When I previewed ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN back in January, I had said that it didn’t take very long during the initial trailer to realize it was a Suda 51 game—granted, as a fan of KILLER IS DEAD, the name was certainly a bit of a giveaway. Despite my brief time with it, I could already tell the game was going to be something special, but I don’t think I was fully aware of just how special.
Maybe I just have a soft spot for Goichi Suda, but the man has yet to put his name on a project that wasn’t genuinely good—even ones where he couldn’t fully realize his vision. The more I played ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN, the more I realized that not only was it an interesting game with a lot of ideas and things to say, but it’s also one of the most insanely fun action games I’ve played in a while.
I spoke about it a bit in my preview, but the story of ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN feels at the same time unbelievably crazy and seriously meaningful. It stars the titular Romeo, who is almost immediately killed by his first encounter with a white devil. However, his grandfather, the brilliant and enigmatic Professor Benjamin, appears out of time, and injects him with the Deadman Life Support system, transforming him into the Sentai-esque killing machine known as Dead Man—because apparently “Almost Dead Man” didn’t sound cool.
However, the plot goes even deeper than that. Romeo is contracted by the FBI to join their Space-Time Division in order to catch monstrous criminals operating across the continuum after a cataclysmic shattering of space and time was supposedly caused by Professor Benjamin’s early experiments with time travel. One of these fugitives just so happens to be the love of Romeo’s life, Juliet Dendrobium.
I said in my preview that I got the sense it’s meant to feel very disorienting, but that’s very much on purpose. While it does feel like it’s meant to capture a sense of swirling emotions, it’s also often offering a critique on the nature of self, the proliferation of violence, and the and conflction between strength and weakness. It was something I noticed in how quite often, every character will call Romeo by his name, only to correct themselves and refer to him as “Dead Man.”
This was expanded by some of Romeo’s own internal and external dialogue that seemed to suggest a conflict within him. At his core, he appears to be a kind-hearted, small-town sheriff’s deputy who isn’t inherently violent, but his desire to keep the people he cares about safe and his belief in the ideals of law pull him towards a darker version of himself.
It was something that resonated with me, as I began to wonder whether, by his own doing, the events of the plot or the machinations of those around him, the idea of Romeo was being destroyed so that Dead Man could take over. This is just ONE of the ways ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN’s narrative dives into interesting themes and continuously provides the player with concepts to think about.
“…there’s just such a unique vibe to ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Suda 51 story if it weren’t rounded out by a cast of unique and memorable characters, and ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN has them in spades, including Romeo himself—a half-man, half-robot with a distinct yellow jacket and a Super Sentai jumpsuit, underscored by a melted face and horrified eye peaking out from the mask (if you can get a glimpse of it).
Professor Benjamin himself is quite clearly based on Rick from Rick and Morty—an eccentric scientist with questionable morals. Then there’s Agent RedBrown, an anthropomorphic cat, TheBlack, a charred face inside a flaming portrait, and many more. And it’s not just the protagonists either. All the villains have an unbelievable presence both before and after the fight. Much like No More Heroes, they stay with you even after you’ve killed them.
The narrative is complemented by gameplay that feels both new and like a combination of the unique ideas from several of Suda’s previous games. Foundationally, it’s probably most similar to Lollipop Chainsaw—insofar as it’s a mix of hack n’ slash and third-person shooting, and the majority of enemies are zombies. But the combat adds some unique elements that reminded me a lot of Killer7.
For one thing, certain more monstrous enemies have weakspots that can be targeted with Romeo’s ranged weapons, and utilized for quick kills if they’re destroyed—similar to the weak spots on Heaven Smiles. Secondly, Romeo can use the blood of his enemies to charge a special attack called Bloody Summer, which not only does a ton of damage to anything on screen, but will also refill Romeo’s health relative to the damage dealt.
It adds an interesting risk vs. reward system to the combat, where staying in it and fighting effectively can actually go a small ways towards covering for any mistakes or hits taken. And like Killer7, ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN breaks up the action with a certain degree of surrealism—having Romeo explore a strange Subspace to move through levels, and find what is essentially the “Boss Key.”
But it’s the way ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN builds on top of its foundation that makes it feel so fun and unique. In between story missions, players can move around the FBI’s space-time spaceship, the Last Night—although they can also return to it during missions if need be. From here, players have access to a wide variety of upgrade options, most of which take the form of fun minigames.
Players can cook Katsu Curry with a reflex minigame, unlock upgrades for Romeo with an 8-bit exploration minigame, or even cultivate Bastards—usable zombies that provide assistance to Romeo in battle. Players can control the Last Night, moving it along a straight line in space and picking up items or space debris to convert into upgrade material, and there’s a dating sim-esque minigame that I haven’t quite figured out yet.
“And like Killer7, ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN breaks up the action with a certain degree of surrealism…”
Not only that, but ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN gives players procedurally generated dungeons called the Palace Athena that allow them to grab weapon upgrade materials if they reach a part that’s too difficult for them to proceed. If you’ve never played a Suda 51 game before, it might feel like an overwhelming amount of content, but if you’re familiar with them, then you’ll feel right at home.
And there’s just such a unique vibe to ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN. It starts with the big things—as I mentioned in my preview, it’s got a visual style that is constantly changing—the realistic graphics and lighting during combat missions give it a strangely grounded feeling and make the monster look much more terrifying. The 16-bit aesthetic for the Last Night gives it a classic RPG feel, which goes well with the ship’s function as your base of operation, and where you do the majority of character management and the animatic comic book cutscenes give the game a pulpy, grungey feel.
And it extends to the smaller details, like how the over-the-top blood spray and neon lights of Romeo’s sword and guns, combined with voxel effects, contrast against the realistic visuals and make it feel more videogamey. Or how a version of Professor Benjamin exists as an animated character on Romeo’s jacket and reacts to environmental details, and converses with Romeo during missions.
Even smaller details like how the Katsu Curry minigame applies a kind of cloudy effect to the screen to emulate old anime, or the silly deathmatch animation used for fusing Bastards, give ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN such a distinct sense of personality and make every moment memorable—and that Game Over screen is one for the ages!
And this is all backed by an absolutely BANANAS soundtrack, and some of the best sound design I’ve experienced in a video game. Combat uses hard rock that slowly builds and gets more intense as levels progress. Boss fights have some absolute bangers—sometimes accompanied by lyrics, which makes any battle better—every room of the Last Night has its own theme, every minigame has a unique theme; the attention to audio detail is incredible.
Even the wails of the basic zombies are used to a genuinely creepy effect. Every big Rotter is given a distinct sound and screech, so players are actually able to tell what a creature is, even if its off screen. This goes for attack telegraphs too—big Rotters will usually accompany certain attacks with a sound, giving keen-eared players the knowledge of how to dodge and when.
I could go on and on about ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN, but I think by now you get the picture. Even thinking about it as I’m writing this review just makes me want to play it more. If you’re a fan of Suda 51, then you’re absolutely going to love ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN. If you’re not, playing this will undoubtedly make you one.
