The games begin: Smosh’s WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! dives into Episode 1

After a spine-chilling pilot episode that had both players and audience on the edge of their seats, Smosh’s horror-comedy tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) series WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! officially launched its first full episode on July 29 2025. Hosted at Dynasty Typewriter (Hayworth Theatre) in LA, this immersive experience mixes live theatre, improv, and TTRPG mechanics in a way that only Smosh can pull off.

If you caught the pilot episode, ‘The Audience’ (and if you didn’t, I’d highly recommend you do), then you already know how this works: players must work their way through a tense narrative crafted by Game Master George Primavera at the mercy of a very unstable Jenga tower. Every pull risks disaster, and every collapse brings death.

The first official episode properly kicked off the anthology by introducing us to Maw Meadows, a fictional town where the pilot took place. With a rotating cast of Smosh regulars and other guest performers, each episode explores a different pocket of horror within the same strange universe.

With the Jenga tower sitting under a spotlight at centre stage, players had to make their moves in front of a very anxious audience. The silence was deafening

Set in a mysterious hotel, The Red Lobster (not affiliated with a certain seafood chain), four players found themselves thrown together under suspicious circumstances.

Shayne Topp as Buck Wild – a thrill-seeking assassin and high-stakes gambler, on the run after a deal with the devil.

Jon Matteson as Joshua Stone – the genetically enhanced son of a legendary CIA agent, built to kill, but has never been tested.

Rekha Shankar as The Blue Giggler – a disfigured street performer turned assassin-for-hire as a result of a “prank” job gone wrong.

Ify Nwadiwe as Blake Blades – a once humble gardener now gunning for a full-time career in contract killing.

Together, they explored the underbelly of the hotel, and through George’s excellent guidance, they found themselves in an underground laboratory, facing horrifying creations. And, of course, it wouldn’t be the Dread TTRPG system without the tower. Each high-risk action performed by one of the players requires a pull. With the Jenga tower sitting under a spotlight at centre stage, players had to make their moves in front of a very anxious audience. The silence was deafening.

The episode featured a heartbreaking yet heroic sacrifice from one of the players

This episode’s special guest was NPC Dylan McCollum, the mastermind behind the lab’s experiments and the players’ employer. Dressed in a brilliant costume and delivering a chilling performance, McCollum’s villain added chaos to an already fragile alliance, at one point turning three of the players against the fourth in a deadly duel that led to even more tower pulls.

In true horror fashion, not everyone made it out alive. Without spoiling too much, the episode featured a heartbreaking yet heroic sacrifice from one of the players, who deliberately caused the tower to collapse to push the rest of the players forward.

In a move that mirrored the pilot episode’s most memorable twists, George Primavera handed the fate of the remaining players to the audience… literally. A randomly selected attendee was brought onstage and given their instructions: pull four blocks from the tower in 60 seconds to secure the surviving characters’ escape. “Their fate now rests in your hands,” Primavera announced. Did they do it? Who knows. You’ll have to find out for yourself.

WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! lives and dies by its risks, and, so far, those risks are definitely paying off

If the pilot was a promising glimpse into what this series could be, then Episode 1 truly solidified it. This wasn’t just a repeat of a fun idea; it was a mighty expansion. For fans at home, streaming access is available at live.smosh.com, where you can purchase a discounted season pass that includes every episode from Season 1, running from July 29 through to December 12.

Each episode will reveal more about Maw Meadows and the disturbing truth behind its strange happenings. Viewers are encouraged to spot clues within each episode that will eventually string together to form a surprising reveal, and I’ve already spotted one or two myself. WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! lives and dies by its risks, and, so far, those risks are definitely paying off.