Death games are increasing in popularity. Take Alice in Borderland or these examples of Koushun Takami’s 1999 Battle Royale or Squid Game, Saw, and Among Us. Visual novels are a primary source for death game content. With the focus on strong dialogue and character arcs. This list will show you our five best video games like the popular Manga and TV Show, Alice in Borderland.
Best Video Games like Alice in Borderland
Alice in Borderland is unique in its use of play cards, demonstrating the level of difficulty each game is. The games are divided into 4 categories. These are:
- Spades – A game focussed on the physical attributes of the contestants.
- Hearts – A game of betrayal and trust.
- Diamonds – A game of intelligence.
- Clubs – A combination of Spades, Hearts and Diamonds.
The death game is determined by the number on the card and its symbol. Those who win the game shall receive the game’s card. There are many similarities across video games in comparison to Alice in Borderland. Games with escape rooms, cat and mouse style and elimination through votes as their main gameplay mechanics. As the primary genre with death games are visual novels, this list will show you the best of the best from multiple game genres. Giving players a different gameplay experience every time.
Related: 5 Best Video Games Like Chainsaw Man.
GNOSIA
Alice in Borderland Game: Hide-and-Seek (Seven of Hearts)
Gnosia is a highly underrated game. Its gameplay is similar to that of the famous Among Us. Where the game takes place solely on a spaceship. There are hostile Gnosia on board, parasitic creatures who impersonate the past crewmates. The ultimate game of deception and paranoia, similar to the likes of the masterpiece, John Carpenters’ 1982 The Thing. Each day, whether you succeed in killing the Gnosia, fall victim or win as Gnosia yourself, the day repeats. With every passing day, your protagonist remembers past events but your crewmates do not. Figure out how to break the endless loop of paranoia and death.
The similarity between Alice in Borderland and Gnosia is episode 3 of the Hide-and-seek death game. This game focusses on trust and betrayal, take note of dialogue to figure out who is lying to you. Find the Gnosia and eliminate them. Innocent crewmates, not knowing that this day infinitely repeats like a terrible Groundhog Day, are regularly betrayed by crewmates. Or sacrifice themselves so that you may get to the next round. Gnosia is a brilliant game and my favourite on this list. If you have not tried it, whether you are a fan of visual novels or not, you will likely enjoy this game.
Danganronpa
Alice in Borderland Game: Witch Hunt (Ten of Hearts)
Danganronpa is an obvious choice on this list. Similar to Gnosia, this game is all about deception. 16 kidnapped students are placed in a facility. Forced to play death games by the Danganronpa mascot, Monokuma. How do you escape? The only method of winning and escaping is by getting away with murder. From the protagonists point of view, you play as an innocent player who must work with others to find the killer. Succeed, and the killer is eliminated. However, someone else takes their place should they choose to play the game. Those who do not play the game will never make it out of Monokuma’s grasp alive.
The first installment of Danganronpa is similar to the finale of Alice in Borderland Season 1. The Witch Hunt, being the hardest death game Arisu partakes in. The goal is to find the killer who murdered Momoka. As the game goes on, contestants grow paranoid and scared. Throwing accusations at everyone and stopping at nothing to achieve the answered based on anything but rational and sound logic. Danganronpa takes a similar premise of this death game, with a focus on fear and paranoia of the participants, who simply want to make it to another day.
The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me
Alice in Borderland Game: Tag (Five of Spades)
The ultimate game of strength and endurance, Alice in Borderland Episode 2 sees our protagonist play a deadly game of Tag. The goal? Hide from the armed killers and press two buttons to stop an active bomb in the apartment complex. The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me is loosely based on the life of H.H. Holmes, an infamous American serial killer. Fast forward to present day, years after Holmes’ time. Our protagonists must play one of his deadly games. By the villainous Mr. Du’Met. As seen with all Supermassive Games, The Devil in Me is another entry into the interactive story where you choose the outcome of your characters survival. In this installment, players are forced into a game of cat and mouse.
Du’Met watches our protagonists’ every move from cameras, planning his attack and playing with his food. With moving walls and a crazy armed masked killer, our characters must evade him for as long as they can as they try to escape. Along the way, deadly games await our protagonists. Tensions are high, where decisions should never be made on fear. With an armed killer and many 50/50 choices, the lives of your characters depend solely on your actions. Who will survive in this deadly game of tag?
Your Turn to Die
Alice in Borderland Game: Light Bulb (Four of Diamonds)
Your Turn to Die is currently an early access game on Steam, made by a one man manga artist, Nankidai. The game follows Sara who is kidnapped and placed into an unknown facility with 10 “invited guests”. With electronic collars placed on them, the group must play deadly games whilst uncovering the mystery of how they got there. Your Turn to Die is an episodic visual novel, filled with mystery and paranoia. With similar gameplay to that of Danganronpa, where a player must be voted out through catching an opponent out on a lie. Your Turn to Die is filled with puzzles and games such as Russian Roulette.
In Russian Roulette Sara finds a gun with 6 dummy bullets and 3 live bullets. You choose where to place the bullets in the gun’s barrel. However, you will not know what the first bullet will be as the revolver barrel is spun. Three of your companions sit on seats in front of you, in between mannequins. It is up to you to decide who to shoot with the corresponding bullet.
This game, along with other deadly games in Your Turn to Die is similar to that of Alice in Borderland Episode 5’s Light Bulb puzzle. The puzzle takes place in a room slowly filling with water where players must figure out which of three switches turns on the lightbulb. Participants can only test a switch once if the door in the room is open. If the door is closed, the player can flip the switches as many times as they please. Whilst on first glance, the game appears like a game of chance and faith. The Lightbulb puzzle and Russian Roulette can be solved with simple logic.
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Alice in Borderland Game: Dead or Alive (Three of Clubs)
When thinking about games with a deadly twist, the most iconic which comes to mind is the Zero Escape franchise. We recommend starting with its first installment called Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. Similar to that of other visual novels, 999 takes place with a group of victims who have been captured. The characters this time, they are placed into an abandoned ship with incredibly high stakes. Of a bomb inside their stomach. Truly the mark of a highly intense game.
999 follows the primary gameplay of choosing which door to enter, not knowing what is waiting for them on the other side. The goal is to find door 9 in a ship slowly flooding with water. There is no time to think, similar to the Alice in Borderland game of Dead or Alive in Episode 1. In Dead or Alive, Arisu, friends and strangers must figure out which doors lead to survival or death. For those playing scared will not survive. It is only those who remain calm and think about the games solution, that have the strongest chance of survival. There are a total of 4 Zero Escape games that are available to play.
Conclusion
Those are our video game recommendations that are similar to Alice in Borderland. Where any game can end with many characters dying as a result of your choices or by fate alone. Who will you trust and deceive? Who will you save? For video games with puzzles and escape rooms with a deadly twist, the genre to play are visual novels/adventure games. We hope to see more adventure games to release in the future similar to that of Saw and The Devil in Me. For now, these are the current best video games like Alice in Borderland.
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