I watched and was deeply unsettled Squid gameI was a little surprised when I saw the reveal Squid Game: Unleashed earlier this month. The new video game adaptation of Boss Fight from Netflix Games transforms the series’ brutal games into crazy multiplayer experiences. There’s still blood, but it’s cartoonish. And unlike the characters of Squid gameDeath does not mean the end for any of these participants. You can try again and again until you perfect these not-so-lethal virtual versions of the originally pretty deadly games.

Out of Squid Game: Unleashed for the upcoming Call of Duty crossover Squid gameand even the real-life recreation of the concept from YouTuber Mr. Beast’s Squid Game, every single attempt at gamification Squid game probably misses the point of the show. But it’s not the first time something like this has happened. Recall the novel’s similar brutality and social commentary Battle Royale (1999), which was adapted into the widespread video game genre phenomenon of the same name (as in PUBG And Fortnite). Battle Royale The novel is a raw depiction of a fascist regime that dehumanizes its countries’ children through a deadly, performative version of conscription. In the book, being included in the titular battle royale is the worst thing that can happen to you. All of this original intent has been lost in later recreations Fortnitewhich is fun and also features Snoop Dogg.

All of this is actually why it is like this shouldn’t surprises me to see this Squid Game: Unleashed and the like. The game’s director, Bill Jackson, told me in a recent interview that this type of adaptation is exactly what players wanted – as opposed to, say, a Telltale Games-style narrative game Squid gameis a world that retains the social commentary and intense storytelling style of the original TV show. No, people didn’t want that. They wanted to take part in the games.

“We asked players and members: If we made games at Netflix, what would you like to see? And the first answer, and it was a huge delta, was Squid game“Jackson told me. “And we said, ‘Do you like this? What do you want to do?’ And their answer, again, overwhelmingly, was, “I want to be a contestant and I want to play these games and try to survive, and I’m okay with it if that means I fail and die.” And it could be brutal .’ And we had already noticed this in the first conversations with the members. That’s why we wanted to make this happen. This is still a difficult task, but we did it. I really think that’s what we’ve tried to convey to you here – you’ll be playing the role of a contestant in a stylized version of this show.”

Squid Game: Unleashed is fundamentally different from the source material due to its medium. As Jackson put it, “The main thing is that you’re a competitor and the punishments are brutal if you don’t win.” But you know what? It’s a video game. If you fail, we’ll try again. And that is ultimately the vicious circle.”

At this point in the interview I actually asked Jackson about it Battle Royale and their influences on video games, and he noted how much more common this type of story has become across all media. “You can go to the cinema again – Death Race – There are all these kind of setups like this. Or Bruce Lee, Enter the dragon. It’s the same. It’s like – it’s the same influences. But in video games, it’s a deep setup, right? We will put you in a competition and the punishment is fair – that you will be eliminated and others will move on. This pattern is – it’s inherent to video games. It is essential for us.”

As strange as it may seem, people like it. It’s not some executive at Netflix demanding that the in-house game designers take out all social commentary Squid game and turn it into something tastier. It’s that players themselves – ordinary people – who can’t help but yearn to attend the Games just to see how they would do if it came to it. But of course these players want to do it in a safe virtual realm where death doesn’t matter but bragging rights still matter.

That doesn’t mean people are missing the point of the story Squid gameor that all these people are just stupid or shallow or something. I think, as Jackson said, this impulse reflects something else, something inherent in all of us. It might be a little scary, but that’s why all these adaptations are popping up in this type of format. We asked about it.