While patrolling a sleepy town known only for its tomato fields, rookie officer Romeo Starglazer makes the surprise discovery of a body in the middle of the road. Things quickly take a dark and hazy turn, resulting in Romeo on the brink of death. This isn’t the end for our law-abiding hero, however – the FBI Space Time Police come to Romeo’s aid, patching him up via cybernetic technology. Seeing great potential, he’s now their latest recruit, tasked with stopping Space Fugitives – while tracking down his girlfriend Juliette using the time-travelling tech afforded. Romeo isn’t alone in this quest, joined by his famed inventor grandpa, who exists as embroidery on Romeo’s stylish leather jacket. Not even TK Maxx could boast such fine attire.
If all of this sounds like a lot to take in, that’s because it is – and it’s exactly how this latest gory hack ‘n slash from Grasshopper Manufacture (Killer7, No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw) begins. The last time we saw an exposition dump of this magnitude was during the opening text crawl for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If you’ve played past works from the studio, though, comical introduction scenes that mix reality with sci-fi fantasy won’t be anything new.
This whirlwind tour of events, going from a routine patrol to a time-travelling spaceship, makes for a heady and imaginative opening, fuelled in part by the lavish presentation and stylish visuals. Cast aside expectations of scrappiness in the wake of No More Heroes 3, as Romeo is a Dead Man is one of the most polished productions of recent times, boasting richly detailed visuals, contemporary comic-book style cut-scenes, eye-catching transition screens, and all manner of mini-games for even the simplest of tasks. Together with a pixel art hub and the occasional 2D interlude, this makes for an experience that constantly grabs your attention, especially if you have a penchant for dazzling particle effects. And who doesn’t?
We aren’t quite out of No More Heroes’ shadow here though. Romeo is armed with a laser sword and a ranged plasma launcher as default, and must head to different points in time to take down a chain of monstrous abnormalities. Each requires a frequency-emitting shard to locate, which can be tuned within the Space Time Police’s shuttle via a mini game, before flying through asteroid fields on a pre-set (linear) path. You’ll get to visit a dated Dead Rising-style American shopping mall, a multifloored town hall, a ‘60s cultist camp built on an underground tomb, and a derelict asylum where Romeo must sneak past fowl beasts patrolling the hallways.
That Dead Rising comparison is apt, as Romeo is up against undead adversaries known as Rotters. They shamble forward and are quick to surround, yet easily taken down with a few sword swipes, mixing light and heavy attacks. Romeo cannot block or parry, making the combat here feel more simplistic than in similar games, limited only to a dodge move. Ranged weapons meanwhile are used to hit larger foe’s weak points and to take down flying enemies such as crows. Every stage introduces one or two new enemy types, with larger tank-like foes more frequent over time, while infected Rotters can cause negative statuses requiring cold medicines to cure.
Four melee and four ranged weapons can be unlocked from the outset, varying from mechanical gloves to a slow-to-reload rocket launcher. This means you’re able to start upgrading and experimenting with weapon combos almost straight away. Adding further scope for experimentation are the delightfully named Bastards – hand plucked zombies with different abilities, recalling the zombie farming adventure DEADCRAFT. Up to four Bastards can eventually be carried, each on a cooldown. They’re grown back at the spaceship hub, giving something to invest in between missions, and each has a randomised name. To level them up, they must fight in an arena, with only the victor surviving. There’s a wide range of Bastards to unlock, varying from healing beacons, lightning/poison spitters, sentry turrets, and one that even turns into a bowling ball. It pays to keep them levelled up, and they can be switched out mid-mission if a combo isn’t working out.
The space ship hub, viewed from a top down perspective, also has numerous characters to converse with – including a talking cat and a painting – with each room serving a purpose, ergo worth visiting during downtime. There’s a katsu-curry cooking mini game, with each dish bestowing a temporary perk, and an arcade-style maze game to play which involves collecting incremental permanent upgrades. Although it’s impossible to die in this Snake-like endeavour, it’s still a pleasant diversion. A good thing too, seeing it’s pretty much essential to play it after finishing a mission. Boss battles can be replayed from the hub too, referred to as Trials. If you’re looking for more ways to extend the runtime, most stages have optional dungeons with goodies such as cooking ingredients, arcade-tokens, cold medicine, and Bastard seeds. Most can be simply purchased though if you’re ever running short.
An element from Dark Souls features too, in that saving – which restores health – will see enemies respawn. Early on, this is pretty much unavoidable, as there are very few ways to regain health otherwise. During the final hours however, Romeo’s special attack – fuelled by spilled zombie blood – will restore some health, while one of the Bastards can create a healing circle that’ll restore almost a full gauge – providing you’ve come across the required seed.
A typical mission lasts 1-2 hours, culminating in a runtime of around 12 hours. While a couple of stages have new gimmicks, such as an AI controlled zombie buddy, most follow a formula. To wit: while hacking through legions of undead, progress to the next area will at some point be impeded by a locked door or gate. To get around this, Romeo must enter subspace via “Nivana TV” sets – with subspace being an abstract world formed from floating neon cubes, complete with distorted smooth jazz. Subspace often needs to be pieced together, forming bridges and such, until the next TV is found – which will then warp Romeo to a new floor or previously inaccessible location within the real world. This can result in both exploration and light backtracking, as you try to figure out which TV to leap into and which exit to take in subspace. Keys, which aren’t always literal keys – sometimes being swords – can also be found to clear pathways. Voyaging into subspace and back keeps things non-linear but can also be a little confusing if you’ve overlooked a TV. Thankfully, there is a map, and Romeo’s grandpa will sometimes chime in with guidance. He’ll inform when your Bastards are ready, too.
Puzzles help to break up the monotony of subspace, all of which wouldn’t feel out of place in a modern Resident Evil, involving setting clocks to the right time and locating safe combinations. Special attention has gone into the asylum’s puzzles, as they involve altering the faces of deceased test subjects to match mugshots – with some genuinely humorous results.
While boss battles are quite the spectacle, mostly being colossal masses of flesh and bone, very few fights left a lasting impression, and their difficulty doesn’t rise much – with the final boss being the rare exception. These battles take place in small square locations and usually entail just a couple of attack phases to memorise. You may have to avoid projectiles, leap over ground hazards, shoot weak spots, or simply back away and wait for an opening while the boss charges around. That said, most deaths are likely to be the result of a boss fight, as they can deal hefty damage in a single blow. On the easier difficulty, a roulette wheel can be spun in hope of an instant revival and a perk, while on the harder difficulties the katsu curry power-ups can give an advantage if a battle is proving tough.
Romeo is a Dead Man is very eager to please, and it does so admirably with its stylish presentation, lashings of gore, outlandish humour (“Unleash the bastards!”) and occasional change in pace to keep things fresh. Just when you think you’ve seen everything, it’ll throw a new mini game or fully animated anime cut-scene your way.
While I did expect the combat to be more advanced and technical, it’s still quite satisfying, and the need to find decent Bastard loadouts compensates for some lost depth. Although it plays it quite safe with the boss fights, this isn’t to the game’s detriment. What really dragged the experience down is the final hour, set entirely in subspace; ergo the same floating void with neon-hued cubes seen throughout. The only shake-up is that enemies are now present, and must be defeated before progressing. The town hall location is also reused around the halfway point, but it’s altered in such a way that this isn’t an issue, despite the layout being identical.
In the end, the impactful opening scene makes for both a great first and lasting impression, and the experience overall does a pretty good job of maintaining that energy and chaos through its slick presentation and fast-paced combat – as brainless as it may be. A sci-fi romcom is an idea only Grasshopper Manufacture could come up with, and they’ve managed to make good on such a daft premise, a few hiccups in the space-time continuum notwithstanding. At a time when most big budget titles play it extremely safe, Romeo is a Dead Man is quite the treat for anyone who relishes irrelevancy and has a hankering for something violent.
Grasshopper Manufacture’s Romeo is a Dead Man is out 11th Feb on PS5, Xbox Series and PC. Published by NetEase Games.