This review may contain spoilers
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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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?Was this review helpful to you?
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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This review may contain spoilers
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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Great show, ending was kind of lame
Great show and very refreshing concept! OST was astonishingly good, production quality was amazing, overall very solid and I was super interested the entire time- which is saying a lot since I have adhd lol.It did feel like the ending was very rushed/kind of mid compared to the rest of the show.
While the ending knocked down my ratings a bit, I still think it is worth watching, and the rest of the show is very high quality.
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Reincarnate Until You Value Life
The story is about someone who's dead because of suicide. After he dies, he meets a woman that gives a chance for him to reincarnate again as someone else to experience death. He must death 12 times like a clock time to get into God's trial or else He can go to hell. Not long after that, He decided to take the trial and live as someone else back in the world to experience death in multiple ways that are not proper.*Lot of blood and gore scene so make sure you are not afraid against blood.
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Great adaptation of the Webtoon
I have read the Death's game webtoon and looking forward to watch this series.There's some different with the webtoon, but overall the storylines is still according to the webtoon.
Love the acting of all the casts, especially the main lead and all the actors and actress from Alchemy of the Soul.. LOL..
Looking forward for the next season and hopefully they keep the original story and maintain the pace of the story.
Overall those who has read the webtoon or have not read, this series is worth the watch
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This review may contain spoilers
Death's game
I do not really know if it is a spoiler or not but this drama for sure is not for people who do not like brutal scenes, there are quite a lot maybe not so much visually but still. Also it is a pretty bloody. So not for everyone even if you love the cast.And if talk about th cast it was perfect, Seo In Guk was amazing, Park So Dam was so good, everyone played their roles perfectly.
I do not really think that we can treat as a two seasons drama, it is more like there was just a short break but it is not that important.
This drama is good, with excellent cast and very good OST.
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This review may contain spoilers
Death’s Game has an interesting and thought-provoking premise. There is also fun to be had from spotting famous Korean actors in cameos or supporting roles. The amount of blood is not too surprising since death is the main topic but it gets very very gory several episodes in -- the type that curls your toes and feels gratuitous after awhile. On the plus side Seo In Guk does a great acting job, as do most of the other actors. But I wish that Park So Dam as Death had showed a little more nuance or range towards the end. Her acting seemed monotonous after awhile. There are also some logic gaps in the story that one has to ignore.Mild spoiler: This is a drama where nothing changes but at the same time everything changes. And it is pretty powerful as an anti-suicide argument. I give it points for that.
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