Romeo is a Dead Man Preview
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure I understand what’s going on in the upcoming Romeo is a Dead Man. In all fairness, though, Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda51 aren’t exactly known for coherent narratives. What they are known for is surprising games that push boundaries, conflate genres, and surprise players. All those things are abundantly true of Romeo is a Dead Man. I had the chance to spend some hands-on time with the game, and I came away intrigued, a little bewildered, and definitely interested to see where it was going.
Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?
Ok, here’s the story as I understand it so far. You play as Romeo Stargazer, a young sheriff in the American West. Romeo is killed in a fight but resurrected by technology invented by his grandfather. Romeo wears the Dead Gear, a high-tech helmet that keeps him alive. Since this is the story of Romeo, there must be a Juliet. In this case, she’s Juliet Dendrobium, who was Romeo’s girlfriend until she mysteriously disappeared.
Romeo is recruited by the FBI Space-Time Police to track down enemies in different dimensions of time and space, many of whom have assumed the appearance of Juliet. At your side are your grandfather Benjamin, your half-sister Luna, and your mother, each of whom has functions aboard the FBI’s interstellar space ship that’s your home base.
Space Jumping
Romeo is a Dead Man might best be described as an action RPG. After all, there’s third-person combat, leveling, and a lot of the mechanics we expect from the genre. On the other hand, there are also first-person sequences, and the spaceship is in the style of top-down, retro pixel games. For example, scanning different time-space anomalies means playing a simple, Pong-like game. There’s a certain logic to the crazy-quilt of genres. Romeo is a child of the 2000s, so it makes sense for Romeo is a Dead Man to be an encyclopedic array of classic-type games.
On the spaceship, Romeo forms connections with the crew, learns recipes from his mother, and Luna teaches him to grow crops. During the game’s combat action sequences, Romeo picks up items to use back on the ship to craft upgrades.
With a game like Romeo is a Dead Man, I’d usually say that combat is at the heart. Not sure that’s true in this case. More like, combat is a coequal branch of government. The third-person action sequences feature fast and bloody melee combat. Romeo has light and heavy attacks and special, devastating attacks that are gradually powered up. Now and then, he comes across TV screens that optionally transport him to Tron-like wireframe arenas for bonus bouts of combat and rewards.
Stop Making Sense
Suda51’s games are known for being audacious and kind of messy. Romeo is a Dead Man jumps between genres and styles so often that there’s sometimes a whiplash feeling of disconnection. From the early hours of the game, there’s also a sense that not everything has been given equal attention. At least at the start, the missions onboard the retro-style spaceship are uninspired, with eminently skippable dialogue. Having to engage in cozy game-like crafting in the middle of an action title didn’t help Romeo’s momentum.
Red flags aside, action combat is fast and fun and feels good, though the game’s dodge mechanics aren’t entirely fluid. Romeo is a Dead Man does a great job of capturing the visual spirit of a variety of genres, accompanied by an equally diverse soundtrack.
More than anything, Romeo is a Dead Man feels like a game that’s terrified the player will get bored by doing any one thing for too long. Jumping between genres and visual styles can be exhilarating and slightly incoherent at the same time. Once past the opening chapter, things settle down a little, and I’m curious to see where both Romeo the character and the game as a whole end up. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet didn’t end well for anyone. Let’s hope the game learns that lesson.
***Preview code provided by the publisher***
