Who Would You Sacrifice to Stay Alive?

Death Game Analysis of Netflix’s “Alice in Borderland”

All images, unless specifically marked, are credited to Netflix’s Alice in Borderland. Major spoilers for Alice in Borderland.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by “death games” found in any form of media. Games where the people playing are risking their lives, whether for fortune or just pure survival. Maybe it was my childhood obsession with Survivor. Maybe it was the shadow games played in Yu-gi-oh. I remember being enthralled with the Hunger Games' details, not the youthful romance but the actual intricacies of how each survival game worked. I cannot explain my disappointment when the third book did not have an actual hunger game.

So I’ve decided to indulge in some research by analyzing these death games of luck and skill. This research's ultimate goal is to develop my own tv series or maybe even a video game using these concepts. And because this is mainly written for “personal research” notes, the writing will be mostly a stream of consciousness, especially in the “Game Design Potential” sections.

So without further ado, here is my first article in my foray into the shadow games: Netflix’s recent manga adaptation, Alice in Borderland.