Romeo Is a Dead Man | Xbox Review

If you’ve played a Suda51 game, you know if you’re a fan or not. They’re out-there, wholly unique experiences. I’m a fan of his work, so I was eager to get my hands on his newest title, Romeo Is a Dead Man. I’m happy to report that I largely enjoyed my fourteen hours with this brilliantly bonkers experience.

Back From the Dead

You are Romeo Stargazer. Romeo is dying and as he’s drawing his last breath, his freakishly young Grandpa injects him with a solution that revives him. He’s officially a walking dead man. After this, you’re recruited to be a Space-Time agent (codenamed DeadMan) and sent to multiple dimensions to find your missing girlfriend Juliet while also finding and fighting fiendish criminals. I don’t want to spoil any more of the story, as it’s best experienced in the moment. I will say that I loved the Lynchian influences that I picked up while playing, and I was fully invested in Romeo’s journey.

The game offers three different difficulty levels during your first playthrough. There’s White Chocolate (Casual), Milk Chocolate (Normal), and Orange Chocolate (Hard). Once you select which chocolate you want, Romeo ingests it and it can’t be changed later. I chose to play on White Chocolate due to previous experiences with Suda51 games, and I still faced a decent challenge while playing.

Rocket (Launcher) Man

Combat is a huge part of Romeo Is a Dead Man. You’ll constantly face waves of enemies while traveling across dimensions. While the types of foes quickly became repetitive a few chapters into the game, it was still a blast to mow down groups of enemies at a time. Bosses are satisfying and provide a nice challenge. You have to learn their attack patterns and figure out when to use melee or ranged weapons.

You have access to four ranged and four melee weapons, but only have one of each when you start the game. I highly recommend unlocking the other six in the second chapter so that you can play around with them and find your preferred combo. It is a bit of a hassle to swap weapons, though. Instead of being fluid, you have to hit the d-pad then a face button to choose a different weapon. This caused me to suffer damage often in the middle of battle.

Another important aspect of combat is the use of Bastards. These are companions that you can call into battle and they’re extremely helpful during boss battles. They range from being able to heal you to freezing enemies so you can attack them while they’re immobilized. The nature of obtaining Bastards is suitably wacky. You gain seeds after killing enemies, and you have to travel to your spaceship to grow these seeds. Once they’re ready to harvest, you literally pluck your Bastards out of the ground like vegetables. I enjoyed planting and harvesting Bastards and finding the right ones to bring with me into battle.

It’s also essential that you upgrade Romeo and his weapons. This is done by using a material called Flowsion. You’re able to level up your weapons by using this, and you also need it to play a minigame that enhances Romeo’s health, blood charges (these fuel a special attack called Bloody Summer), and influence the amount of healing items that Romeo can carry.

Pretty as a Picture

Romeo Is a Dead Man is a gorgeous game. I adored the graphical styles the game implements. Yes, styles plural. Besides the traditional 3D visuals, the game also has pixelated sections and even comic-book inspired segments that were a feast for the eyes. I also enjoyed the score and found the music to perfectly complement what was occurring on screen. These aspects really had me absorbed in the crazy journey I was on with this game.

A Glitch in the Matrix

I only had a couple of complaints with Romeo Is a Dead Man. When I would try to activate Bloody Summer, it often wouldn’t respond and I’d take damage. When it did work, it was majorly helpful, as it restores a chunk of your health. I don’t know if this is just an issue on Xbox or if others have also had trouble activating Bloody Summer. I also noticed that the framerate would drop significantly during cutscenes. It’s not a game breaker, but it did put a damper on the fascinating story that was playing out. These are really the only issues I encountered while playing.

Romeo Is a Final Man

Romeo Is a Dead Man is definitely a Suda51 game. It features a bonkers story, weird enemies and environments, and blood-soaked violence. It’s a blast mowing through enemies, boss fights are satisfying, and the graphics are a treat to behold. Dropped framerates during cutscenes and issues with activating Bloody Summer were small bummers for me, but this is still very much worth diving into headfirst. If you love Suda51 experiences, this is a must-play.

This review is based on an Xbox copy of Romeo Is a Dead Man provided by Renaissance PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation and Steam.