Squid Game meets Survivor in Deathmatch Island

As Polygon contributor Samantha Nelson explained in her interview with designer Tim Denee, character creation is randomized and simple: a name, a basic description, an occupation, a secret motivation, and a matching uniform. Aside from this, players have no knowledge of who they were before the game began, no idea of what this game is, or how they got there in the first place. All you have is a letter congratulating you on being chosen for the game where you can win “fame, freedom, and unlimited wealth.” Throughout the game, mystery mechanics controlled by the Producer (or game master) slowly reveal clues and flashes of memory.

While the base game is lethal, there is a ruleset that offers a social-oriented mode of play. The foundations of the game are still the same, as the base stats are built off Survivor terminology like Social Game and Challenge Beast, though with a few uniquely horrifying ones like Deathmatch and [REDACTED]. Each time a player engages in a competition or a challenge, they have the opportunity to gain followers. The better you do, the more followers you gain. The more followers you have, the more the game’s producers favor you — with higher dice to roll and better equipment to help you survive. In a social media ecosystem that often feels like a battle royale, with creators fighting algorithms and the whims of corporate overlords, the mechanic feels especially prescient.

Like Triangle Agency, the game text is presented as a corporate handbook for employees and producers of Deathmatch Island, though the two games approach this presentation from drastically different angles (see Denee’s Derek Guy-style infothread about it). Rather than pretending to be your friend, the handbook’s in-universe author presents the game’s dire circumstances matter-of-factly, despite having chapter titles like “Building a Better You” or “Team Building.”

While Deathmatch Island can be played in a single session, campaigns of the game offer opportunities for in-depth alliance building, social manipulation, and rejection of the game’s central conceit — a Battle Royale or Hunger Games-style ending. But the producers won’t give up so easily. Even if your character dies, you wake up once again, in a new body, a new persona, wading into the game once more. The true secrets of the island will only be revealed after multiple seasons, and you’ll just have to play to win if you want to find out.