If you’re aware of Suda51 and his work, you’ll know the man is bonkers. He’s bonkers in the best possible way, but he’s still bonkers. His previous works, games like Killer7, Lollipop Chainsaw, and No More Heroes, epitomise his design philosophies as hyper-stylised, super-violent, utterly bizarre action epics.
His latest title, Romeo is a Dead Man, was revealed earlier this year, and its trailer couldn’t have represented Grasshopper Manufacture better if it tried. It depicted a horrifying death, an even more gruesome revival, and quantities of blood that rival the entire Saw franchise.
I knew when I stepped into my Gamescom preview of the game, I was going to have a good time. What I didn’t expect was that Romeo is a Dead Man would become my favorite game of the show, especially in a year when I got to play one of my most-anticipated titles ever, Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Grasshopper Manufacture At Its Finest
I spoke to Suda51 after my time with Romeo is a Dead Man, and he told me that the game was inspired by Rick and Morty, as well as a thought he had about what would happen in Back to the Future if Marty died and Doc had to revive him. It’s a bananas premise, and typically Suda, but one that lends itself perfectly to the game in hand.
I stepped into the shoes of Romeo Stargazer, a regular guy who died and was revived by a surgically implanted piece of “super technology”. This new implant gets Romeo hired by the space-time department of the FBI, and he begins his wacky quest throughout space and time to find justice, alongside his lost girlfriend, Juliet.
I was never bored and always had a smile on my face.
I was dropped into my demo with four ranged weapons, four melee weapons, four Bastard Attacks, which can be used to summon a range of elemental helpers, and a Bloody Summer for each weapon, which is effectively an ultimate attack.
Variety is truly the spice of life in Romeo is a Dead Man. Every weapon had unique properties; some were slow and powerful, others dealt less damage but were much quicker. It meant that I was never without something that suited my playstyle or the situation at hand.
As is to be expected, combat was pretty fast-paced, with multiple extra-terrestrial enemies thrown my way. Each slash of my sword felt punchy, and filled the screen with blood, and the ability to switch between melee and ranged attacks on the fly helped the flow of combat. Mixing in the Bloody Summers and Bastard Attacks added for more welcome variety.
This, like many of Grasshopper’s other games, will be how much of the time in Romeo is a Dead Man will be spent. Fighting hordes of enemies across linear levels, before moving on to the next. The way the narrative looks set to be interspersed, and the game’s mixture of combat styles, meant that while its premise is simple, I was never bored and always had a smile on my face.
A Space-Time Situation
I think where Romeo is a Dead Man is going to truly shine is in its settings. While many of Grasshopper’s games have been set on Earth, in both real and fictional cities, this game will span multiple locations across the universe, alongside trips into “Subspace”, something of an alternate dimension. The freedom to create these new fictional worlds, not limited to the confines of Earth, means Suda and his team will be able to really let their hair down.
My demo featured a marsh-like area filled with swamp zombie creatures, as well as a trip to Subspace to find keys in a multi-layered level. It culminated in a boss fight of epic proportions. I was hit with a fancy cutscene in which a character slits her throat, rips her head off, and throws it into a fire, before transforming into a hideous behemoth. It was then down to me to tackle the beast.
While the actual fight itself was nothing to write home about, it was mechanically pretty simple; its design excited me. I’m not entirely sure how early in the game the demo was, I presume it was pretty early, but if this was any indication of how wild things are going to get, we’re in good hands.
Romeo is a Dead Man also keeps things fresh with a melding of art styles. There’s one for the cutscenes, another for active gameplay, and a third, comic book style, to highlight important moments or interactions between characters. It meant there was never really any visual fatigue, and I see it remaining that way throughout.
Romeo is a Dead Man was my highlight of Gamescom 2025. The section I played was exceptionally well written, genuinely hilarious, and full of brutal, bloody violence. It was a game that was on my radar, but one I hadn’t paid too much attention to. That’s now changed, and it’s one of my most anticipated titles of the next year.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 74/100 Critics Rec: 67%
- Released
- February 11, 2026
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Grasshopper Manufacture
- Publisher(s)
- Grasshopper Manufacture
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action, Science Fiction
