Romeo is a Dead Man is an action game in which you play as a guy named Romeo Stargazer who - in the first five minutes - has his face ripped off by some kind of demonic creature, only to be saved from the brink of death by his time traveling scientist grandfather and enlisted into the FBI’s Space-Time Police division and reborn as a cyborg known as DeadMan. Your enjoyment of the game may hinge on whether or not you vibe with this bewildering setup.
Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release date: February 11, 2026
It’s a bonkers premise that could only come from developer Grasshopper Manufacture, and the oddball creative minds of Goichi ‘Suda51’ Suda (killer7, No More Heroes, The Silver Case) and Ren Yamazaki (No More Heroes 3).
It’s quite appropriate, then, that Romeo is a Dead Man’s difficulty selection screen is presented as a literal box of chocolates, because you never really know what you’re going to get from a Grasshopper-developed game.
Romeo is a Dead Man is not a visually stunning tour de force for the action game genre. Its story that traverses time and space can be tough to follow along with, and its cast of utterly bizarre characters seems as random as they are deeply charming. It may even disappoint those looking for something as fleshed out as, say, a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, with its relatively straightforward combat and short runtime.
Me, though? Outside of some wonky performance issues (and a somewhat disappointing final act), I greatly enjoyed almost every moment of Romeo is a Dead Man in the 12 hours it took me to finish the game. And I loved it even more when turning up the difficulty for a New Game Plus run, as that’s where the game really forces you to learn the nuances of its combat, varied enemy types, and the hilarious ‘Bastards’ summoning system (more on that in a bit).
It might not be your pick for game of the year, but considering it’s not a full-price title, I highly recommend Romeo is a Dead Man if you’re in the mood for a wonderfully weird action game that’ll stick in the memory long after you roll credits.
Killing the past, again and again
So what is the deal with this Romeo fella? Long story short, he falls in love with a woman he finds injured on the road while out on patrol. She’s rather fittingly named Juliet, and after being rescued himself and enlisted with the Space-Time Police, Romeo learns that she’s an extraterrestrial capable of duplicating herself, adopting various powerful forms, and generally disrupting the flow of time. Hey, happens to the best of us, right?
Romeo is a Dead Man has a vibe all its own. My favorite thing about the game is that it's unashamedly unique in many aspects. The way it handles combat and its supporting systems is one thing, but the ambitious narrative that weaves together so many striking art styles is something that Grasshopper continues to excel at.
Thus, Romeo embarks on a quest (aided by the spirit of his grandpa, who assumes the appearance of a large patch on the back of Romeo’s jacket) to save space-time from Juliet and a menagerie of other very evil people.
It sounds utterly nonsensical, and that’s because it is, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary for games developed by Grasshopper Manufacture. What’s here in Romeo is a Dead Man isn’t as immediately parseable as, say, No More Heroes or Lollipop Chainsaw, but it doesn’t reach the dizzying ‘what on earth is going on’ heights of killer7 or The 25th Ward.
Romeo is a Dead Man, like the No More Heroes series, is a third-person 3D action game, but it loves to play around with other styles. Your hub is a spacecraft called the Last Night, and here you’ll be presented with a top-down, 2D pixel-based art style.
The ship is a joy to explore between missions, as there are plenty of colorful NPCs you can interact with for some fun dialogue. You might even recognize a couple of them from past Grasshopper works. My favorite has to be GreenRiver, a woman with - and I promise I’m not joking here - an encyclopedic knowledge of Premier League football/soccer club Manchester United and its most iconic strikers.
Vamos!
Jumping into combat, then - the thing you’ll be doing most in Romeo is a Dead Man - you’ll find gameplay that’s very easy to pick up, but deceptively tricky to master. Especially at those higher difficulties.
Playing like a mixture of No More Heroes and Shadows of the Damned, Romeo primarily attacks with melee and ranged weapons, of which there are four of each. The weapon types are your pretty standard affair at a surface level. On the melee front, a balanced beam katana-like weapon is accompanied by a heavy but slow greatsword, and fast and agile fists, for example. Your ranged weapon options include a highly accurate pistol, as well as a shotgun, machine gun, and even a rocket launcher.
Going into Romeo is a Dead Man for the first time, I quite wrongly assumed that the ranged weapons wouldn’t feel nearly as useful or impactful as their melee counterparts. In actuality, they’re arguably your most essential option in combat.
Your standard zombie-like ‘Rotter’ enemies will tend to rush you down (some even plagued with nasty status effects) and thus are best dispatched with melee. However, more specialist enemy types that dot mobs in less frequent numbers will typically require you to shoot at weak points first for massive damage. These targets should take high priority, too; one is a ballerina-like monster that can buff all other enemies around it. While another can drop dangerous landmines in your vicinity.
Combat can be tough as you dance around mobs and prioritize certain enemy types. Rotters are largely fodder, but they effectively act as fuel for Romeo’s ‘Bloody Summer’, a devastating attack that does massive damage to anything it touches, which you’ll charge up by landing hits on enemies in the first place.
The game’s superb boss fights will then take everything you’ve learned - knowing when to attack and avoid, and carefully hunting for weak spots on these larger targets - and bookend each chapter with style. Bosses have terrifyingly grotesque designs and come with several mechanics and moves of their own you’ll need to learn. Especially, again, at those higher difficulty levels.
Bring in the Bastards
Without a doubt, Romeo is a Dead Man’s weirdest, quirkiest, and most charming gameplay system is the ‘Bastards.’ You might want to sit down for this one. Bastards are zombie-like creatures (that honestly look alarmingly similar to killer7's Heaven Smiles) that you’ll grow and cultivate at home base on the Last Night.
They come with their own stats and parameters (such as attack power and cooldown rate), and a specialty to aid you in battle. During stages, you’ll collect Bastard seeds of three rarities, with the most desirable ones offering the most power, naturally.
By holding L1 and pressing another button, you can summon one of the four Bastards you’ve brought into a stage. There are so many different types, and almost all are useful and can help you form a playstyle all your own. One Bastard, for example, draws the attention of all enemies around it. Others still can freeze enemies, form a powerful energy beam between themselves and Romeo, and even plant a temporary weak spot on a foe.
There are tons of different Bastard types, to the point where I don’t think I even saw the majority of them in my initial 12-hour playthrough. You can even fuse two Bastards together, forming a new seed that, upon cultivation, will create a more powerful version based on those base Bastards’ stats.
It’s not the most straightforward system, but once I had my head around it, creating new and powerful Bastards almost felt like a game in and of itself. And with everything carrying over to New Game Plus (Bastards, Romeo’s stats, weapons, and more), there’s plenty of replay value to be had with Romeo is a Dead Man thanks to its fast-paced action and relatively short runtime.
Out of time
There’s a decent amount of side content in Romeo is a Dead Man, too, often rewarding you with upgrade currency and badges that you can equip to give Romeo various effects in battle. Partway through the game, you’ll unlock a Boss Rush-style mode, as well as Palace Athene; a procedurally-generated dungeon of four scaling difficulties that you’ll gradually unlock throughout the story.
I found Palace Athene to be the weakest aspect of Romeo is a Dead Man. All difficulties of it share a pretty bland street-like aesthetic, and its narrow corridors can make dealing with enemies a real pain. Worst of all, though, these dungeons completely tank the game’s performance - likely due to the entire thing being rendered all at once. It’s horrendous to play at the highest difficulty setting, as that’s where the largest dungeons lie, and those are populated by the highest volume of enemies.
Another thing about Romeo is a Dead Man that, I think, could’ve been handled better is its closing chapters. The final two levels heavily reuse assets and locations found elsewhere in the game. And while the last couple of bosses are brilliant, the act of getting to them is a seriously painful gauntlet that completely ditches the often clever and semi-explorable design of earlier levels.
It’s something that really strikes me as odd; Romeo is a Dead Man is a self-published game. Which means Grasshopper, presumably, wasn't tied down by strict publisher deadlines. It’s a real shame, especially given the relatively high quality of the rest of the game. Well, bar one horror-themed stage that strips all your weapons away for a forced stealth section. Wasn’t too keen on that part, either.
Stages are often interspersed with trips to an alternate dimension known as Subspace, and I'd say these were the weakest parts of the game for me. While they do provide a nice break from combat, they can often drag on a bit too long with mazelike design and extremely simple puzzles. They get worse as the game progresses, too, as they tend to get longer with each passing stage.
These issues aside, I found plenty to love about Romeo is a Dead Man. As a huge fan of Grasshopper’s prior works, I certainly wasn’t let down by the game, and I’m happy to see the creative juices flowing once again at the developer. Especially after the rather rushed and divisive (but still mostly great) No More Heroes 3.
Romeo’s eclectic shifting of art styles, amazing soundtrack, the way it tells its story across cutscenes, comic books, even one or two visual novel-style sections - it all adds up to form a wonderfully unpredictable ride; one I really didn’t want to get off.
Should you play Romeo is a Dead Man?
Play it if...
You feel the AAA space has gotten a bit bland
Romeo is a Dead Man is a sensational palette cleanser if you’ve gotten a bit sick of big-budget open-world games and the checklist-style design they often employ. By comparison, Romeo is an undiluted injection of fun, madness, and irreverence. It’s an extremely confident game that won’t be for everyone, but if you dig it, you won’t soon forget the time you spent playing it.
You want fast-paced combat with a twist
The Bastards system is a brilliant addition to combat in Romeo is a Dead Man, and can really help you overcome the game’s higher difficulties when used in creative ways. You’ll even randomly generate a name and hobby for them upon cultivation, lending a bit of personalized charm that makes me smile every time.
You like weird, offbeat stories
Romeo’s journey is far from simple, and the game has a story to back that up. It’s bizarre and unpredictable, but not so much that it comes off as contradictory or pretentious. A cast of intensely likeable characters, however minor, also really helps the story and its overall presentation.
Don't play it if...
You would’ve preferred a longer game
Romeo is a Dead Man is pretty lean, at around 12 hours long for a first playthrough on the standard difficulty setting. While I’d argue there’s plenty of replay value to be had (I’m halfway through my first New Game Plus run), the rather abrupt way the game wraps up could certainly leave you wanting more, as it did me.
Accessibility
There’s little in the way of dedicated accessibility options here. You can toggle melee and ranged weapon aim assists, and there are three distinct colorblind settings (protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia) available. You can also adjust the intensity of these colorblind options, too.
How I reviewed Romeo is a Dead Man
I completed Romeo is a Dead Man from start to finish in around 12 hours, on PlayStation 5. That playtime included the whole main campaign, all Palace Athene instances, some Boss Rush time, and heading off the beaten path to find optional upgrades and collectibles. I played the game with a DualSense Wireless Controller, on an LG CX OLED TV, and with my gaming headset of choice, the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS.
First reviewed February 2026
