no
before Squid Game there was Liars' Game
and that one teaches muuuch better lesson - that players can cooperate so that nobody loses, no matter how much organizers want to make players clash with each other
before Squid Game there was Liars' Game
and that one teaches muuuch better lesson - that players can cooperate so that nobody loses, no matter how much organizers want to make players clash with each other
What some people have missed is that this is its own sub-genre of horror.
You have shows like Alice in Borderland that doesn’t get nearly enough love (and is far better than Squid Games in my opinion).
Cube is a late 90s movie that’s on this theme too. You could argue the SAW movies are too, though I’m not personally a fan of those.
There are also plenty of comics on this theme too. The aforementioned Alice in Borderlands is based on a manga by the same title.
I just watched season 2 of Squid Games and whilst it was fun and I enjoyed it, it didn't really seem to add much to the series.
To be fair, they seem to also name Liar Game, as also Kaiji.