Romeo is a Dead Man

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Grasshopper Manufacture
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $49.99 USD – Available Here

Overview

When it comes to any game from Goichi Suda, better known as Suda51, it is best to expect the unexpected. While his repertoire may feature some straightforward titles or those that are part of a series, anything that he has had a hand in developing originally, especially with his team at Grasshopper Manufacture, have been rollercoasters of quality. That is far from a bad thing though as even some of his strangest titles have had their unique charm to them to draw fans in regardless of their flaws. So when it was revealed that Suda51 was bringing out a brand new IP, expectations were quite high. Now with the brand new Romeo is a Dead Man arriving worldwide, does it continue to carry on that uniqueness that Suda51 provides? 

Story

Romeo Stargazer is a sheriff’s deputy in a small town of Deadford with something of a love of the occult and conspiracy theories. One day while out on patrol with the deputy the two come across someone seemingly injured in the middle of the road. Unfortunately for Romeo, that thing happened to be a monstrous creature that tears both him and the deputy to pieces. As luck would have it, while on the verge of death Romeo’s grandfather, a time-traveling and eccentric scientist, manages to save Romeo’s life by injecting him right in the eye with a powerful device that resurrects Romeo while also giving him new abilities capable of slaying these beings. 

At the same time though, Romeo was meant to have met with Juliet, an odd but lovable woman that he had fallen hard for, only for it to be revealed that she may be behind everything that is about to go wrong in the world. Oh, and somehow Romeo’s grandfather dies off camera and becomes a talking patch on the back of his jacket. At a certain point in time, an event on Earth triggered a cataclysmic event that should have torn the universe asunder, but instead it fractured the universe into alternative versions of themselves and now Romeo, now mostly called Dead Man, has been hired on by the FBI’s Space-Time Police division to hunt down criminals that have been using the fractured universe to hop between timelines and trigger misery wherever they land. Unfortunately for poor, already dead once, Romeo, one of those happens to be Juliet, though after slaying countless fraudulent Juliet’s in his travels to get where he is now, will he ever find the one he was originally destined to meet? 

Romeo is a Dead Man‘s storyline is as quirky and strange as anyone could expect from Suda51 and it goes to show how great a game can be when it really just lets itself go. Sure, there are moments that don’t make sense from time to time, flashbacks are mixed in here and there at random times, for some reason your sister and mother are safe and sound on the FBI’s space-ship as well, and other times players will be battling decapitated heads spewing electricity around or solving grotesque puzzles in order to advance. There is never a dull moment when it comes to this game’s story and players will always be left guessing as to what may happen next, could they be dropped into a place full of references? Will the characters drop plenty of pop-culture jokes and mentions that fans will eat up? Most likely. Is there even an optional hundred question long trial with its own mini-storyline mixed-into an incredibly strange quiz? You bet.

This quirky element is everywhere in Romeo is a Dead Man, especially with its characters aboard the FBI’s “Last Night” space-ship. Many crew members appear as nothing more than portraits or computers, a humanoid cat, and more. The core storyline is rather solid even if things can be confusing at times, and there are plenty of little notes and bits of lore scattered throughout the levels that players can read for extra background information. Every main mission in the game is also given plenty of stylish flair such as stop-motion scenes, comic-book style presentations, full in-game cutscenes, and more. There are even little end credits at the end of each mission and cut-in sequences to add a bit of extra charm that fans have come to love and newcomers should appreciate thanks to the team’s unique style.

Gameplay

For as strange as the storyline can be at times, combat and general gameplay is far more grounded, though a few eccentricities do appear in the form of extra combat tools, upgrading Romeo, and the hub base itself. The combat system is fairly simple with players having standard running and jumping abilities, dodge, as well as a mix up of light and heavy melee attacks and even a firearm that can be shot at foes at a distance. As players advance through the game they’ll obtain pins that unlock other abilities such as dodge rolling, air-dashing, and more but nothing too complex.

As for the weapon arsenal that players will be able to wield the game keeps it rather simple as well as melee weapons are relegated to a sword, gauntlets, a greatsword, and a shape-shifting spear. Despite the low number of weaponry available the combat feels fluid enough and works quite well no matter what type of weapon players select as their favorite, though fists turned out to be a personal favorite. As for firearms players get the standard starter pistol and can unlock a machine-gun, shotgun, and even a rocket launcher with each type having their own strengths and weaknesses such as ammo count, reload time, and damage dealt. Both types of weaponry are upgradeable using Sentrey obtained during missions via floating cubes or by compacting space-debris. Low-level upgrades make use of Green Sentrey while higher tier ones require limited Red Sentrey so players are encouraged to find a favorite weapon and build it up as much as possible. 

As players fight against the many different types of enemies that they’ll encounter throughout the stages they will constantly be filling up a blood meter. This blood meter, when filled, allows players to pull off a Bloody Summer special attack that not only deals massive damage but heals Romeo as well. Standard enemy undead are a dime a dozen in missions with their only variables being the clothing that matches the time period but other more powerful foes often have unique attacks and status afflictions that they can inflict on Romeo. These types of enemies also tend to have a flower blossoming on them somewhere which, if shot enough times, will instantly kill most as these flowers are weak points. Even boss enemies which tend to change the game up a lot when they toss players into the arena feature these same weak spots that must be shot at to deal extra damage.

Nearly every mission in Romeo is a Dead Man follows a unique but familiar loop of having to tackle a level that has its own unique mechanics on the surface that tend to revolve around similar elements in the end. Some missions might need players to restart generators throughout an abandoned mall (plenty of zombie film themes here), or navigate a city hall to track down clues to a safe, or even deal with some unfortunately forced stealth sequences in another. As players progress through the level they’ll come across TVs that teleport them to a puzzle-like subspace where key pieces can be assembled to fight against the boss as well as open up pathways that would otherwise be barred off in the real world. This system is a bit confusing at times, especially since some require a bit of backtracking, but rarely did they feel like a sticking point.

Once players do start to fight against a boss these enemies tend to feature quite a few unique mechanics as well such as area-of-effect attacks, their own status ailments, unique move-sets, and more to try and put players through their paces. Should players fall in combat they will be resurrected back at their latest “save spot” that also refills the player’s healing items. Death also comes with a game of roulette where Romeo’s mother provides him with a temporary buff selected by the wheel. It is worth noting that sometimes, especially in boss battles, players will want to avoid using the game’s lock-on mechanic as it is often more annoying than it is useful. This is especially true for quicker moving bosses or fighting mobs of enemies in general as the lock-on struggles with camera angles and large mobs.

When Romeo isn’t out slaying the undead or hunting down a fugitive, he will be spending the rest of his time on the FBI ship Last Night but the real twist here is the complete switch-up in graphics. Rather than a 3D action game the title transforms into a pixelated top-down 2D game instead as Romeo roams around the ship. Players can interact with crew members here, shop, take part in the nurse’s aforementioned quiz, and even help make some useful items and tools with the help of some family. Romeo’s younger sister, for some reason, runs a garden where players grow Bastards, the seeds zombies rarely drop or are obtained in boxes, and can be planted and harvested as unique skills on cool-down. Bastards come in many different kinds, ranging from kamikaze style ones, turrets, healing spires, thunderbolt raining ones, and more and players can eventually equip up to four at a time. 

The other family member happens to be Romeo’s mother and her curry. As players navigate the stars and fight through stages they’ll obtain various cuts of meat and curry ingredients to unlock recipes in the kitchen. Romeo’s mother will handle putting everything together with the player only needing to perfectly fry the meat in a challenging mini-game that is hard to get the hang of. The better the player does, the higher the grade of the food and longer lasting the buffs of the item. Other items such as drinks are also available but players are limited to only carrying three at a time and aren’t the most helpful, meaning they are better sold than stocked up on.

Other things players can do on the ship include replaying already defeated bosses by betting “Emerald Flowsion,” which serves as the upgrade and unlocking currency in the game, with higher difficulties offering better rewards, taking on randomized dungeons called Palace Athena with various difficulty levels and useful upgrade materials inside, and of course upgrade Romeo himself. While upgrading and unlocking weapons are as simple as can be, upgrading Romeo is a unique little game of navigating a maze with Emerald Flowsion as fuel. Various upgrades to things like health, damage, healing item total, and more are scattered throughout the maze and navigating it to obtain the most power-ups is up to the player. Thankfully players can choose to re-spec if they make a poor choice without consequence.

One issue that arose multiple times throughout playing Romeo is a Dead Man was slowdown both during action sequences, where too many enemies or blood effects were flying around on the screen, and oddly enough the in-between chapter scenes that would almost grind to a halt. The fight slowdowns aren’t too much of an issue and hopefully can be patched up but they are rather annoying especially if players are in a dangerous situation.

Audio & Visuals

Romeo is a Dead Man features quite a lot of different presentation methods. As mentioned earlier, any time players are on the ship they are given gorgeous looking 2D sprites while any time they are out on a mission they’ll be in full 3D action combat against numerous different types of foes that all splatter apart in satisfying fashion. Combat flows fluid enough when it doesn’t suffer from slowdown and the environments are detailed enough, though there is a bit of pop-in here and there. The cutscenes also, as mentioned before, have plenty of unique ways to show things off, be it comic-book style, full blown cutscenes, and more to keep things interesting.

The game’s English voice work is handled exceptionally well with the cast of characters sounding perfect for their roles here, especially when it comes to Romeo’s grandfather and his clear references and design. There is also plenty of emotion involved in some of the more dramatic scenes that play out that are voiced just as well, since not everything is a joke despite how things may seem most of the time. The background music offers a lot of variety that changes depending on the level. Players may be wandering the eerie halls of a location one minute to take part in a high-beat boss battle with some amazing sounding music and accompanying lyrics backing it to make each boss feel all the more important.

Overall

Romeo is a Dead Man is Suda51 at his finest. With his team at Grasshopper Manufacture they have crafted a uniquely strange and compelling storyline that is just shy of confusing and chock full of references and unique elements. The core combat is a bit on the basic side and so are the weapon availability but there is enough variety here to keep fans interested in returning for more and seeing every unique element that the team has managed to cram into this action game unlike any other. Newcomers to Suda51’s works may find themselves biting off a bit more they can chew initially, but those that stick it out will find out just how far a developer’s quirky designs can take them.

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