GamesRadar+ Verdict
An oddly emotional game, Romeo is a Dead Man is Suda51's best in years, marrying entertaining combat with pop culture references and constant creativity. Get through the game's somewhat flat start and you'll find auteur game design at its best – idiosyncratic, strange, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Pros- +
Combat is fun once you get through the early levels
- +
Wildly creative, taking its visual style through space time
- +
Emotionally nuanced
- -
Systems can be difficult to understand
- -
FOV is too small and cannot be changed
- -
Time travel not used to its fullest extent
- The best adult board games in 2026
- The best board games in 2026, chosen by expert reviewers
- The best 2-player board games to try in 2026
Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Somewhere in the later stages of Romeo Is a Dead Man, the latest game from Japanese auteur Suda51, I started thinking about post-structural critical theory. That's not something my mind tends to explore all that often while gaming, but I kept thinking back to Roland Barthes' Death of the Author. At Romeo's hands, such a death would be a gory affair, assembling meaning from text out of mulchy scraps – but beneath the punk edge I can't help but feel how much the game feels like one of Suda51's most personal works, wearing its beating, bleeding heart on its sleeve. Romeo is a Dead Man's climatic hours are permeated by a kind of melancholy that brings to mind Neon Genesis Evangelion, where sadness is not the overriding emotion but certainly present, and imbues all else around it with a touch of blue.
It had been a long journey to get to this point. The introduction to Romeo Is a Dead Man sees a young cop with a head full of conspiracy theories, Romeo Stargazer, getting killed by a monster after he and his partner pull over to help someone in distress. He's then wince-inducingly injected in the eye by his Doc Brown-inflected scientist granddad, and resurrected. (If that's the treatment I ever need, just let me die, I'm just saying.)
Hacking and slashing across spacetime
Release date: 11 February 2026Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SDeveloper: In-housePublisher: Grasshopper Manufacture
From there, you get a whirlwind of activity as you join the FBI Space-Time Police, and jet off on a spaceship in search of monsters that threaten the universe, with levels taking you through various time periods (but never further than the mid-20th century, sadly). One of these monsters in question appears to be Juliet – Romeo's missing girlfriend and love interest, natch, but also far more eldritch than he remembers.
Between his ultra-violent time-traveling adventures, Romeo spends downtime on his spaceship, The Last Night, rendered as a top-down 16-bit RPG where you cook katsu curry, upgrade your stats by moving through a maze on an arcade machine, and speak to the other members of the FBI Space-Time Police, most of whom have somewhat unhinged personalities. It's a testament to the game's variety and stylishness that it's capable of pulling off this perspective shift without it seeming like a gimmick.
Romeo is a Dead Man's core loop is rooted in fairly standard hack and slash, character action-style gameplay that'll feel familiar to anyone who's spent time with No More Heroes of Shadows of the Damned, having Romeo slash through hordes of rotters (zombies) with two of eight weapons at his disposal – four melee, four ranged. For my money, the best is the Star Destroyer, a huge, heavy sword reminiscent of the Soul Edge, paired with the weighty Diaspora shotgun. As you make your way through levels, your grandfather, now a living back patch on your jacket, will give you pointers and banter with Romeo.
Mixed in with the standard zombies are special enemies. You have scorpion-looking zombies that shoot projectiles at you, ballerinas with tutus of flesh, and quite a few more, each with weak spots that enable quick takedowns. The enemy variety isn't stunning, but it's good enough, and all meshes together well to provide just enough diversity in how you splatter foes.
The first few levels can be a real slog. The second full level, set in a 1980s mall, is a particularly low point. Your weapons are so low-level at this point, requiring Sentrey, a resource found throughout various levels, to upgrade, that you feel like you're blowing spitballs at enemies rather than wielding a technologically-advanced shotgun. Each level ends with a boss fight, and it's likely that some will find the Mall's boss too tough to endure, and give up. This isn't helped by the game's field-of-view, which is tight and claustrophobic. Multiple times, especially in early levels, I would get sideswiped and killed by an enemy that I had no way of seeing coming. I like Romeo's character design, too, Grasshopper, but I don't need to be getting a piggyback ride from him.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ NewsletterContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.I am become Deadman
The difficulty curve inverts as your weapons become silly powerful.
Past the slow start, however, Romeo is a Dead Man really begins to get up to speed, the difficulty curve inverts as your weapons become silly powerful, and you are become death, destroyer of rotters. As you smash your way through enemies, you harvest their blood before unleashing a special move, called Bloody Summer, which does tremendous damage and heals you – which means I rarely had to worry about Romeo's hit points in later stages (especially with a few side dungeons under my belt). Healing is otherwise provided by space-time pharmacies dotted around the level – use one and enemies will respawn, much like Dark Souls' bonfires, or you can even return back to The Last Night.
Romeo is a Dead Man is best when putting you in charge of overpowered action, but at times Romeo will need to challenge his noggin, too – barriers within levels forcing you to enter subspace by speaking with a suited man in a J Edgar brand TV (as usual) in order to clear them. These might be fun palette cleansers if they were ever clear about what you needed to do, their orb-based challenges eventually, I realize, revolving around smoothing out the jagged spheres. Likewise, the Sentrey Forge back at The Last Night, where you can supposedly create more of the resource from space debris, is a system that remains impenetrable to me. Once I understood the orb puzzles, subspace became a nice break in the action, but it's a shame I felt unmoored when first asked to step away – something No More Heroes did a better job of implementing.
Still, Romeo is a Dead Man might be one of my Games of the Year, even if this fantastic, violent adventure comes with a few qualifiers. It doesn't take long for the combat to become a snappy delight as I tear through legions of horrors, the action rarely letting up. Similarly, a slew of media references manage to feel charming and well-judged, enhancing rather than drowning out Romeo is a Dead Man's own personality.
There's a repeated reference to The Clash, each level begins with an Oscar Wilde quote, and Morrissey lyrics (from before all his recent unpleasantness) are referred to on the title screen and in the name of a boss fight. The music, too, is a consistent bop throughout, and while goofy, it's suitably creepy at times, too. One level, set in an asylum, uses cockroaches as visual shorthand for horror and otherworldliness in a way that reminds me strongly of John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. Romeo is a Dead Man Suda51's best game in years, and while certainly not for everyone, it'll be an absolutely spellbinding trip across time and space for many, as it was for me.
DisclaimerRomeo Is a Dead Man was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.
As geeky and delusional as he may be, No More Heroes' antihero is one of the best assassins of all time
CATEGORIES PC Gaming PS5 Xbox Series X Platforms PlayStation Xbox
Joe ChiversContributorEver since getting a Mega Drive as a toddler, Joe has been fascinated by video games. After studying English Literature to M.A. level, he has worked as a freelance video games journalist, writing for PC Gamer, The Guardian, Metro, Techradar, and more. A huge fan of indies, grand strategy games, and RPGs of almost all flavors, when he's not playing games or writing about them, you may find him in a park or walking trail near you, pretending to be a mischievous nature sprite, or evangelizing about folk music, hip hop, or the KLF to anyone who will give him a minute of their time.
View MoreYou must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Logout Read more
Suda51 says "game development for us is almost like playing a jam session at a live concert", and the electric action of Romeo is a Dead Man has me ready to rock
Demonschool review: "This Persona-inspired RPG is full of fun, flair, and ready to chomp away at your free time"
Skate Story review: "A beautiful and unique skateboarding game with great, stylized visuals set in a grungy underworld"
Where Winds Meet review: "Sekiro-style combat meets seemingly every videogame idea ever in this bloated but fun open-world martial arts adventure"
I'm still obsessed with one of the PS5's best-kept secrets: Returnal is a twitchy roguelike shooter in a sci-fi nightmare that won't get out of my head
Death Stranding 2 is the purest expression of "a Hideo Kojima game" yet, and it's got nothing to do with the long cutscenes or esoteric plot
Latest in Action Games
As Zelda devs tested contraptions now in Tears of the Kingdom, director realized Breath of the Wild still had potential
Death Stranding 2 fans certain PC port coming after cryptic Hideo Kojima post: "Didn't have much time today for editing"
This post-apocalyptic indie platformer might have Cyberpunk 2077 vibes, but comparisons to the RPG aren't a concern
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes producer says Kojima and Miyamoto's secret is that they work "really f**king hard"
Nioh 3 shatters record for the series' highest Steam concurrent player count thanks to launching on PC simultaneously
Horizon's co-op game may be a shameless Monster Hunter-like, but it's enough to get me excited about a new PlayStation live service for once
Latest in Reviews
Mario Tennis Fever review: "Riotous, hilarious, and chaotic, but it can't quite serve up the complete package"
Romeo is a Dead Man review: "Suda51's bloodiest, sharpest spectacle since No More Heroes"
Mewgenics review: "The Binding of Isaac collides with Into the Breach in a smart strategy roguelike"
Ruark's latest desktop speakers will have you listening to game soundtracks like it was your first time hearing them
Alien RPG Evolved Edition Starter Set review: "My players were genuinely freaked out"
Yakuza Kiwami 3 review: "The meatiest brawling this crime thriller's tackled in years combines with its warmest story"
GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS
1Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review: "The meatiest brawling this crime thriller's tackled in years combines with its warmest story, but its overly edgy new chapter leaves me cold"- 2Mewgenics review: "The Binding of Isaac collides with Into the Breach in a strategy roguelike that has me battling bomber rats, breeding brutes, and more"
- 3This Viking card game is perfect for two-player matches on the go
- 4This Lord of the Rings card game is a puzzle-solving masterclass
- 5Nioh 3 review: "Brutal samurai and ninja clashes across wide maps avoid retreading Elden Ring – this Soulslike is all demon killer, no filler"
1Return to Silent Hill review: "Neither an impressive adaptation nor coherent enough to act as a standalone film"- 228 Years Later: The Bone Temple review: "The wildest and weirdest entry into the franchise yet"
- 3Avatar: Fire and Ash review: "Still a technical marvel, with some of the year's best action filmmaking"
- 4Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review: "We have waited two years for a Five Nights at Freddy's 1.5"
- 5Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review: "Brings Knives Out back to its roots for a sequel that's almost on a par with the original"
1Wonder Man review: "A low-key gem that's up there with the MCU's best"- 2Starfleet Academy review: "It may feel a little different to what we're used to, but this is Star Trek through and through"
- 3A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review: "This Game of Thrones spin-off is a heartfelt and fun return to Westeros"
- 4Stranger Things season 5 finale review: “Shows off both the best and the worst of Hawkins”
- 5Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2 review: “All set up for a finale that has so much to deliver”
