Romeo is a Dead Man

Romeo is a Dead Man was provided by Grasshopper Manufacture for review. Thank you!

There are a lot of games that are released every year, and a lot of them have similar mechanics and styles to them. It makes sense why. These are tried and true implementations that have been proven to work. However, there are a few developers that break away from these traditions, and one of those is SUDA51. His games tend to break away from the norms, finding ways to create a compelling and enjoyable experience without needing to rely on the usuals. Romeo is a Dead Man is another great example of this, and while it is definitely my favorite SUDA51 game to date, it still has some fundamental issues that keep it from greatness.

It’s extremely easy to tell which games he has had a hand in creating, and Romeo is a Dead Man doesn’t shy away from his signature style. We constantly swap between multiple art styles, starting with 3D cutscenes, then comic book cutscenes, then going into our pixelated spaceship, and then swapping to full 3D models for the actual gameplay. Instead of it being jarring, I found the multitude of styles appealing and exciting. From the blood exploding every time we hit enemies and UI design, to the weird story and gameplay mechanics, it all feels characteristically SUDA51, for better and worse.

It’s kind of crazy to think about, but the story is a take on Romeo and Juliet that I never would have expected. We play as Romeo Stargazer, a deputy sheriff who finds a girl, Juliet, on the ground with amnesia. They strike up a romance, meeting at a diner, until she fails to show up and Romeo gets malled by a “White Devil.” With his face torn apart and arm ripped off, his grandfather, Benjamin, comes out of nowhere and fuses the Deadgear onto him. Now, with the power of the Deadgear, Romeo will join the Space-Time Force to take down threats across Space-Time, and hopefully find out where Juliet is.

If it sounds like a bonkers story, well, that’s because it is. I love weird stories like this, and boy, is this an interesting one. I was always curious about what would happen next and who Juliet actually is. The characters all have their own weirdness to them, too, ranging from our grandpa, who has become a 2D figure on our back, to our starship crew, which includes a humanoid cat, a scorched man, and a woman who is so snarky that we aren’t 100% sure what she even does. The crew also includes Romeo’s mother and sister for some reason, and there are some great conversations to be had with your sister throughout your playtime.

However, the actual storytelling feels disjointed, especially at the beginning. It starts off with Romeo’s dream where he is attacked and becomes Deadman, but then it goes into a comic-book cutscene detailing how he actually becomes Deadman, which is very different than his dream. Then, we skip ahead to where we are part of the Space-Time Force and taking down criminals who all seem to have some connection to Juliet. And as we complete these chapters, we get actual cutscenes of how Romeo and Juliet actually met and what they did. It wasn’t impossible to follow, but it was confusing to figure out what was actually happening and what wasn’t.

It all makes sense in reference to what Romeo is a Dead Man is about. We are traveling through space and going to different time periods to fight criminals, but it just doesn’t do enough to separate what’s reality and what’s not. This ultimately makes it tougher to follow along without extra questions about what’s actually happening.

Once we find our way to the dimensions to fight the criminals, we will mostly be spending our time in combat. The controls are pretty simple. We have the weak and heavy attack, as well as dodging, and an ultimate move. We can combo the weak and heavy attacks into each other to maximize our damage. We also have a gun that we can take into battle with us. Combat is flashy, with blood effects all around and dazzling lighting as we use our ultimate attack or even just switch to our gun. On one hand, it’s enjoyable to just see what happens as we fight.

On the other hand, the actual fighting feels stiff. There is no blocking or parrying in the game, so I would’ve expected the dodging to be more responsive and easier to use to make up for it. However, not only does it not feel great, but there were multiple times where I still got hit or died because the dodge wasn’t covering a long enough distance. The actual weapon swings can feel a little slow, and there were many times when I found myself surrounded and couldn’t move at all. I could still fight, but I would find myself getting attacked, which could ultimately lead to my death.

Bosses gave me mixed feelings as well. I enjoyed their design and liked the challenge, but it sometimes felt too challenging, and I had to rely on dying and coming back with a buff to beat them. The weakpoints some of them have are near impossible to hit, and need a lot of dodging to survive long enough to whittle them down. Some of the fights were manageable, but others were just obnoxious (Magrus is a nightmare).

There are four different melee weapons and guns to unlock, and while all of them feel unique from each other. I did have a preferred combination of weapons to use: Arcadia (Twin Spears) and Diaspora (Shotgun), and I liked the balance between using those. It was also nice being able to switch between them during combat as desired, which gave me a good feel of each weapon. However, I always found myself going back to my comfort zone.

To make things more interesting, we have Bastards. These are creatures that we grow like vegetables that we can equip and use special abilities. The best way I can describe it is a fusion between Personas and Pokémon. We will find seeds as we play, and once we get them appraised, we can plant them and equip them once they are ready to be harvested. Each Bastard has their own stats, and we have a Persona-esque fusion system to make them more powerful. With each having their own ability, like a suicide bomber or freezing the enemy, it can make combat more engaging, and despite some faults in general, I found myself enjoying the combat enough to keep grinding. There are also badges we can equip to augment our stats in some situations, but Bastards take the cake here.

If you are just playing through the game normally, progression can feel lacking, but there are some great ways to easily grind and get more materials and currency to get stronger. We will use our main currency from killing enemies to upgrade Romeo's stats from this Pac-Man-esque board, while we will use Sentry to increase our weapon stats. We won't get enough of these without grinding, but it's extremely easy to do. Dungeons can give us Sentry, while we can farm boss trials to get more of the main currency, and we can access both of these fairly early in the game.

Romeo is a Dead Man - Steam Deck Performance

While I wish Romeo is a Dead Man was playable on the Steam Deck, it unfortunately isn't able to keep a stable framerate. Even at the lowest possible settings with FSR 3 upscaling set to Performance, the framerate will drop in combat down to the low 20s or even the high 10s. It makes combat very difficult to handle, especially when there are a lot of enemies around. There isn't much we can do to improve the game on the Deck, so this will be one to avoid playing on the go.

結論

Despite the issues here and there, Romeo is a Dead Man feels like a SUDA51 game through and through, which is a compliment. There aren't many games that challenge status quos when it comes to their mechanics and style, but SUDA51 does. Does it work? Not all of the time. Can it be frustrating? Sometimes. However, there aren't many games that embrace this style and structure that direct correlates what the norms are. Thankfully, despite the hiccups, the game is still a ton of fun, and if you are a fan of SUDA's other games, like No More Heroes and Killer, this is going to be a must-have.

I do wish it performed better on the Steam Deck. This would be a wonderful game to take on the go and grind, but there isn't much more we can do to make it more playable.

このレビューはPC版に基づいています。

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