Buckle up, space travellers. Grasshopper Manufacture has finally unleashed their latest brand-new IP, and it’s exactly as unhinged as you’d expect from the mind of Goichi “Suda51” Suda. ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is officially out today on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
If you’ve been waiting for a game that blends the stylish gore of No More Heroes with a Rick-and-Morty-esque trip through a shattered multiverse, your ship has come in.
The Story: Love, Death, and Space-Time Police
You step into the boots of Romeo Stargazer, a deputy sheriff who has a very bad day involving a “White Devil” monster and a sudden case of being dead.
Thanks to some questionable “DeadGear” hyper-technology provided by his mad-scientist grandfather, Romeo is revived as a “DeadMan”—a being caught in a perpetual time paradox between life and death. Naturally, the FBI’s Space-Time Police immediately recruits him to hunt down interdimensional fugitives.
While you’re busy painting the cosmos red, Romeo is also searching for his missing girlfriend, Juliet. But in a Suda51 game, “finding your girlfriend” usually involves fighting 16 different versions of her across various dimensions.
Gameplay: Blood, “Bastards,” and… Curry?
The game is described by the developers as “Ultra-Violent Science Fiction,” and they aren’t kidding. Here is what you can expect from the gameplay loop:
- Hack, Slash, and Shoot: Romeo switches seamlessly between laser swords and guns to tear through waves of enemies known as “Bastards.”
- Bloody Summer: By absorbing the blood of your fallen foes, you can unleash a screen-clearing special attack that turns the game into a kaleidoscopic explosion of gore.
- The Ship Hub: Between missions, you hang out on your FBI spaceship. In a classic Grasshopper twist, this hub is rendered in 16-bit pixel art. You can chat with a talking cat, cook health-restoring curries, or tend to a garden where you grow zombies that assist you in battle.
- The Pac-Man Upgrade Path: To upgrade Romeo’s stats, you don’t just click a menu; you navigate a large, Pac-Man-inspired maze using experience points to unlock new paths.
Initial Critical Reception
The reviews are landing, and like most of Suda51’s work, ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is proving to be a “love it or hate it” masterpiece of “punk” game design.
| Publication | Score | Takeaway |
| 8Bit/Digi | 10 / 10 | “Balls to the wall outrageous.” |
| Game Informer | 8.25 / 10 | “A bizarre, violent, and unexpectedly thoughtful style.” |
| The Guardian | 2 / 5 | “Sprawl feels disappointingly directionless… like a child mashing toys.” |
| OpenCritic | 72 Avg | Strong recommendation for die-hard Grasshopper fans. |
“ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is our first original title in quite some time… I really wanted to create a character who could be loved by game fans the world over.” — Goichi Suda (Suda51)
Should You Play It?
If you’re looking for a polished, triple-A cinematic experience with a “normal” story, look elsewhere. But if you want a game that feels like a playable fever dream, features a soundtrack by Japanese rap legends Scha Dara Parr, and lets you grow a zombie sniper in a garden—this is your Game of the Year.
ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is available now. Go get weird.
Find out more here – https://romeo-is-a-dead-man.grasshopper.co.jp/en/
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