Romeo is a Dead Man is a strange and bloody film, which is exactly what makes Grasshopper special

A surreal, postmodern tale of geopolitics. An amazing otaku’s journey to become the top ranked killer. A high school cheerleader who kills zombies with a chainsaw and pellets, and has a story co-written by James Gunn. Every project under the Grasshopper Manufacture umbrella feels like an unexpected tale.

Founded by Goichi “Suda51” Suda in 1998, the Japanese video game studio proudly carries the spirit of B-movies, mixing silly concepts with complex characters and waterfalls of blood dripping onto the screen. Over the years, the developer’s work has often received a mixed critical reception, and The Founder Not believed There is a game in Grasshopper’s portfolio that he might consider “financially successful.” However, it has also gained a loyal following, carving its own space in the industry with games that carry an indistinguishable look and feel. And few Grasshopper releases encapsulate the studio’s spirit more than its latest action game Romeo is a dead man.

Every game has an element of surprise. Whether it’s the visual style, relying on original songs (often rock-adjacent) or licensed soundtracks for atmosphere, or just being proudly goofy, their shared DNA is always portrayed in some way. It can be rough around the edges – combat and level design often takes a backseat to aesthetics – but games are always trying new things. While Suda has He distanced himself from The slogan is “Punk is not dead”, he still believes in the importance of doing something that others do not do, regardless of the financial and critical consequences.

Which brings us to Romeo is a dead man. It’s an action game starring Romeo Stargazer, a sheriff’s deputy who, on death’s doorstep, has a futuristic device implanted in him and brings him back to life as a dead man – half dead, half alive. In the process, he was recruited as an FBI special agent in Space-Time. His mission? To find Juliet – literally. As it turns out, his girlfriend appears to be an entity wreaking havoc in many timelines. Who better to stop her than her lover?

If this brief introduction to a science fiction story sounds confusing, don’t worry. It gets even weirder. Romeo is rescued by his grandfather, who travels from the future and then accompanies him on his crusade as a living sweater patch. The first timeline display of Juliet that he quarrels with is a huge, headless naked body called “Every Day’s Like a Monday” (no one tells Morrissey). You’ll spend most of the game fighting zombies, but you can also harvest them from a farm in your spaceship and use their abilities in combat.

The story doesn’t take itself too seriously. At its core, and similar to previous Grasshopper games, there are a large number of pop culture references: Back to the future, star wars, Twin Peaks, Clash, Mobile Suit Gundamyou name it. Romeo is a dead man It is also painstakingly self-referential. Romeo utters phrases like “fuckhead”, which is one of Travis Touchdown’s unheroic phrases in No more heroesas well as “Kill the Past”, the latter not only refers to previous games, but a collective term for games directed by Suda51 with similar themes and elements (see, it’s complicated). Every time you meet a new character or open a menu you’ve never seen before, there’s a chance to get a visual or written reference to a game from the studio’s collection.

Romeo The hallmark is telling this story through mixed media. It starts with a handcrafted diorama model, and follows influences from comic books, Japanese anime, live action, and pixel art. Right up until the end credits, I continued to be amazed by the sheer creativity on display and how it was all put together. It’s not as groundbreaking as, for example, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse It was animation as a medium. It’s more than homage. In 2026, this honor seems to be a culmination of the past two years. Grasshopper has been vocal about supporting indie games, including crossovers from a large number of indie studios such as in-game t-shirts in Travis strikes again: no more heroes, They appear regularly on Digital return Presents, the publisher behind Proverbs Lamb worship, Encryptionand Hotline Miami.

The latter is Suda’s favorite game, and he happily talked to me for an hour because of it 10th anniversary In 2022. As he put it, Hotline Miamiwhich was developed by a two-person team, rekindled the spark. “When I first started Grasshopper, I always had a bit of a preference and tendency to work with smaller teams, so even if we were working with larger companies on a bigger project, I always felt more comfortable in smaller teams,” Lee said. “So that was a little bit of motivation for me.”

Despite this, Grasshopper has a history of partnering with major companies. In the early days, the studio worked on games licensed to Bandai Namco, and The killer7 Posted by Capcom. The results were mixed. The most famous was the collaboration with Electronic Arts for Shadows of the damned. The project – which also involved developer Shinji Mikami, known for his work on it Vampire – He was tangled In a Constant creativity back and forthWhich resulted in five different drafts during development and many compromises to the original vision.

How did it all turn out? Let’s just say the name Damon Ricotello, the evil CEO of the company No more heroesand the opponent you’re fighting against, looks very similar to former EA CEO John Riccitiello.

In 2021, Grasshopper was acquired by publisher NetEase after a period under GunHo Online Entertainment. But the studio spreads itself Romeo is a dead man. In an interview with VGCSuda said that since the latest Grasshopper series is an entirely new series, the team wanted “to be able to put this game out the way we wanted to put it out there on our own terms.” Despite the financial support it received from its parent company, the studio model was not ideal. Clustering has been reduced And the 2024 report from Game file He suggested that the company plans to continue divesting from outside studios such as Grasshopper.

It is too early to predict how this will happen Romeo is a dead man Grasshopper will fare, both monetarily and financially. Like many of the studio’s games, it looks great and has great ideas, but it also has some problems. The combat system is flashy but superficial, focusing more on button mashing than any real strategy. The level design also hampers the pace of play, as you’re constantly forced to travel back and forth into the maze-like cyberspace.

but Romeo is a dead man It wouldn’t really be a Grasshopper game if it wasn’t a bit difficult. If anything, it’s the perfect showcase for what the studio is all about – drawing on three decades of experience to create an experience that’s strange, magical, and unlike anything else out there.

_{Romeo is a dead man Available on PS5, Xbox and Steam.}