Some developers need no introduction, and that’s typically the case with Goichi Suda, perhaps better known as Suda51. When his name is attached to a project, you know exactly what you’re getting: a twisted narrative, outrageously violent combat, and a heavy dose of dark humour.
Even though Romeo Is A Dead Man is his first new IP since No More Heroes 3, it possesses all the familiar hallmarks of a Grasshopper Manufacture title—for better and for worse. There’s a confounding story at its core, and the combat is as graphic and gory as ever, but it never truly pushes the studio’s boundaries in any meaningful way.
A Fever Dream You Don’t Wake Up From
On the surface, Romeo is A Dead Man’s plot is surprisingly straightforward. You play as Romeo—sorry, “Dead Man”—an intergalactic FBI agent travelling through time and space in search of Juliet, your long-lost love interest.
However, the story leans too heavily on monologues and exposition dumps, especially towards the end, where major revelations are awkwardly delivered through Romeo conveniently “remembering” key details. These moments feel manufactured rather than earned.
The supporting cast fares no better. Despite an initially intriguing line-up, most characters lack depth, with Grandpa Ben standing out as an exposition device. New concepts—particularly the game’s wilder time-travel ideas—are quickly explained away, stripping them of any real intrigue.
As for Romeo himself, he’s an oddly inconsistent protagonist. On one hand, his confusion works as a blank slate, making it easy to project yourself onto the story, as his cluelessness often mirrored my own.
That being said, this same passivity feels like a slight narrative crutch. His emotional attachment to Juliet—the supposed heart of the entire game—never feels fully convincing. Despite her being the driving force of the plot, I struggled to empathise with Romeo’s seemingly misplaced desire to find her.
Bloody, Flashy, and Repetitive
If there’s one area where Romeo Is A Dead Man initially excels, it’s definitely the combat. True to Grasshopper tradition, the game delivers fast-paced, stylish encounters filled with fountains of blood and over-the-top finishing moves.
In the early hours, combat feels energetic and engaging. You’re regularly introduced to new enemies, and experimenting with the relatively small roster of weapons is genuinely fun. However, as the game progresses, combat quickly becomes repetitive; enemy variety drops off significantly, with familiar foes and recycled mini-bosses appearing far too often.
On the hardest difficulty, balance issues also become apparent. There’s limited build variety, and it’s possible to stumble into setups that trivialise most encounters. Late-game enemies can be swiftly dispatched with the Diaspora, Romeo’s shotgun, turning what should be climactic battles into routine exercises.
I can imagine plenty of fans out there will praise the fact that unlocking all of the weapons is incredibly easy, as it allows you to experiment with your playstyle freely, but it had the inverse effect on me. I quickly found what I liked and felt no need to use anything else. No combat encounter required me to think differently or use a different piece of gear; instead, I was able to push through the entirety of the game with the same set-up, spamming the same attacks until everything was DEAD DEAd DEad Dead…
Time Travel Has Never Seemed So Dull
Level design is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the entire package. Given the game’s focus on time and space travel, the potential for creative environments is enormous. Instead, you’ll visit uninspired locations like a town hall (twice), a shopping mall, and an asylum.
Now, any setting can be made interesting if the level design is engaging, but that’s where Grasshopper Manufacture dropped the ball. All you’ll find are corridors and box rooms to fight waves of enemies in, with the former seemingly at odds with the weirdly intimate camera angle.
However, nothing is worse than the repeatable Athena dungeons. With only a handful of room layouts, you’re funnelled through tight corridors and generic box-shaped arenas. While designed for grinding for Sentrey, the items used to upgrade weapons, they’re so monotonous that revisiting them feels like a chore.
Funnily enough, a lot of the game isn’t even spent fighting, as Romeo often finds himself in Cyberspace. It’s similar to Stranger Things’ Upside Down, where it’s an alternate version of the present reality. Your movements in here echo where you move in the “real world.” It’s a fun change of pace at first, but before long, this too overstays its welcome.
One thing that Romeo Is A Dead Man deserves credit for is its style. Bold colours, exaggerated animations, and surreal enemy designs ensure that the game rarely ever looks boring. Grasshopper isn’t afraid to experiment with different aesthetics. The cutscenes shift from comic panels to admittedly choppy renders, and the gameplay goes from blood-spewing hack-and-slashing to pixelated character management aboard the Space-Time Ship.
Unfortunately, I can’t remain positive for too long, as my playthrough was marred by technical issues, including regular frame rate drops. I encountered several glitches, including one that just killed a run with the final boss—Romeo was almost literally glued to the floor.
Romeo Is A Dead Man Review Verdict
Romeo Is A Dead Man is a game that embodies both the strengths and weaknesses of Suda51’s creative philosophy. It’s stylish, bizarre, and unapologetically excessive, delivering exactly the kind of experience long-time fans may expect. At its best, it’s entertaining, absurd, and visually striking.
At its worst, though, it’s repetitive and frustratingly shallow. The narrative struggles to balance complexity with coherence, with the emotional core failing to strike true. Combat is the highlight, but it quickly falls into a repetitive nature that’s bogged down by uninspiring level design and frustrating performance issues.
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Romeo Is A Dead Man
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Romeo Is A Dead Man
