel drawn from a twisted comic.
Yet the real tension comes from the residents' moral decline, where sharing food becomes a choice about trust. Netflix’s sizable budget shows in its smooth creature design and gritty cinematography, making the grimy Green Home complex as memorable as any of Alice in Borderland’s deadly game arenas.
Where to watch: Netflix
Also read: 7 time-travel movies that every sci-fi fan should watch
3) 3%
In a dystopian future, twenty-year-olds from the squalid Inland compete in a gauntlet called the Process for a chance to enter a utopia known as the Offshore. Only three percent succeed, and each stage tests their ethics, logic, and loyalty until only the most “worthy” remain.
Rather than physical death traps, the show challenges contestants with moral choices, like voting to eliminate a friend, making every deal feel dangerous. This Brazilian series uses its simple production and ethical debates to teach a lesson in cruelty.
The minimalistic gray sets and handheld camerawork highlight how social oppression, not cartoonish villains, crushes hope into obedience. Its story expands into themes of revolution and selective breeding, showing how societies create games to preserve inequality, making the tension more mental than physical.
Where to watch: Netflix
4) Liar Game
Gullible college student Nao Kanzaki receives a briefcase with 100 million yen and an invitation to the Liar Game, a tournament where deception is survival. She enlists a genius, Shinichi Akiyama, to coach her. He uses game theory to dismantle opponents in rounds like “Minority Rule.”
Before Alice in Borderland used explosive collars, Liar Game deployed prisoner’s dilemma mind games on its players. The challenges are pure logic puzzles, filmed like high-stakes plays inside large, confusing studios.
Psychology—not blood—fuels the suspense, as each stutter and bead of sweat becomes evidence where credibility is key. Viewers who crave the mental thrill of Alice in Borderland’s numbered cards will enjoy Akiyama’s chain-reaction explanations, which are delivered with detective flair and a distinct lack of gore.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Also read: 7 best survival movies to watch if you like The Last of Us
5) The Wilds
A group of teenage girls on their way to a female-empowerment retreat survives a plane crash on a deserted island, unaware their ordeal is a covert social experiment. Flashbacks to their former lives interweave with present-day survival struggles, exposing traumas the island’s puppet-masters intend to harvest.
The show’s feminist view examines how society shapes girls into stereotypes, then watches them break free. Amazon’s YA thriller swaps bright skylines for sun-bleached sand, but the same existential dread remains.
Mysteries abound: are the girls being watched, and what happens when emotions and illusions meet at the campfire? Emotional realism grounds the drama, with each episode in season 1 focusing on a different girl, ensuring that it deeply affects the audience when someone’s heart breaks.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
6) All of Us Are Dead
A science teacher’s failed experiment mutates into a zombie virus that tears through Hyosan High School, trapping students inside barricaded classrooms. As the military cordons off the city, the adolescents must master archery, walkie-talkies, and tough moral choices.
This Korean zombie hit combines the tight spaces of Alice in Borderland’s arenas with the energetic panic of a running horde, creating a thrilling ride. School corridors become gauntlets of lockers, blood, and teenage crushes, reminding viewers that high school itself is a challenge where survival and status matter.
The script cleverly uses smartphones and live-streamed rescues to turn people into spectators, involving the audience in every injury. The series argues that today’s kids already face unfair systems; zombies just make those stakes permanent.
Where to watch: Netflix
7) Kingdom
Set in Joseon-era Korea, the crown prince embarks on a mission to expose a coup, only to find a plague reanimating corpses into sprinting ghouls. Political intrigue and court machinations frame a zombie outbreak that could topple dynasties faster than any sword.
Unlike the closed-room tension of Alice in Borderland, Kingdom releases its survival game across open fields and lamp-lit palaces. Writer Kim Eun-hee adds social commentary to every attack: peasants starve while nobles feast, and the undead are just hungry people turned into threats.
Period costumes and swordplay add style to the terror, creating a classic film feel. The series grows from a simple mystery to full-scale siege warfare, showing that the only rule is to survive when power and hordes clash.
Where to watch: Netflix
Also read: Alice in Borderland season 3: Every game ranked by difficulty
Final Thoughts
From Brazilian psychological tests to Joseon-era battlefields, these seven series expand the survival-thriller genre beyond the empty streets of Alice in Borderland. Each entry uses distinct cultural fears—be they class conflict, body horror, or school hierarchy—while adding cliff-hangers to draw in viewers.
