Seoul, South Korea - South Korean dystopian thriller series Squid Game enters into its second seven-part season on Thursday after a three-year break. Let the games begin!

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk outlined what he sees are the reasons for the horror series' phenomenal success.

"Every series has its own local and cultural code, but although Squid Game is not an English-language series, it is a story that you can identify with, irrespective of language," he says.

"The visual presentation is also internationally appealing. I believe these are the main reasons for its global success," said the 53-year-old, who is credited with writing and directing the series.

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Squid Game has it all: gaudy and computer game-style locations, masks, and costumes that can be used at Halloween, along with wild sequences that can be shared on social media.

The plot is scarcely original but certainly horrifying. A group of 456 people in debt up to the ears are taken to an island off Seoul where they have to participate in deadly children's games.

The winner walks off with 45.6 billion South Korean won ($32 million).

And the 455 losers? They are "disqualified" – shot – with each death raising the prize money.

"The violence that we show in Squid Game is not simply there to show violence," Hwang says.

It is rather an allegory for how capitalism deals with its losers: "The social system simply looks on passively, waiting for the slow and painful death of those left behind in this boundless competition."

The social criticism takes things another step forward in the show's second season.

This time the players can vote in the second round whether they continue or share the win at that point and leave the island alive.

The question is, how free is a decision like this for people staring into the abyss financially and socially?

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Player 456 Seong Gi-hun – the winner in the first season played by Lee Jung-jae – leaves no stone unturned to convince his competitors to give up.

Three years after his victory he has allowed himself to be abducted to the island to put an end to the cycle.

In the huge bare dormitory, he meets an old friend, a reckless rapper, a fanatical female shaman, a trans person, and a pregnant woman.

This time it takes a while before the actual games begin after a tough introduction.

When the first series was broadcast, there were reports from school playgrounds of games in which the losers were slapped. Hwang notes that Squid Game was never intended for children.

"It was made for adults with the capacity to understand the context and the message of the series," he says. The Netflix recommendation is for viewing from the age of 16 up.

Referring to the reports of playground violence, he says, "I was shocked where I heard of these incidents, primarily because this is not a series for children... I did not count on children and youths watching the series. That shocked me and caused me concern."

"I can only ask parents to talk seriously to their children before the second and third seasons to make clear to them that this series is not intended for them," Hwang says, adding that adults should try to explain the context of the violence to their children.

A third season of the show has already been announced.