Romeo is a Dead Man Review
No one makes games like Suda51.
Romeo Is a Dead Man. Credit: Grasshopper Manufacture
Developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, Romeo Is a Dead Man is Goichi “Suda51” Suda’s first brand-new IP in years—and it absolutely feels like an event. The gonzo sci-fi writing, brutal combat, oddball side systems, and punk-rock energy make it a thrilling, genuinely strange action game that stands apart from just about everything else out there right now. There’s nothing cautious about this game, and it rules.
You play as Romeo Stargazer, a sheriff’s deputy from Deadford, Pennsylvania, who is killed and then resurrected as a cyborg hero with the Deadgear technology invented by his grandfather. Reborn as Dead Man, he joins the FBI’s Space-Time Police to hunt down criminals exploiting a dimensional collapse that’s tearing apart reality. Now Romeo—no, Dead Man—is on a mission to bring justice to the universe and find his missing girlfriend Juliet, who may or may not be responsible for the dimensional crisis. It’s exactly as unhinged as it sounds.
Romeo Is a Dead Man. Credit: Grasshopper Manufacture
The characters are just as wild as the premise. Space-Time Police weirdos. Romeo’s dead(?) grandfather, now living as a literal patch stitched onto the back of his jacket. His sister. His mom. Multiple Juliets across timelines. Suda51's predilection for weirdness shines through and is a big part of the game's appeal. The story’s presentation is a visual mix that feels irresistibly kinetic—blood-soaked 3D combat, motion comics in various styles, retro pixel art, and more, coupled with a killer soundtrack.
Combat will feel familiar if you’ve played other Grasshopper titles. You string together light and heavy combos with Romeo’s sword or other unlockable melee weapons, swap to firearms to hit exposed weak points, dodge constantly, and build up a blood gauge to unleash the screen-filling Bloody Summer super move, which also restores some health. It’s fast, flashy, and surprisingly demanding. Boss fights especially require patience and pattern recognition; you can’t just mash your way through them because they’ll ruin you.
Romeo Is a Dead Man. Credit: Grasshopper Manufacture
Levels have dual layers, split between the grounded “Real-World” combat spaces and an overlapping Sub-Space maze. Floating TVs act as portals between the two dimensions, and progress often requires hopping back and forth. It’s a clever structural idea that gives stages a nice rhythm. The only downside is that the Sub-Space environments, made up of abstract walls of solid-colored cubes, can be visually disorienting, making navigation harder than it needs to be. Still, the dual-layer design keeps exploration interesting.
The storytelling's weirdness bleeds into the game’s ancillary systems. To upgrade Romeo’s abilities, you use currency as fuel to navigate a maze. Cook bonus-granting katsu curry with ingredients you’ve gathered in a timing-based minigame. Play a dating sim parody memory game with the Space-Time Police’s resident medic. Grow Bastards from seeds dropped by zombies and fuse them into stronger forms, so you can summon them for crucial combat assists. Not every system feels essential, but together they give the game color and personality. Even when they’re messy, they’re memorable.
Romeo Is a Dead Man. Credit: Grasshopper Manufacture
Romeo Is a Dead Man won’t be for everyone. It’s chaotic, occasionally obtuse, and some of its ideas don’t fully land. But taken as a whole, it’s a wildly entertaining, loud, messy, punk-rock fever dream of an action game that couldn’t come from anyone else. No one makes games like Suda51.
Romeo Is a Dead Man is available now on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: PS5
