Squid Game has captivated its audience with the story of a man going through a brutal killing game with many other desperate souls. With a total of nine episodes, the Korean show packed in a ton of drama in its every moment and ended on an interesting twist, and even left audiences with a lesson to think about. To gamers, the story may have been a little familiar to series that they have played in the past. Similar stories that delve into the darkness of man through the form of a sinister killing game are in series like Danganronpa and Zero Escape. This post contains spoilers for Squid Game, Danganronpa, and Zero Escape.
Both Danganronpa and Zero Escape possess three main games and have the commonality of disappointing their fans in the final chapter of their third titles. When Squid Game's final episode did not disappoint, it does bring to light that Danganronpa and the Zero Escape series could have learned from Squid Game if only they did not come out long before it hit Netflix.
Villain Reveals In Killing Games
The great twist of Squid Game was the reveal of the mastermind, Oh Il-nam. The old man who the protagonist so greatly connected to turned out to be behind the mysterious games all along. Not only was this huge, but it made sense when the audience looked back at the story and the games. Oh Il-nam enjoyed the games while everyone else feared for their lives, and it explains why he had a surprising amount of strategy for several. In other words, Squid Game's great twist was paved with excellent foreshadowing that makes it worth watching more than once.
Villain reveals can be huge in thrillers, and it can make or break how people feel when they think back on the story. While Squid Game was well-done, Danganronpa and Zero Escape's final main games had unremarkable villain reveals. In Danganronpa V3, the mastermind reveal was predictable as it was the woman who survived that players had the least information about. In Zero Time Dilemma, the villain turned out to be someone the players never had any meaningful interactions with.
The major difference between what Squid Game did right and what Danganronpa and the Zero Escape series did is how fleshed out Squid Game's villain already was before they were revealed. Oh Il-nam was a friend of the protagonist, a figure audiences may have even cried for in episode six, and was a character many pitied and underestimated due to his age. Tsumugi in Danganronpa V3 was not a character the protagonist or players could really connect to in any sense. Even spending free time with her unveiled little about her. Then there is Delta in Zero Escape, whose backstory is completely separate and isolated from what the player experiences. It is also worth noting that Oh Il-nam was still the same person after the reveal, while characters like Tsumugi did a complete 180-degree turn in terms of personality.
Lessons In Killing Game Stories
Killing game stories are not just a cynical parallel to the competition of the real world. They serve important lessons about companionship, community, and holding onto hope even when all seems hopeless. Squid Game's last episode tied off all these lessons well when Il-nam makes a bet with Seong Gi-hun on whether anyone will help a homeless and unconscious man on the street. The two watch for a long time and right when the time limit is about to end, Gi-hun wins the bet and joyfully gets to see that someone did call for help for the homeless man. Of course, the victory was bitter, as Il-nam did not get to see that he was wrong about humanity and passed away before the help came.
This lesson in helping fellow man is repeated at the very end of the last episode as well, with Gi-hun deciding he will participate in another killing game instead of seeing his family. Many fans misunderstood this action as selfish when it was actually the opposite. It is easy to go home to his family, and he can do so with no guilt just like how someone can pass someone homeless on the street because it is none of their business. Instead, he takes on the lesson of helping total strangers by putting his life at risk again to find out how to stop the battle royale once and for all so that no one else has to die.
Danganronpa V3 and Zero Time Dilemma's lessons were dull in comparison, mostly just adding up to "killing games are bad." Lessons that are obvious to the characters and players, and one that only looks at killing games at a surface level. It was a disappointment to fans, as the previous titles of both series had stronger endings with more interesting lessons. But Squid Game's Gi-hun cares about his fellow man despite the world being a place of competition and rank. If only Danganronpa and Zero Escape did not end years before Squid Game, they could have learned how to keep their endings strong.
Danganronpa Decadence releases on December 3, 2021 for Nintendo Switch.