Director: Guo Shuang, Wei Yuhai
Deep within the martial world's underworld, a single prize turns strangers into rivals in "The Death Game," a 2024 Chinese action-adventure co-directed by Guo Shuang and Wei Yuhai.
What is The Death Game about?
Word spreads of a brutal contest known among fighters as the Five Poisons Gauntlet, where only the last person standing walks away with a thousand taels of gold. A wandering swordsman named Lin Yun is drawn into the contest and finds uneasy allies in Qiao Yu and Feng Yiyang as the three are pushed through a gauntlet of traps, ambushes, and rival factions who each want the reward for themselves. Every stage strips away pretense, exposing the greed, rage, obsession, pride, and suspicion driving the other competitors, and the line between ally and enemy keeps shifting. As the fighting escalates, Lin Yun and Qiao Yu start to suspect the contest itself is being manipulated by unseen hands, and they begin working out a plan built on strategy rather than raw strength alone.
Cast & crew
Wu Shuang leads as Lin Yun, with Huang Tao and Zhao Yiji rounding out the core trio caught in the contest. Wang Maolei, Liu Chuxuan, Zhuang Qiqian, Shang Chengjun, and Zhang Kai fill out the wider cast of rivals, schemers, and fighters crossing paths along the way.
Context & significance
The film draws on China's long-running wuxia storytelling tradition, where a martial-world tournament becomes the frame for testing loyalty and honor under pressure. Its 88-minute runtime keeps the pace brisk, moving from one staged confrontation to the next without much downtime between fights.
Where & how to watch
"The Death Game" is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing, part of a Farsi-first streaming library built for Persian-speaking audiences abroad. Anyone can read this page without an account; watching the film itself just requires logging into K-Time first.