No, it's a version of such shows that you cannot escape from because of financial pressures on your life, despite likely ending in your death. That is the key - even when given a chance to get out, the overwhelming majority of participants embraces the game, because the alternative (being economically destitute, while lying to friends and family to keep up appearances) is seen as worse than death. It's literally "get rich or die trying".

The final revelations, about the game's origins and the fate of previous winners, add further elements of critique of "the system"; and the story arc of the "good son" is a critique of a (Korean) academic process that, while ostensibly promoting talent, ends up producing sharks.