There are very few game developers that can say they make more unique games than those of Grasshopper Manufacture. For decades the wild minds of Suda51 and company have been pumping out completely outrageous titles, from the penis obsessed Shadows of the Damned to the wanking obsessed No More Heroes. I love weird games as much as the next sicko, but I must admit not all of these bizarre adventures have clicked for me. Despite this somewhat hit and miss ratio I’m still always excited to play the next new Grasshopper title, and in the case of Romeo is a Dead Man I’m rather glad I did.
In this particular sci-fi epic you play as the titular Romeo Stargazer, who almost immediately becomes a Dead Man. It was a patrol like any other for this small town cop, but upon finding a dead body lying in the street he was attacked by a monster and left bleeding out. Thankfully his scientist grandpa (who is absolutely just Doc Brown with another name) rushes in and stabs him with a needle that turns him into a badass warrior cyborg. Then the entire universe is wiped out, and Romeo joins the space FBI to try and save the day from time travelling criminals. Yes it’s as weird and wild as all of Suda’s games, and is compelling from the first cutscene to the last.
As a time travelling secret agent it’s your job to travel through time and space and take down the four most wanted criminals from across time. These villains have done everything from organ harvesting to human trafficking throughout the ages, and the worst part is that one of them is your girlfriend Juliet. There’s drama aplenty in this story, but it doesn’t take away from the flashy action.
For the most part Romeo is a Dead Man is a character action game, where you’ll use various weapons and combos to take down enemies. You’ll always have a melee weapon at your disposal, and these all have light and heavy attack combos. Alongside this you’ll also equip a gun, which you can aim and blast at any time. The most effective way to beat most foes is by destroying their glowing weak points with your firearm for massive damage, but switching between melee and ranged is a great way to keep enemies at bay especially while you reload.
Alongside basic attacks you also have a special attack called Bloody Summer. This builds after you smash through enemies with your melee weapon of choice (I was a fists only kind of guy) and when you unleash it you deal a good chunk of damage while also healing. This and dodging furiously are the best ways to survive in Romeo is a Dead Man, but even on the standard difficulty I died (or I guess double died?) plenty of times.
The best way to ensure you die less than me is to take advantage of your Bastards, who are zombies you grow in a garden on your spaceship. Different Bastard seeds produce different Bastards, with some dealing damage via gunshots or swirling tornadoes, some revealing extra weak points, and others providing zones of healing. These undead sub weapons work on a cooldown, so you don’t really have to worry about wasting resources to use them. To get even better bastards you can fuse them too, which obviously takes the form of gladiatorial combat.
Your pixel art hub base ship has a whole host of other odd activities you can partake in to get stronger too, like an arcade game that grants you stat boosts for exploring its maze. You can also make Katsu by playing a cooking minigame, and convert currency in a pachinko machine. There are more normal ways to boost your power in the ship too, like by unlocking new weapons or boosting the ones you have. It always felt rewarding to return between missions, as there’s so much to do that feels pretty damn impactful in combat.
There are so many weird elements I haven’t even mentioned yet in Romeo is a Dead Man, ranging from the exciting to the baffling. No Grasshopper game would be complete without weird mandatory minigames, so I hope you like draining excrement. Each area you fly to is themed in a unique way too, be it a psychiatric hospital where you can’t use your weapons or a UFO cult base where medallions change the tides. Nothing is ever normal in Romeo is a Dead Man, and if you’ve played a Suda51 game before you’re probably not surprised by that.
There are some odd elements that do detract from the game somewhat though, like the other dimension sections that see you wandering through areas of coloured blocks. It doesn’t take long for these other worldly sections to become rather labyrinthine, and I got lost and frustrated quite a few times while trying to find where to go next.
If there’s one thing Romeo is a Dead Man doesn’t struggle with, it’s style. Visually the game is glorious, whether you’re on the retro spaceship or on the ground slicing through foes. The enemy design is fantastic too, with each new encounter bringing with it a new horrifying visual. The soundtrack needs a shout-out, especially for the catchy as hell “I’m a Dead man” track that I cannot stop singing while walking the dog at 3am.
I had a lot of fun with Romeo is a Deadman, but it does have some frustrating elements. The optional content you can play between missions is almost entirely dull, featuring identical mazes full of enemies that feel like a massive chore to play (and which are so at odds with the rest of the game). The combat also never really evolves as you progress, and is always a tad too simple and a little repetitive. The main stages aren’t created equal either, which I felt was especially brutal in the hospital level which featured almost an hour of slow paced exploring and miserable stealth sections.
Romeo is a Dead Man is a suitably batshit crazy game, with a story that’s almost incomprehensible and style coming out of its neon arse. Its combat while not revolutionary is perfectly serviceable, and the variety of weird stuff the game gets you to do never gets old. Romeo is a Dead Man may not be the very best Grasshopper Manufacture game out there, but it’s one I won’t forget in a hurry.
