Death's Game

If Death Gave One a Second Chance

When I watched this on Prime Video, all 8 episodes played as one drama. In exploring the Kdrama, I have realized originally this was broken up into Part 1 and Part 2. I am reviewing all 8 episodes together.

As a Kdrama fan, I'm surprised I missed this gem and only watched it now....clear in 2026. This drama has everything. All the emotions, suspense, twists and turns, a great love, despicable evil, enormous bravery, redemption at the end. If you are just coming to kdramas for the first time...give this one a look. I always say when people ask me why I enjoy Kdramas..."Because South Koreans are really good story tellers." Much, much respect to Ha Byung Hoon for this great story!! Genius writing in this one.

This drama has different stories for every episode. The main plot is almost secondary to the subplots playing out in each episode. But the writing is so superb that everything comes together in the end, which is so satisfying for the viewer.

The acting is amazing. This drama is full of A-list Korean actors. Park So Dam as Death...she is so good!!!...an Oscar worthy performance. Seo In Guk, Kim Mi Kyung, Kim Ji Hoon, Kim Jae Uck, Lee Jae Wook, Go Youn Jung, Oh Jung Sae, Kim Won Hae, and Choi Woo Jin from When The Phone Rings. So many wonderful actors in this drama, every episode was packed full of them and they really made the story come to life.

All I can say in the end is that this has been one of my favorite dramas to watch. I will enjoy rewatching it again and again.

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MESMERIZING

Death's Game is the best series I have watched It has every Genre known to Entertainment A Love story,Dark Comedy, Fashion,Beauty,Ugly, Revenge,Murder,Redemption,Realization of Life's Meaning & the Privilege it is to be Alive. The acting was Awesome. It's like every top Tier Actor is in this Drama, they each attacked their Roles like Prize Fighters giving no room for Defeat. There isn't enough descriptors to give I just have to say watch this Drama. If you do your take on Pathetic Life will Change This Drama brings you into each Character each one has a part of Human Kind's Nature in it. It is unyielding in the depiction of how the Circle of Life is Relentless each act is a beginning of a Domino Effect I Cryed with Seo In-Guk character, His acting in this Drama it must have been the best in his life I don't know how it could get any better I hope they all won many awards for this Remarkable Piece of Work The Story , the Direction, the Scenery It will remain with me for a long time I am a Surviver of Attempted Suicide So I know 1st hand the Tragedy it would have been but for the Grace of God. I now Live my Life in his Care Showing Daily how much I Love & Value the Gift of Life This show really gives us the chance to see the other side of that Act of Ending One's life It is Brutal Violent series but I loved every story Thanks to the Originator & every person involved with this series

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Gripping show that ultimately falls flat

I don't really write reviews, but this drama had me thinking as soon as I finished it, and I really had to get my thoughts out.

First, the positives. Death's Game is a gripping show. It hooked me from beginning to end, and I binged the entire show in one sitting. The acting is phenomenal, although Death was a little one note, but what can you really do when playing the immortal personification of death itself? The serial killer subplot in particular was probably my favorite part of the entire show, but I mostly consume crime related dramas so that's no real surprise.

So, the negatives. Death's Game takes a very reductivist attitude to suicide in a way that bothered me quite a bit. If you boil down the main message the show seems to be trying to convey, it's essentially "Be grateful you're alive, your death would hurt the people around you." Or even something like "Keep living and trying just as the ones before you, look how hard others have it compared to you."

The sin Death spoke of very early on in the show is revealed to be Yijae not even thinking of how he hurt his mother (and Jisu, although Death only really seems to focus on Yijae's mother). Should Yijae have considered how his actions would affect those around him? Probably, but suicidal people are not in the frame of mind to be thinking of others. If you have reached the point in life where you are seriously considering jumping off of a building, you need psychiatric care, not the personification of Death cuffing your ear and telling you you're ungrateful and selfish. Death's trials were entertaining and made for a good story, but the ending really left a bad taste in my mouth, even if it was technically a happy ending.

One last thing, which is probably nitpicky but I'm writing this, so I might as well. Jisu's death was a part of a series of dominoes falling that led to Yijae getting his second chance. Yijae waking up and getting that second chance essentially means she will never be there to be hit by the psychopath (I honestly forget his name). This means the series of events changes, so Yijae will never get his second chance? Or will Jisu still die just as she did? Did the things Yijae do as others still happen, or do they not since he did not jump? Which means psychopath man 1 and 2 are still out there? I love time travel fiction. Unfortunately it is rarely done well, due to the nature of the concept. Time travel is incredibly difficult to write well due to the plot holes and impossibilities that always emerge. This show is no different, and I think the ending is so brief because the writer knew this. You are meant to take the ending as a happy moment and immediately move on, since thinking about it for even 5 minutes makes it fall apart.

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Stellar casting, meh drama

In the end, the casting saved the show from. An otherwise patronising show.
I'm so tired of school bullying scenes, I skipped that episode entirely.
The first half was more balanced, then it abruptly be one a crime show.
Kim Ji Hoon gets typecast as the villain too much, and his "crazy eyes routine" are not effective anymore, expecially when border parody, like in this instance.
You could tell Kim Jae Wook and Park So Dam were having a lot of fun in their part.
Oh Jung-se gets the most screen time so we get to empathise a bit more with him.
What it left in the end is the crazy moto chase and the serial killers duel.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Death's Game '' is a webtoon adaption of an action packed story.

The drama has multiple layers, as it goes from a melodrama, to a tragic love story, to a family emotional drama, to a murder mystery, to a fantasy philosophical story. And, as it follows multiple stories, it provides the main plot with many elements that come together in the end.

And even though the start of the story is hectic, the drama settles to its rhythm in the episodes to come, giving the story a nice and original ending and plenty of emotional scenes.

Finally, the performances were all great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, eight out of ten.

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Supernatural thriller x emotional rollercoaster

(Reviewing the entire show here)
When I started death's game, I was fairly intrigued. The idea of a character being forced to live 12 lives that are destined to end quickly was an exciting plot idea, and I was curios to see where they could take it. As the show progresses, it gets more and more interesting.

Yee-jae's life seems to be clouded by misfortune. Without ever being able to catch a break, he decides to take his own life, only to be confronted by Death herself with a punishment that she sees fit: he must live as (and attempt to prevent the imminent death of ) 12 different people. But no matter how hard he tries to prevent them, the deaths seem completely unavoidable. Slowly, he realizes that the deaths he's facing seem to be related, and so he attempts to figure out this common denominator using the knowledge of all the lives he's lived. Naturally, Death doesn't want him messing around in her punishment, and is sure to make each death more painful than the last.

This show was much more emotional than I thought it would be, and I really enjoyed it. I thought that the way the episodes led into the next was well done, and it didn't feel like the tone shifted abruptly, but rather throughout each life Yee-jae lived, he seemed to learn more and become more empathetic. The cast was AMAZING and did an excellent job portraying these very different characters, while still conveying the same emotions that Yee-jae would have felt in every new situation. The ending was very well done, and wrapped up the show very nicely. It's a fairly short watch, and definitely worth taking a look at!

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Ill start with the negatives and then ill go into what I loved.

What I didnt like at all about the drama was the reason why Death started all this game. She said it was because he killed himself and therefore rejected and disrespected his fate and "made fun" of Death. I didnt like this perspective at all because its not fair. No one knows how much suffering you have to go through for your mind to decide that its better to kill yourself than live, except for the people who choose to kill themselves. Yes, its true that he didnt think about the pain he was going to inflict on his girlfriend and his mom, but instead of shaming the victim for wanting to end their pain we should shame the system and the ones who made him want to end it all. Its the peoples fault who act like they are more superior to others and bully others just for fun, like for the high school kid who also killed himself. Its the systems fault for not offering a good-enough support for people who go through so much hardship. Its the systems fault for making it so difficult for us to create good communities. And its also the peoples fault for supporting this kind of system. And instead of putting all the blame where it should be put, this drama made it seem like the guy had sinned. I would have absolutely loved it if he were a former-bully who now is suffering and maybe one of his victims kills him and then Death wanted to play with him. And being in all those different lives he learns what wrongs he did and how to repent. This way the drama would also give the message that people deserve a second chance and deserve to be forgiven after they have done the work. Instead, he suffered so much and now he has to suffer so much more just because he was a bit selfish when he was in so much pain?????
Also the ending from a directors pov is beautifully done, but from the writings pov it looks a bit lazy. Does it mean that he returns to the past? If yes that means that he is going to watch his girlfriends and his moms death. It also means that all that work was for nothing. All those corrupted people are just going to get away with it. How is that satisfying for us viewers? I wish there was one more episode to show us how he prevented his moms and gf death and maybe how he found a way to put all of those psychopaths to jail.

Now to the good things. It has an amazing cast. Everyone did a great job. It is very difficult for all those actors to portray the same character and still they nailed it. It never felt like there was a disconnection. It felt like all of them were the same soul.

The writing was so good too. Even thoughits easy for it to get boring the drama keeps us entertained by making each death interesting. I also loved how they were all connected. I like how it takes time for our guy to make the right choices too. Hes not a God. Hes just human and we all repeat the same mistakes over and over again until we learn from them.

The director did a great job also. I liked how with every story it did not take too much time to go straight to the point. From the first episode they explained his life, why he killed himself, why death punished him and what did he have to do to not go to hell and they also included how his first death happened. Thats a lot in just 45minutes., and they did an amazing job at making it not confusing and also interesting.

The shots in this drama were beautiful too. The videography was amazing. They even did every gunshot from Death in a different way.

So, except from the premise, everything in this drama is wonderful. I highly recommend it.

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Something new and different

hen a man at the end of his rope tries to take his life, he's confronted with Death. As punishment for taking his life so lightly, Death forces him to go through 12 different lives — with 12 impending gruesome deaths. The only way he'll be able to save himself is if he survives Death's game. Gorgeous directing, brilliant acting, and a fast-paced story, the first half of Death’s Game comes out of the gate running and doesn’t stop. A bleak tale about a man who ends his life, even death offers him little solace as he is forced to play a game as punishment for his sins. Will our doomed protagonist learn his lesson at the end of this twisted journey, or will he continue to chase after the things that brought him ruin?

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Lots to like

Our hero, the feckless ML, feels that he can’t win in the game of life–that he’s been dealt a hand of deuces and treys. So life (well actually I should say Death) puts him in a TRULY no-win situation.

Did I say “no-win”? This is the King of no-wins. He can’t even solve this particular dilemma by dying.

DEATH’S GAME starts out as a male-oriented thriller, with non-stop action, and plenty of violence and gore. Keep watching, though, because this series isn’t easily categorized. One episode has horror film vibes; another fills in the details of the romance introduced at the beginning. Whatever. I guarantee that you won’t complain that it drags–more like a cage-full of squirrels on speed.

What really sets this series apart from others are the excellent special effects, along with some amazing camera work. One shot (pun intended) lets the viewer look at a certain character through a bullet hole that’s just penetrated another character’s head.

If you prefer a narrative with more sophisticated characters and a nuanced view of reality, you might think DEATH’S GAME isn’t your cup of tea. The minor characters are mostly sterotypes, especially the villains. But the ML grows and changes–and the focus is mostly on him.

If you look at the plot too closely, you’ll notice some inconsistencies. For example, it’s not clear what happened to the original inhabitant of each of the bodies the ML took over. Some of the rules of the game seem to change over the course of the series. And I personally didn’t appreciate the demonization of people who commit suicide. Some, no doubt, are selfish, like the ML. Others are sick. And still others have an intolerable life situation.

A crow is blown to pieces in one episode. I see anti-crow scenes like this in a lot of dramas these days. Please, guys, stop setting a bad example by encouraging people to torture and kill these amazingly intelligent birds (look up the research).

You may notice some familiar faces in the minor roles. Kim Mi-Kyung as the mother and Oh Jung-se, whose versatility always amazes me, are just two I recognized.

The pluses totally outweigh the minuses in this series. Nine stars.

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Creative way in warning someone about ending their lives voluntarily

Not perfect, but definitely an intriguing take on the subject of suicide.

It’s an easy show to binge, with an episodic format that still manages to weave a solid story with some decent character development. While I’m not a big fan of how they portray hell or death, and a few parts of the story bugged me, it held my interest. Some moments were a bit predictable, but there were enough twists to keep me on my toes. I’ll admit, the constant screaming and emotional outbursts were a bit much for me—it’s not that they weren’t justified, just not really my style.

What earned this show a high score is how binge-worthy it is, thanks to the impressive performances from a star-studded cast and the way the story is so well put together. It kept me hitting "next" without a second thought. FYI: Sung Hoon was hilarious here. I knew I had to watch this.

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It deserves all the hype... and more.

The biggest irony is underestimating something (or someone) and then being slapped into the pavement with a reality check. This is me after watching Death's Game.

When this show was released back in 2023, it was all everybody could talk about, so much so that I was absolutely convinced it was some kind of aggressive marketing push aimed at capturing the super average, easy-to-please masses. With that said, I avoided it like the plague (joke's on me, right?) all the way into 2025. Then, I finally decided to give it a watch out of boredom. On the bright side, season 2 had also been released by then, so I was able to binge all eight episodes in one go. Yes, I said binge, because it was that good.

Every single actor did a wonderful job. My eyes even got watery at Choi I Jae's final incarnation, and by that time I had to admit that I had been feeling all kinds of emotions with every incarnation. I am particularly ashamed that I couldn't take my eyes off Kim Jae-wook in season 2. That man is so attractive that it was hard to reconcile he was portraying an incarnation of one of the worst kinds of serial unalivers. I remember seeing him in "Dear Hong-rang," but somehow his presence (or aura) didn't quite click like it did in "Death's Game." Lee Jae-wook's performance was also so stellar that it reminded me to follow-up on watching season 2 of "Alchemy of Souls."

What's even more ironic is that for more than a year, I had been watching only c-dramas and nothing else. And while c-dramas do have a unique appeal, nothing hits the spot quite like a well-executed k-drama. And if I'm being completely honest, sometimes c-dramas can get so nonsensical that it's like NPC logic, but k-dramas usually have more developed, sensible plots. "Death's Game" definitely deserved all the hype it got back then, and anyone who hasn't seen it is 100% missing out. Don't make the same mistake I did.

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