For anyone who thought Squid Game was intense, Night Has Come ups the stakes in more ways than one. This gripping Korean thriller drops high school students into a terrifying real-life version of the mafia game during what should have been a normal school trip. One after the other, students are accused, eliminated, and pushed to their psychological limits. Even worse, everyone is a suspect, so there’s really no one to trust.
Night Has Come thrives in the way it combines mystery, suspense, and emotional tension, making it perfect for fans of survival-style dramas. Compared to Squid Game, it’s darker and more unpredictable, which says a lot, but best believe it’s just as addictive. Starring Lee Jae-in, Kim Woo-seok, and Choi Ye-bin, this twist-filled series will keep you second-guessing every move, right up to the last frame.
From ‘Squid Game’ to ‘Night Has Come,’ the Thrill Continues
If you watched Squid Game for its blend of high-stakes tension, moral complication, and human desperation, Night Has Come is the perfect new obsession. Set over what was meant to be a calming school retreat, the series throws a class of high school students into a terrifying version of the Mafia party game — except this time, people actually die. Each night, one student is eliminated, and the group must scramble to uncover who the “mafia” is before time runs out. The twist? There’s no sanctuary, no straightforward villain, and no room for mistakes.
Like Squid Game, Night Has Come uses its dark conceit to explore power dynamics, peer pressure, and the bloody cost of survival. It’s riddled with paranoia, betrayals, and those instances where you’re like, “Man, even the quietest guy in class might be hiding something.” And just when you think you’ve got it all sorted, the show throws in another twist. Starring The Penthouse’s Choi Ye-bin and scene-stealing performances from Kim Woo-seok and Lee Jae-in, this 12-episode thriller moves fast but has space for strong character reveals, especially in the crazed, blood-soaked middle episodes.
‘Night Has Come’ Blends High-Stakes Survival and Social Commentary
One of the more positive aspects of Night Has Come is that it doesn’t just throw its players into a deadly game, there are opportunities for viewers to see what happens when humans are driven down to their most basic level. Adapted from a school retreat gone wrong, the show takes a well-known mafia-themed party game and makes it a literal nightmare, forcing them to vote their fellow players to death. But beneath the thriller setup is a scathing exploration of themes like social pressure, bullying, and moral decay. Perhaps what really makes Night Has Come stand out from other survival dramas like Squid Game is the sheer emotional proximity. Here, the murderers are not faceless strangers — they’re classmates, peers, and crushes. That proximity brings on a whole other type of tension because every vote is an intimate decision, every act of betrayal is a personal wound, and the classroom becomes a battlefield where past grudges and unsaid resentments turn fatal. It’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, and that explosion isn’t figuratively deadly.
In Night Has Come, characters are pushed to the limit. Case in point, Lee Yoon-seo starts off as a reserved and overlooked player in the game, but gradually establishes herself as one of the sharpest operators. In contrast, class rep Kim Jun-hee’s understated authority begins to unravel under pressure, underneath it all, there’s a compulsion to control that turns into something dangerous at the end of the day. As the show goes on, even the “good” characters prove that they aren’t above desperation or manipulation. The series lives off moral ambiguity because no one is purely good or evil. That makes it impossible to look away. You’re not just watching to see who survives, but how far they’ll go and at what expense. With tight direction by Lim Dae-woong and a consistently strong supporting cast, Night Has Come delivers more than simple suspense. It explores how quickly order collapses, and what survival really entails in a world in which the rules — and the adults — are absent.
For more deadly games, stream Night Has Come on Viki.
