Goichi "Suda51" and Grasshopper Manufacture require no introduction, as they have developed some of the quirkiest games ever released on PC and consoles. After working on new entries in the No More Heroes series and Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, the legendary game designer and his studio began working on Romeo is a Dead Man, their first IP in a very long time, which looked like a Suda51 game through and through, even in its announcement trailer.
The game's unmistakable feel was also evident in the short demo I was able to check out during Gamescom 2025, with intense action and an overall artistic direction that I have found close to Quentin Tarantino's style, something I told Suda51 himself when I had the chance to speak with him about Romeo is A Dead Man.
Besides saying that he is often told this, Suda51 also discussed how the game's story and setting were heavily inspired by Back to the Future and FBI TV shows. I couldn't see much of this influence in the Gamescom demo, but after playing through the game's first two chapters in a more relaxed setting, these influences are difficult to ignore. It is difficult not to notice how Romeo is a Dead Man has the potential to become one of the best games ever made by the Japanese development studio.
According to Suda51, "Romeo is a Dead Man" was inspired by a "what if" scenario from Back to the Future: what if Marty McFly died? What would have Doc Emmett Brown done? He would have gone back in time and saved Marty. And this is precisely what Benjamin Stargazer does to save his nephew Romeo, returning to the moment he was going to be killed by a mysterious creature, fitting him with the Dead Gear Life Support System to save his life.
This, however, creates a Time Paradox which shatters the space-time continuum, transforming reality into a chaotic multiverse. To restore the world, the FBI Space-Time Division recruits Romeo, who becomes an agent under the name of DeadMan. Traveling through space-time, Romeo will not only pursue some heinous space-time criminals, but also seek his girlfriend, Juliet, who appears to be connected to the major crisis that has disrupted the entire universe.
If this premise sounds a little confusing to you, you are not alone. In its first two story chapters, Romeo is a Dead Man feels like a mish-mash of very diverse concepts, where the aforementioned influences are blended with a gameplay formula that's markedly Suda51. The hack-and-slash experience is fairly straightforward, combining melee and gun combat in a simple yet effective way, enriching both with unique mechanics such as Bloody Summer - an all-powerful attack that can be unleashed once enough blood has been gathered - the Bastards - special skills unleashed by friendly enemies with a lot of different offensive and support effects - and the ability to shoot weak points on certain enemies to deal massive damage.
While the game's very first chapter is essentially the entirety of the Gamescom 2025 demo set in a swamp area ending with a boss fight against one of the many versions of Juliet roaming space time, it's the second chapter that proved to be the most surprising, to me. Following some story sequences aboard The Last Night ship, which serves as the central hub, rendered with a top-down view and 16-bit visuals, Romeo is sent to his baptism of fire in an abandoned mall to seek out a space-time fugitive who has been wreaking havoc across time.
It's in this mall that the very diverse ideas behind Romeo is A Dead Man started coming together. While the Dead Rising inspiration was evident throughout the stage, fighting zombie-like enemies using newly unlocked weapons like the fists and heavy sword weapons, unleashing Bloody Summer to restore health in a bind, and jumping between real space and Subspace, an alternate dimension accessed by using an old TV set showing a mysterious individual making almost nonsensical philosophical commentary, to reach power generators scattered all over the place is quite fun, thanks to a somewhat intricate level design that makes it easy to look past the relative linearity of the game's world. As is the battle against the space-time criminal, who turns into the massive Enhanced Phantom whose diverse moveset puts Romeo's battle skills to the test, forcing him to move between two different floors to avoid powerful area-of-effect electric attacks.
As highlighted by the Back to the Future and Dead Rising inspirations, Romeo is A Dead Man often feels like a celebration of entertainment media as a whole. The references are scattered everywhere, even in Romeo's progression systems, which include a sort of minigame that plays like a classic labyrinth arcade game from the 80s to increase his stats, and a Pong-like minigame that must be completed to pinpoint the next space-time anomaly, and thus criminal to take down. All of this does make the experience feel a little messy, but it's undeniable that it also gives Romeo is A Dead Man a certain charm that is too often missing in modern AAA video games.
With the game's first two chapters being so markedly different from one another, I really can't wait to see what else Romeo is A Dead Man has in store, and if the quality on display in the first hour or so of the game will hold up for the rest of the experience. If it does, I am confident the game has the potential of becoming one of the best games ever made by Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture when it launches on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on February 11.
Tested on PC. Preview build provided by the publisher.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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