Romeo is a Dead Man | Review

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Genres: Action game, Adventure

Publisher: Grasshopper Manufacture

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• weird yet fun take on the classic Romeo & Juliet love story
• the weirdness is here
• campaign can be short if rushed
• side content for padding
• gory
• challenging boss fights
• intergalactic time travel
• interesting npcs on Last Night
• I miss the open hubs from NMH
• great music
• cheesy voice lines
• Romeo and Juliet
• 10 plus hour beeline campaign
• played on Xbox Series X
• great price at $49.99
• jank is real
• NG+
• various weapons and upgrade system
• hated some of the Nirvana TV sub space mazes

Introduction

Romeo is a Dead Man is the kind of game that shouldn’t exist in 2026, and that’s partially why I like it. It’s unapologetically weird, but is ‘weird’ enough to save it from its own jank?

My history with Grasshopper involves beating all of it’s No More Heroes videogames. I played some Let It Die lol. unfortunately, I barely played Killer 7 and never touched Lollipop Chainsaw. Regardless, I do “get” Grasshopper Manufacture’s output in regard to video games.

Presentation

It’s a visual lo-high rez mixtape. You’ve got Unreal Engine 5 stuttering cutscenes clashing with 16-bit pixel art and pulp comic panels. It’s messy, but it has a soul that most AAA games are missing. Visually, Romeo Is a Dead Man has a similar presentation to No More Heroes 3 minus the open hub which I wished Romeo had incorporated.

Technically Romeo is a hack N slash video game running on current gen hardware that looks good at face value in-game but never ran smooth and looked slobbery, sloppy and choppy in cutscenes. Right now I am confused if the Owl Diner cutscenes ran like choppy doodoo or the game designed those sequences on purpose to mess with my head?

Story

The multiverse-style Romeo and Juliet plot is bonkers. It’s Suda51 levels of ‘don’t ask questions, just go with the flow.’ It kept me hooked but not THAT hooked, even when I had no idea what dimensional timeline I was in.

Gameplay

This is where the ‘Dead Man’ part feels literal at times. Romeo Is A Dead Man is a third person hack n slash game. The combat is a good hack-and-slash, but it lacks the precision of a DMC or Bayonetta. It feels a bit floaty and janky just like No More Heroes.

The Last Night is the base hub where you talk to NPCs, cultivate Bastards (zombies) to use on missions. You can upgrade pretty much all of Romeo’s abilities at The Last Night or at space pharmacies in missions.

Boss fights were main event level for sure. I just wished Romeo had a world much like Travis Touchdown did but keep all of the intergalactic time travel shenanigans in place. The game is $49.00 for a reason I suppose. But alas, the gameplay is true Grasshopper so I am cool with the gameplay for what it is.

The “Hate” Section (Maze Padding): We need to talk about the Subspace sequences via Nirvana TV points. These felt like pure padding. Taking a high-energy weird action game and forcing me into a slow, ‘Tron-lite’ confusing at times maze is a pace-killer. It’s the definition of ‘fat’ that needed to be trimmed.

Visuals

Visually, it’s a 7/10 video game because for every beautiful stylized room, there’s a low-res texture staring you in the face. Yet there is a beautiful high-rez lo-rez visual presentation overall to Romeo Is a Dead Man that I enjoyed. Past and present visual art merged etc etc.

Sound | Music

The OST is the standout here featuring real artists—lo-fi beats mixed with heavy metal and contemporary sounds. The music in boss fights were top notch. The music as a whole was weird yet good is the best way I can describe it.