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On February 11, 2026, Grasshopper Manufacture will be releasing their newest title, Romeo is a Dead Man, to the world. This character action game will be bringing gamers back into the twisted punk rock reality of Suda51’s Kill the Past as the titular Romeo travels through time and space to hack and slash his way through hordes of zombies and other creatures in order to have an encounter with the mysterious Juliet. Is this game just as great as Suda’s previous titles? Or has Grasshopper lost their touch? Let’s break down Romeo is a Dead Man piece by piece and decide for ourselves.
Simple and Sweet Combat
Romeo is a Dead Man’s combat is quite simple, just like Grasshopper’s other action games. Most of the player’s engagement will be slashing enemies with either quick light attacks or slow heavy attacks. Most enemies will be felled within a few hits, although you’ll have to be careful as Romeo doesn’t begin with much health.
The game features four different weapon types, which all play slightly differently from each other while still following this framework of light and heavy attacks. Each weapon’s combos are very simple, but they all have a satisfyingly visceral feeling as they tear enemies into pieces and leave a bloody mess.
Speaking of blood, as the player slices through enemies, they will slowly fill up their blood gauge, which, when filled, can unleash a super attack called Bloody Summer. This attack is not only very strong (about as strong as hitting an enemy with 5 heavy attacks), but also heals the player if they hit enemies with it.
This creates a delicate balancing act during boss battles, where the player will either save their Bloody Summer attacks for when they get hit in order to heal back that health, or use them immediately and trust in their own ability to not die before they have a chance to charge it up and heal later.
In addition to your basic melee weapons, players also have four different guns they can use, ranging from a simple handgun to a machine gun. These provide quick ranged attacks that are just as bloody as your swords.
If your choice of gun or weapon isn’t to your liking, there is no punishment for entering the stage with them, as the game allows you to switch weapons at any time with a press of the D-Pad.
The only issue with this combat is, unfortunately, the gunplay. While all of them control well and are satisfying to use, none of the game’s guns truly felt useful compared to the melee weapons. Even a fully upgraded shotgun will do less damage than a single strike of Dead Man’s sword. By the end of the game, the only time I would use guns was when faced with flying bat enemies who are difficult to hit or to shoot a boss’s weak point.
While that isn’t a major issue, as clearly encounters like that were what the guns were designed for, it is unfortunate that shooting through zombies just because you feel like it isn’t really an option.
There is a naked honesty to Romeo is a Dead Man’s combat. You have your basic attacks, guns, and a super move. That’s it. In recent years, character action games have been bloating themselves with mechanics like perfect dodges, parries, mid-combo weapon switching, and other such things. With so many games striving to be as intimidating as possible with incredibly high skill ceilings, it’s nice to have a game like Romeo that scales back the genre and just wants you to enjoy hacking and slashing through everything.
One of the coolest things about Romeo is a Dead Man is how upgrading your stats works. From any save point or a machine in your spaceship, the player can engage in a small minigame called Bloody Summer where you must spend currency obtained from killing enemies to move a small character through a maze collecting icons that improve Romeo’s stats, such as health, physical attack, and how effective your items are.
Not only is this a cool way of allowing the player to choose which of Romeo’s parameters they want to upgrade, but because it is both completely optional and can be reset at any time (refunding the player for anything they put into it), it also allows for hardcore players who want to attempt a minimum stat run to do so without pressure.
Player choice and variety during combat are big factors in making character action games work. Knowing that the way you’re slashing through these enemies varies even slightly from a friend of yours can make a world of difference in making your playthrough feel unique. With the choice of what melee weapons, guns, bastards, and even stats you’re entering each stage with, it’s easy to imagine that your Romeo is a Dead Man playthrough will be completely unique to you.
Overall, I found the gameplay loop and experience of Romeo is a Dead Man to be extremely thrilling, and when my playthrough ended, I longed for more. Fans of action games will be more than happy playing this title.
Constantly Improving Level Design
The level design in Romeo is a Dead Man can take some getting used to. As the player is constantly traveling between the real world and subspace in order to traverse through the level. Which can get very confusing very fast as you try to wrap your head around which areas of subspace correspond to which parts of real space.
This is only really a problem during the stages in the first half of the game, which don’t put their best foot forward. Running around the mall and City Hall is undeniably fun, but the teleportation between the two spaces to get around walls in what would otherwise be short stages just makes them feel more padded than necessary. Especially as there are no enemies in subspace areas until later in the game.
In my personal opinion, the second half of the game, where each stage appears to be parodying different genres of gaming, is when it truly begins to shine. From an island with an underground mine whose antagonist acts like a Far Cry villain to an insane asylum ripped straight out of the Survival Horror genre, these are the moments that will stick with players long after the game is finished.
While the game doesn’t feature many full-length stages, players can extend their playtime by tackling a handful of optional stages called Palace Athene. These stages consist of a handful of rooms that spawn in hordes of enemies for players to fight in order to obtain rewards like equippable badges, which affect their stats.
If the Palance Athene stages (which last only a few minutes each) aren’t quite enough to quench your thirst, the game also features both the ability to refight bosses on a higher difficulty and a boss rush to truly test your skills.
I’d actually like to spend some time praising the survival horror-styled stage I mentioned earlier. The level designers at Grasshopper deserve the highest praise for this section and for how they were able to make the tone of the game change to that of a different genre flawlessly and naturally.
This segment is short, but it’s genuinely terrifying. Going through these cramped hallways, worried that the monster will appear and grab you, the horrifying bodies that you will find, and the sharp noises ringing in your ears will make you wish to the heavens above that the next door you open will send you back to the action game you were in minutes ago.
Moments like this stage serve as an unexpected reminder about how the Kill the Past franchise began with the PS1 horror title Moonlight Syndrome and how dark the atmosphere of The Silver Case was. While it is unlikely, I would love to see what a full-length survival horror game would look like from Suda51 in the modern age.
Kill the Past
Speaking of Suda51’s prior works. Let’s take a few moments to discuss Romeo is a Dead Man’s place in the vague Kill the Past franchise. Because make no mistake, this title is a Kill the Past Game through and through. Perhaps more so than other titles like No More Heroes III.
Defining the Kill the Past franchise and what counts as a game in it can be very difficult, especially when you’re doing your best not to spoil any plot point in a review, but I think defining this series goes far beyond including simple character cameos from games like The Silver Case (though the cameos in Romeo is a Dead Man were very fun to see).
No, this has always been a franchise defined by what themes and emotions are conveyed. Needless to say, a game where the protagonist is literally traveling to different time periods has a lot to say about how much we care about other people’s past, our own, and how time itself can be both terrifying and useful.
There is very little about the second half of this game I can talk about, because I don’t know how one would put it into words without sounding like a madwoman. If you have played any other Suda51 game, you can surely imagine the type of madness that awaits you. If you are unfamiliar with his previous works, the only advice I can give you is to be ready not to understand on a purely logistical level.
This game’s story and presentation cannot be approached in a cynical way. One must be willing to openly and honestly put their straightforward emotions into it the same way that Romeo himself does. There is genuine heart put into this story, and it must be responded to in kind.
It is very rare for me to be able to speak about music when writing a game review, as I am not very familiar with the technicalities of what makes music good or bad. Despite that, I feel the need to make mention of Romeo Is a Dead Man’s soundtrack here. As I would be astonished if it weren’t the best soundtrack of 2026.
Magnificent Music and Presentation
Dozens upon dozens of guest artists were brought on board to make music for this title, and all of them brought their best. Every single battle theme, especially those that played in boss fights, was an absolute gift to the ears. If your tastes lean toward rock or rap, at least a few tracks in this game’s OST are going to dazzle you.
Now, while Romeo is a Dead Man is a phenomenal game, there are a few technical issues that I must talk about that I hope get patched out before they affect the experience of other players. The first has to do with a strange framerate issue, which I consistently experienced in one area of the game, one that kept repeating.
For some reason, whenever the game spawned in the Palace Athene room that had several storage shelves and boxes from the mall stage at the beginning of the game, the framerate would drop to a nearby unplayable level until I ran out of the room. When it comes to technical aspects of games, I am not a knowledgeable person, so I couldn’t even begin to explain why this one room seems to kill the performance. I can only say that I hope this minor issue is fixed.
Another problem that plagued my playthrough in a larger way occurred during the game’s survival horror sequence, which I had praised earlier in this review. For some reason, if the player were to die during this segment (which happened to me twice), when they respawn, they will be unable to move Deadman at all, forcing you to close and restart the game.
While I didn’t lose any progress because of this glitch due to the sequence having very frequent autosaves, the mere act of having to restart the game completely kills the atmosphere and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
Closing Thoughts
Romeo is a Dead Man is a weird game. Its level design is strange, its story actively tries to push people away, and at any given moment, the whole world can break apart as a new style is thrust upon the player. This is one of the weirdest games released in recent years, and I think it’s art.
While one’s mileage on the Kill the Past games (especially recent ones) will vary, I found Romeo is a Dead Man to be a nearly perfect game. It’s definitely not for everyone and will inevitably push people away with its strangeness, but I can’t get enough of this.
With a single playthrough clocking in at about 12 hours (if one does the optional Palace Athene stages), Romeo is a Dead Man doesn’t overstay its welcome and is the perfect length for this style of game. Aside from a few technical issues this is as close to a perfect action game that I can imagine. You owe it to yourself to play Romeo is a Dead Man, a genuine game of the year contender so early in the year.
Romeo is a Dead Man
Bottom Line
Romeo is a Dead Man is a near perfect game that is sure to give anyone who is craving for a good action game or is a fan of previous Suda51 works will absolutely love. Do not miss out on this title which is a genuine game of the year contender.
