I’ve seen that term thrown around a lot in recent reviews and, as an ‘80’s kid, I can honestly say, there are few things in modern entertainment outside of Asian cinema that capture that idea in all it’s glory. And if there is any form of modern entertainment, especially in the videogame industry, that perfectly gets it, it’s a Suda 51 joint. And if you’ve ever played a Suda 51 game, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
And if you don’t know what I mean, then Romeo is a Dead Man might be the perfect place to start. It’s the definitive Suda 51 joint, a gonzo spectacle that throws everything and the kitchen sink at you while also been far more accessible than previous Suda 51 games.
Story – Multiverse Madness Meets Romeo & Juliet
Rome is a Dead Man is the quintessential tale of Romeo and Juliet, told through the lens of spacetime distortions, collapsing universes and multiversal mutations galore. This love story begins after an anomalous event destroys most of the universe, leaving pockets of space from different dimensions and timelines floating all over the place.
Into this existential crisis comes Romeo, now a “Deadman” after been revived with nano-technology after a fateful encounter with a white devil. Recruited by the FBI’s space-time division to hunt anomalies across the multiverse, while guided by the spirit of his grandfather as an animated image on the back of his jacket, Romeo must save what’s left of the multiverse, stop the timelines from imploding and find his Juliet amongst a plethora of murderous multiversal versions of herself.
If that doesn’t give you any indication for what a wild ride you’re in for, then nothing will!
Presentation – A Psychotronic Fever Dream
With my favourite opening to a videogame this year that starts with a miniature, stop motion aerial shot of a city that segues into a dash-cam horror sequence worthy of your local cinema, Romeo is a Dead Man feels like an experimental psychotronic movie. Various styles of storytelling are employed to tell this tale, from traditional cut-scenes to comic book panels to notes scattered across the environment explaining it’s metaphysical aspirations. It’s bizarre, doesn’t entirely make any kind of sense, but is a hell of a blast anyway.
Gameplay – Hack, Slash, and Absolute Chaos
Gameplay wise, this is a collection of mini-games wrapped around a 3rd person hack and slash adventure. Romeo is a Dead Man plays around with two main play styles: a full 3D hack and slash game that is more than a little reminiscent of Lollipop Chainsaw and, when you’re not slashing things into gooey bits, a top-down 2D pixel hub.
It’s all linked together by a bunch of mini-games like riding your motorcycle down an inter-dimensional highway, piloting a starship through extra-dimensional space while picking up items floating in the void and some platforming and exploration where you slip out of the real world into a form of cyberspace that has some freaky effects on how the world is composed of floating blocks that change in shape and size until you get close enough for them to form into a wall. It’s a really cool effect, but one that did give me a headache eventually.
The Hub – Where the Weird Gets Weirder
The 2D hub is where you meet and hangout with the Romeo is a Dead Man cast of colourful characters, learning strange conspiracy theories while cooking, planting a very specific type of crop and taking on new missions. You can upgrade Romeos’ weapons here as well as unlock new ones but, thankfully, these services are also open to you in the main levels.
Combat, Weapons, and Progression
When you do leave your spaceship, it’s to jump into a variety of levels set in different time periods but all contained within the remains of Romeos hometown. There’s a variety of mutants and occult beasties to fight, along with a whole bunch of zombies that bear more than a passing resemblance to the aliens from John Carpenters “They Live”. In fact there’s a lot of movie and videogame references throughout Romeo is a Dead Man if you’re eagle eyed and know your pop culture well enough.
Primarily this is melee focused, but you do have four guns at your disposal, from a shotgun to a rocket launcher, each having their own strengths and weaknesses, usually in the reload department. There are also four melee weapons to unlock, from a super-fast, blazing katana to spiked gloves and, like the guns, also have their own strengths and weaknesses. Larger blades, for instance, are slower to wield but do more damage.
You’ve got light and heavy attacks, a dash that transforms into a dash-roll after an upgrade, healing items and support items. This is probably, as traditional as the game is gonna get.
Difficulty, Upgrades, and Systems
Enemies start off slow, but soon transform into running demons that will mob you while you’re getting everything from explosive AOE’s to poison spewed at you. There are multiple items to pick up per level, from health items, to food to cook with, to items to upgrade your weapons with and, finally, Emerald Flowsion to upgrade Romeo with. Basically this is this games version of enemy souls and you need to start farming as soon as possible.
Flowsion is used to buy new weapons with and, when you upgrade Romeo, it’s through a PAC-Man like maze mini-game that has you riding over the upgrades you want while spending Flowsion to move. If I have one issue with the upgrade system, it’s that Romeo is a Dead Man doesn’t do an adequate enough job of explaining what some of the stats you need to upgrade do, especially on weapons. Attack power speaks for itself but some of the others? Not so much.
BASTARDS System – Yes, Really
One of your most useful support attacks comes in the form of BASTARDS. Essentially the games zombies drop seeds that, when planted, grow into zombies on your side. Each has it’s own special ability, such as suicide bombing enemies, and can be levelled up. You can also fuse BASTARDS together by letting them fight to the death with the winning bastard mutating into a new form with a new special ability, like a suicide attack that lets off a poison cloud at the same time.
They’re super useful throughout the game, especially during boss fights and horde moments. And continuing the quirkiness, a rolling wheel randomly picks their names and personalities.
Boss Fights and Frustrations
Boss designs are wonderfully creepy and gory and they put up a fair enough fight that requires you to pay attention to weak points while dealing with AOE’s and adds. Overall, the game puts up a significant bit of difficulty that requires you to do upgrading to survive the later enemy assaults. One issue that compounds the difficulty, and adds enough frustration to it, is the animation system in that you have to wait for attack and reload animations to complete before you can do something else.
So if you start to reload as a horde hits you, you won’t be able to dodge until you’ve finished the animation.
Visuals and Audio – Style Over Raw Power
Visually and aurally, Romeo is a Dead Man is a stylish blast of hyper-violence. It may not boast AAA visuals, but its unique art style and audio design means it always looks good and sounds wicked when dealing out ultra-violence or bizarre nightmare sequences.
Final Thoughts – Not for Everyone, But Worth It
Like all Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture games, Romeo is a Dead Man is definitely an acquired taste. But it’s one that brings a different flavour to what games can be if you give them a chance. And with a game that is more accessible than previous Suda 51 games, Romeo is a Dead Man is a taste you should take.
Romeo is a Dead Man Trailer
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The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.
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