Jeroen Van Rossem O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Fighting dangerous criminals through the time-space continuum it seems, if we’re to believe Goichi Suda – also known as Suda51 – and developer Grasshopper Manufacture. Five years after No More Heroes III, we’re treated to a new weird trip that defies everything you expect a game to be. If you’re familiar with the works of Grasshopper Manufacture, you know they don’t exactly make the most conventional games. Even their most commercial endeavor, Shadows of the Damned, which was published by Electronic Arts, was still a game that’s weird as hell. Time to find out if Romeo Is A Dead Man is another worthy addition to the studio’s catalogue of insanity.
On the Run
Our story kicks off with the inevitable death of Romeo Stargazer, a rookie cop who’s killed by a creepy creature during a mysterious incident. Luckily, his time-travelling grandfather comes to his aid and he revives Romeo with his Dead Gear Life Support System, turning Romeo into some kind of cyborg. Now known as DeadMan (no affiliation with the other Deadman), you’re recruited into the FBI’s Space-Time Police to hunt down dangerous criminals wreaking havoc through space and time.
You see, that strange incident was a metaphysical event that ripped both space and time itself apart, and some fugitives use this opportunity to hide themselves in the past. One of these fugitives is none other than Juliet, Romeo’s amnesiac girlfriend who might be at the source of the incident. It turns out there are multiple versions of Juliet scattered through the time-space continuum and thus your search for these fugitives and the real Juliet begins.
We’re All Mad in Here
To be honest, the story only gets weirder from here and that’s exactly why we love these experiences. It’s the kind of nonsense only a few developers can turn into a compelling game. If you’re a fan of Suda51, you’ll see that many of the ingredients from his repertoire are present here, and the game almost feels like a greatest hits compilation offering an arousing mix of gameplay and storytelling mechanics. For example, one moment you’re slashing up zombies in a shopping mall, until you find yourself on a space ship visualized with 8-bit pixel graphics. A level or two later, you’re suddenly in a survival horror game, being chased by a giant monster through a P.T.-esque corridor trapped in a time loop.
The story presentation is just as wild as the gameplay, with normal cutscenes interspersed with comic book sections, classic animation, dialogue portraits, visual novel segments and even scenes that remind us of the codec dialogues from Metal Gear Solid. And of course Suda doesn’t limit himself to game references, as you’ll find plenty of other (not so) subtle nods to everything from music and paintings to movie references, including David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick, and George A. Romero. One could say that both the gameplay and visual presentation of the game are all over the place. Because the game offers a sensory overload, it’s easy to proclaim Romeo Is A Dead Man as style over substance, and in many ways it is. But the combination of crazy ideas genuinely makes this a thrilling experience that keeps surprising you as you go along in the madness that’s on display on the screen.
A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That
Taking a deeper look at the gameplay, the game presents itself as a hybrid shooter and hack ’n’ slash game. Your killing tool is the DeadBall, which can transform into four melee weapons, a sword, a greatsword, fist weapons and a spear that can detach itself into a dual-wielding weapon, and four ranged weapons: a pistol, a machine gun, a shotgun and a bazooka. Each of the weapons offers a different play style and my personal favorites were the spear and the machine gun.
Combat is relatively simple, as you only have a light and heavy attack. You won’t pull off impressive combos though and the game could have benefited from a bit more depth here. You’re also limited to one defensive move, a dodge, and there’s one special move, Bloody Summer, that you can unleash once its meter is full. As an added bonus, this move also restores some health.
To spice things further up, you’ll also be able to call in the aid of Bastards. These are zombie minions with unique powers you’ll harvest on your ship by planting seeds. Yes, you’ve read that correctly! These bastards can also be upgraded and fused together, allowing you to collect various unique Bastards. Other crazy mechanics you’ll find in the game include mini games to level up your character, to determine your next location you need to visit or a cooking mini game that lets you cook katsu that you can eat to earn temporary bonuses. The game really feels like an amalgam of ideas, but somehow it just works.
As for the flow of the game, each chapter consists of you clearing a level by defeating the boss. In order to reach this boss, you’ll need to visit the Inner Space by jumping through a floating TV. The bosses themselves are the absolute highlight of the game. Not only are they grotesque monstrosities, each fight is also interestingly designed, although they are not the hardest bosses you’ll find in a game. If you don’t kill them on the first try, you usually understand the mechanics after a few tries so they can go down pretty fast. But boy, do they offer an experience!
Buttery Smoothness
Perhaps equally impressive is the performance on PC. I’ve read that the PlayStation 5 version has some performance issues, but in my case the same can’t be said about the PC version. The game ran extremely smooth on my computer (RTX 4080, Intel i7 13th gen, 32 GB RAM memory) and while playing I didn’t experience any stutters or frame rate issues at all. On High settings I had a stable frame rate of 60 FPS, while on Ultra the frame rate was around 45–50 FPS. This was with DLSS upscaling, but it should be noted that options are rather limited here. All you can do is choose between playing with the native resolution or turn on upscaling using either DLSS4, XeSS, or FRS3. I must admit that the game looks pretty good on PC, I was even surprised by the fact that the game booted with Low settings and I wouldn’t have been able to tell that I was playing on these lower settings.
Sound design and music are equally fitting to the craziness on screen as the visuals, as it’s as eclectic and weird as the rest of the game. Musically, you’ll hear everything here, from rock, jazz and country to 8-bit sounds, eighties synth and an utterly bizarre orchestral score. As a treat, fans of Suda51 might even recognize some sounds from the No More Heroes franchise. Voice acting is also on par, but is somewhat hindered by the lack of proper lip syncing. It seems as if the lip sync is done for the Japanese voices, but if you’re playing with English voice-overs, the lip sync is way off. One other point of (unrelated) critique I have about the game, is that some elements aren’t properly explained in the game, making them rather confusing, such as the Oscillation puzzles. Luckily, the internet is just a few clicks away.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Romeo Is A Dead Man is another amazing outing carefully crafted by Suda51 and his team. It isn’t exactly a game meant for a broad audience though. It’s a rather niche experience due to its sheer craziness and blood-soaked gameplay and storytelling. If you’re looking for a game that’s unlike anything you’ve played in recent years, you can count on Grasshopper Manufacture to deliver the goods, and this ultra-violent and LSD-infused sci-fi adventure certainly delivers on all fronts.
Additional Information
Release Date: Feb 10, 2026
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Grashopper Manufacture, Suda51
Publisher: Grashopper Manufacture
Relevant links: Available on STEAM
