Death's Game

Death's Game is a South Korean fantasy mystery thriller television series written and directed by Ha Byung-hoon, and starring Seo In-guk and Park So-dam. Based on a webtoon of the same name by Lee Won-sik and Ggulchan, which was serialized on Naver in 2019, it depicts the story of a person, who in the midst of frustration, begins a new life with death. It was released on TVING from December 15, 2023 to January 5, 2024, at 12:00 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video in selected regions except South Korea and China.

Synopsis
Death's Game centers on Choi Yee-jae, a young man who attempts suicide after struggling to find a job for seven years. Death, however, is offended by Yee-jae's lack of concern for dying and chooses to punish him by making him play a game in which he must reincarnate and die 12 times before being sent to hell. But Yee-jae discovers that if he survives in any of the 12 incarnations, he will be able to continue living. Even after taking his own life, he begins to question whether things would have gone differently if he had lived the lives of others.

Main

 * Seo In-guk as Choi Yee-jae
 * A man who lost his will to live after repeatedly failing to find a job for seven years.


 * Park So-dam as Death
 * A mysterious being who condemns Yee-jae to 12 cycles of death and reincarnation before falling into hell.

Choi Yee-jae's reincarnation

 * Choi Si-won as Park Jin-tae
 * A 33-year-old second son and successor of Taekang Group.


 * Sung Hoon as Song Jae-seop
 * A 38-year-old extreme sports athlete.


 * Kim Kang-hoon as Kwon Hyeok-su
 * A 17-year-old high school student who's a school bullies' target.


 * Jang Seung-jo as Lee Ju-hun
 * A 35-year-old secret organization fixer who solves any client's request.


 * Lee Jae-wook as Cho Tae-sang
 * A 21-year-old aspiring mixed martial arts fighter who gave up his dream due to his family's circumstances and being imprisoned for some reason.


 * Lee Do-hyun as Jang Geon-u
 * A 24-year-old handsome model and heartthrob who catches everyone's attention wherever he goes.


 * Kim Jae-wook as Jeong Gyu-cheol
 * A 34-year-old mysterious painter who was born in an ordinary family.


 * Oh Jung-se as An Ji-hyeong
 * A 42-year-old detective who wanted to become a great police officer like his father.


 * Kim Won-hae as homeless man.

Others

 * Kim Ji-hoon as Park Tae-woo
 * The first son and CEO of Taekang Group.


 * Go Youn-jung as Lee Ji-su
 * A novelist who has been in a relationship with Yee-jae since they were college students.


 * Yoo In-soo as Lee Jin-sang
 * Hyeok-su's classmate and a school bully.


 * Kim Mi-kyung as Yee-jae's mother
 * Choi Woo-jin as Woo Ji-hun
 * A homicide detective and Ji-hyung's junior.


 * Oh Ji-yul as Woo Seul-gi
 * Ji-hun's daughter.

Extended

 * Nam Kyung-eup as Chairman Park
 * Tae-woo and Jin-tae's father, and the founder of Taekang Group.


 * Kim Geon-ho as an office worker / Yee-jae's 11th reincarnation
 * Kim Ha-eon as young Jin-tae
 * Jung Min-joon as young Tae-u
 * Kim Beop-rae as Boss
 * Jeon Seung-hoon as Na Tae-seok
 * Seo In-geol as Kim Seong-hyeop
 * Seo Woo-hyeok as Han Jun-sang
 * Bae Gang-hee as Kim Eun-jae
 * Han Ye-ji as Park Min-ji
 * Lim Ji-gyu as Mr. Kim
 * Tae-u's right-hand man.


 * Jung Yong-ju as Kim Ji-yeong
 * Bae Ji-won as Kim Jin-u
 * Kim Han-sol as young Yi-jae

Special appearances

 * Kim Sung-cheol as Kim Hyeon-su
 * Ryeoun as youngest PD

Development
Developed under the working title I'm Going to Die Soon, Death's Game was written and directed by Ha Byung-hoon, who previously worked on dramas like Go Back (2017) and 18 Again (2020). He based the drama on the webtoon of the same name by Lee Won-sik and Ggulchan. SLL, Studio N and Saram Entertainment co-managed the series' production. It was supposed to be a JTBC drama and would air on the network, and stream through TVING. On January 13, 2023, it was announced by director Ha that the production would be in the final casting and filming would begin as early as February and last for about six months.

On May 31, 2023, Dexter Studios announced that they received an order for the VFX technology of the series with a total budget of. The period of contract was from May 31, 2023, to January 31, 2024. A representative said, "Visual special effects would be widely used in various scenes as the main character is placed in different environments and conditions each time he lives 12 lives," adding, "the delicate technology would contribute to the drama's fantasy elements and mysterious atmosphere."

Casting
The role of Choi Yi-jae was first offered to Kang Ha-neul.

On February 8, 2023, Seo In-guk and Park So-dam were confirmed for the main roles of the series. On February 21, Joy News 24 reported that the actors conducted a full script reading on the 14th and Seo started to film on the 20th. It also marks Park's small screen comeback since tvN's Record of Youth in 2020, as she took a hiatus to recover from papillary thyroid cancer.

On August 4, 2023, TVING released a video of the star-studded lineup cast namely Seo, Park, Kim Ji-hoon, Choi Si-won, Sung Hoon, Kim Kang-hoon, Jang Seung-jo, Lee Jae-wook, Lee Do-hyun, Go Youn-jung, Kim Jae-wook, and Oh Jung-se.

Original soundtrack
Studio Curiousity's Park Sung-il led the series' soundtrack as the music director.

Album
Death's Game soundtrack album was released on January 11, 2024; it contains all of the singles and background tracks from the series.

Singles
Singles included on the album were released from November 29, 2023, to January 5, 2024.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Release
TVING confirmed the release date of Death's Game would be on December 15, 2023. On November 18, 2023, it was announced that the series would be available to stream through Amazon Prime Video in 240 countries and territories except China and South Korea.

The series was divided into two parts: Part 1 was released on December 15, 2023, with first four episodes while Part 2 was released on January 5, 2024, with the remaining four episodes at 12:00 (KST).

Critical response
Cine21 Kim Hyun-seung wrote for the part one that "many works, including Along with the Gods, have dealt with the afterlife, but the worldview built by Death's Game is quite novel." He also cited that "it received favorable reviews on CG that is rare in South Korea" but "somewhat disappointed that all narratives rely on visual effects." While Cine21 Nam Ji-woo wrote for part two that the series "transforms into a contemplative drama that attempts to answer the philosophical questions surrounding suicide in its own unique way." Pierce Conran of South China Morning Post gave it 3/5 stars and described that "Death's Game is the kind of pulpy entertainment where quibbling over plot points is ill-advised" and "plot moves quickly and the storytelling mode switches often, forcing logic to take a back seat to visceral thrills and emotional swings". Bhavna Agarwal of India Today gave it 3.5/5 stars and stated that "the show strikes a balance between the emotional aspects and the action sequences" but "the only disappointment perhaps is that the show doesn't quite take into consideration the external factors or fails to stress the need for more mental health guidance to prevent suicides".

Viewership
A December 22, 2023 report claimed that, according to Amazon Prime Video statistics, the series was the most watched show in Indonesia and Thailand and in the top ten most watched shows in 43 countries around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan.