Dead man walking
By Paul Hunter
Grasshopper Manufacture’s Romeo Is A Dead Man hits PS5 with Goichi Suda (Suda51) once again at the helm delivering his unique blend of wackiness and style. It’s an ultra-violent sci-fi action-adventure with bold ideas and zero fear of being predictable, exactly what fans of his previous work enjoy and have come to expect.
The game is a chapter-based adventure that hops across space-time, keeping the focus on fast missions and storytelling, all while keeping the energy high. You get room to reset between missions thanks to an interstellar spaceship hub, The Last Night, that mixes upgrades with strange side activities, so I ended up checking back often just to see what was waiting there.
The standout, right away, is the presentation, with visuals that flip between pixel-art, comic-book cutscenes, and 3D missions, and yet the package still feels cohesive as a whole. So, is Romeo Is A Dead Man the next wild Suda51 mission you should sign up for? Let’s dive in and find out!
Romeo's second chance comes with a new badge. He's recruited into the FBI Space-Time Police and pushed straight into a case that is far bigger than his old job. Space-time criminals are using the chaos to twist history in their favour, and Romeo is sent after them across different eras and parallel universes. Deadford sits at the centre of this mess, a town shown in multiple ages that always seems to be in some mess or another.
Juliet grounds the story and makes it feel personal instead of just another action slaughterfest. She is Romeo’s girlfriend and the person he cannot stop thinking about, even as evidence points towards her involvement in the space-time disaster. The rest of the cast does not always share his faith in her, which creates some interesting friction inside the team.
The narrative goes fast and loves to throw out wild ideas, and it does not slow down to over-explain every turn. At a high level though, the narrative mainly focuses on saving the timeline and finding Juliet, and that was more than enough to carry me through its wildest chapters.
Melee combat is the usual stringing together light and strong attacks that link together, plus dodging to keep you safe if you time it right. I had fun with every weapon available, whether it's the split-spear Arcadia or the ultra-powerful Nebuchadnezzar machine gun with sustained fire.
No matter how you're killing enemies they'll feed into your Blood meter, which can be spent on unleashing Bloody Summer that deals significant damage while also healing Romeo. Each weapon has it's own version of Bloody Summer, giving you options depending on the situation.
Each chapter dungeon follows a fairly similar structure. You move from battle zone to battle zone, hopping between Real Space and Sub-Space, a parallel universe, as areas blocked in one timespace may be unlocked in the other. Missions then cap off with a boss fight against a space-time criminal you've come to apprehend. There's also weirdly a Soulslike element to missions with save points let you upgrade gear and fast travel, but also respawning enemies within the world.
Within missions you can find Bastard seeds, which you then bring back to your ship's Bastard garden to plant and sow them. Bastards are helpful zombies you can call upon in battle and each has a specific action, like firing poison shots or charging up like a living bomb. You can also equip Badges providing passive updates, like earning more currency or boosting ranged damage at the cost of melee. Of course, it wouldn't be a Suda51 game without a silly levelling up system, and here you'll play an arcade-style mini-game where you move an avatar through a maze and eat stat nodes like stronger melee damage, more potion charges, or extra health.
Cutscenes continue this visual variety with comic-book panels and speech bubbles, and the game mixes in stylized animation just long enough to make each chapter easy to remember.
Combat visuals are gloriously messy. Blood sprays across the screen with every hit, and Bloody Summer is the peak of that, turning a big attack into a screen-filling rush of red that leans hard into dark comedy every time it triggers. I caught myself triggering it sometimes not because the enemy was difficult, but just because I wanted to see the mess all over again.
Turning our attention to audio, the soundtrack jumps between rock-heavy battle themes, weirder experimental tracks, and smooth jazz in subspace areas. It gives each aspect of the game its own distinct sound, which was nice. Voice work is great across the board, from Romeo’s eccentric delivery to his stranger monologues. I did notice a few quieter rooms where ambient music is a bit too quiet, although it never undercut the mood for long. Performance on PS5 Pro stayed smooth overall, with only brief frame dips when fights got extremely busy.
Final Score: 8.5/10 - Great
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Grasshopper Manufacture
Genre: Action
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
Grasshopper Manufacture’s Romeo Is A Dead Man hits PS5 with Goichi Suda (Suda51) once again at the helm delivering his unique blend of wackiness and style. It’s an ultra-violent sci-fi action-adventure with bold ideas and zero fear of being predictable, exactly what fans of his previous work enjoy and have come to expect.
The game is a chapter-based adventure that hops across space-time, keeping the focus on fast missions and storytelling, all while keeping the energy high. You get room to reset between missions thanks to an interstellar spaceship hub, The Last Night, that mixes upgrades with strange side activities, so I ended up checking back often just to see what was waiting there.
The standout, right away, is the presentation, with visuals that flip between pixel-art, comic-book cutscenes, and 3D missions, and yet the package still feels cohesive as a whole. So, is Romeo Is A Dead Man the next wild Suda51 mission you should sign up for? Let’s dive in and find out!
Story and Narrative
Romeo Is A Dead Man opens on a world that already lost control. In 2019, monsters known as White Devils arrive on Earth, leaving zombie-like creatures in their wake. Romeo Stargazer is a small-town deputy caught in that disaster, and a run-in with one of these creatures leaves him dead on the road. His scientist grandpa Benjamin refuses to accept that fate and uses a Deadgear mask to pull him back as a “Dead Man,” more life-support hero than regular cop.Romeo's second chance comes with a new badge. He's recruited into the FBI Space-Time Police and pushed straight into a case that is far bigger than his old job. Space-time criminals are using the chaos to twist history in their favour, and Romeo is sent after them across different eras and parallel universes. Deadford sits at the centre of this mess, a town shown in multiple ages that always seems to be in some mess or another.
Juliet grounds the story and makes it feel personal instead of just another action slaughterfest. She is Romeo’s girlfriend and the person he cannot stop thinking about, even as evidence points towards her involvement in the space-time disaster. The rest of the cast does not always share his faith in her, which creates some interesting friction inside the team.
The narrative goes fast and loves to throw out wild ideas, and it does not slow down to over-explain every turn. At a high level though, the narrative mainly focuses on saving the timeline and finding Juliet, and that was more than enough to carry me through its wildest chapters.
Gameplay and Mechanics
On the gameplay side, Romeo Is A Dead Man is all about staying on offence. You've got four melee and four ranged weapons that give you options in every battle room, and instant weapon swapping lets you react fast instead of digging through menus. Weapons are gradually unlocked as the story progresses, but your initial chainsaw sword and pistol get the job done. I often opened with a crowd-control melee weapon, then changed to a firearm to deal with a gun user or a weak point that needed quick precision.Melee combat is the usual stringing together light and strong attacks that link together, plus dodging to keep you safe if you time it right. I had fun with every weapon available, whether it's the split-spear Arcadia or the ultra-powerful Nebuchadnezzar machine gun with sustained fire.
No matter how you're killing enemies they'll feed into your Blood meter, which can be spent on unleashing Bloody Summer that deals significant damage while also healing Romeo. Each weapon has it's own version of Bloody Summer, giving you options depending on the situation.
Each chapter dungeon follows a fairly similar structure. You move from battle zone to battle zone, hopping between Real Space and Sub-Space, a parallel universe, as areas blocked in one timespace may be unlocked in the other. Missions then cap off with a boss fight against a space-time criminal you've come to apprehend. There's also weirdly a Soulslike element to missions with save points let you upgrade gear and fast travel, but also respawning enemies within the world.
Within missions you can find Bastard seeds, which you then bring back to your ship's Bastard garden to plant and sow them. Bastards are helpful zombies you can call upon in battle and each has a specific action, like firing poison shots or charging up like a living bomb. You can also equip Badges providing passive updates, like earning more currency or boosting ranged damage at the cost of melee. Of course, it wouldn't be a Suda51 game without a silly levelling up system, and here you'll play an arcade-style mini-game where you move an avatar through a maze and eat stat nodes like stronger melee damage, more potion charges, or extra health.
Presentation and Audio
Romeo Is A Dead Man is like three different games that somehow share the same soul. Your The Last Night ship is presented with a pixel-art, SNES-style look, complete with character sprites and portraits that instantly set a different tone from the main missions. Once you drop into a chapter, you are back in stylized realistic 3D spaces, from rundown streets to official buildings and stranger facilities tied to the plot.Cutscenes continue this visual variety with comic-book panels and speech bubbles, and the game mixes in stylized animation just long enough to make each chapter easy to remember.
Combat visuals are gloriously messy. Blood sprays across the screen with every hit, and Bloody Summer is the peak of that, turning a big attack into a screen-filling rush of red that leans hard into dark comedy every time it triggers. I caught myself triggering it sometimes not because the enemy was difficult, but just because I wanted to see the mess all over again.
Turning our attention to audio, the soundtrack jumps between rock-heavy battle themes, weirder experimental tracks, and smooth jazz in subspace areas. It gives each aspect of the game its own distinct sound, which was nice. Voice work is great across the board, from Romeo’s eccentric delivery to his stranger monologues. I did notice a few quieter rooms where ambient music is a bit too quiet, although it never undercut the mood for long. Performance on PS5 Pro stayed smooth overall, with only brief frame dips when fights got extremely busy.
The Verdict
Grasshopper Manufacture delivers something special with Romeo Is A Dead Man. The mix of time-hopping investigation, tragic romance, and gory hack-and-slash action is very much on par with what you'd expect from Suda51. Weapons and Bastards are a joy to tinker with, and the presentation goes all-in on wild art shifts and a sharp soundtrack. Occasional crowd-heavy performance dips do not change the fact this is one of the most memorable action games I have played in a long while.Final Score: 8.5/10 - Great
Romeo Is A Dead Man details
Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PCDeveloper: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Grasshopper Manufacture
Genre: Action
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.