Romeo is a Deadman Review: Suda51's Wildest Masterpiece | Original, Bloody Action & Literary Chaos

 Romeo is a Deadman: A Masterclass in Originality

 Suda51’s newest game, Romeo is a Deadman, is the most original game I have played in a while.

 The art style changes from scene to scene; one minute, you are on a pixelated spaceship, and the next, you are reading a comic book. This action-combat game comes with easy, and forgiving controls.

 Who is Romeo the Deadman?

 The game begins with the protagonist, Romeo, recounting a recurring nightmare where Romeo dies and becomes this zombie-like character. The player then learns that their main goal in the game is to find all the variants of Juliet and kill them. The only problem: Romeo is in love with Juliet.

 A few hours into the game, Romeo the Deadman is introduced to a cast of characters, my personal favourite is Agent RedBrown, a sarcastic humanoid cat who tells the player what to do.  An honourable mention goes to Romeo’s sister, Luna. On the ship, Luna runs the garden, which is one of the many unique characteristics in this game. In most gardens, you grow plants; in Luna’s garden, you grow Bastards. Bastards are these zombie-like characters that you pull from the ground, who help you in battle. Once you pull your bastard from the ground, you will be presented with a spinning wheel that allows the player to choose a name and trait for their bastard.

 Another family member the player is introduced to is Romeo’s Grandpa, who lives on the back of Romeo’s jacket. Grandpa is not your typical grandfather with grey hair and bad eyesight, no, he is a young, blond man with these weird googles who talks to you throughout the game. Some might even say, he’s got your back.

 The Game

 As someone who isn’t used to combat games and plays more story-based games where you press X and tell the character what to say, even I did okay with the combat. I personally struggled to fight the bosses, but again, I am not the most skilled in combat games. However, I was able to play the other parts of the game quite easily.

 This might be because I was playing on white chocolate, the easiest setting, also known as “The finest Greek pistachios [that] are used to create a light, smooth flavour.” Because with Suda51, even the game mechanics are unique.

 The pixelated, almost nostalgic spaceship is Romeo’s home base. It is where you grow bastards with your sister, upgrade your weapons and make curry. Romeo returns there several times throughout the game to get instructions from other characters about what to do next, advancing the story.

Most of the time, it is pretty clear from the exclamation mark where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do. However, I did find myself getting lost at times, for example, there  is a level early on in the game that takes place in a season three Stranger Things-esque mall,  where the exclamation mark is pointing to the final generator you must turn on, but I struggled to  figure out what floor this exclamation mark was in and how to get there. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it allowed me to explore the beautifully designed mall.

 As previously stated, there are several different dimensions, but the main one looks like what you would expect from a video game. You run around, fight zombies and make the occasional visit to city hall. This is until you run into a T.V. called J-Edgar, who takes you to subspace. Subspace is a place free of zombies where you can step on these wet balls to heal. It is also how you get through locked doors; if you can’t get somewhere in the normal world, it’s always a good idea to go to subspace and see what it has to offer. If you don’t find anything, at least you got a break from fighting zombies.

 One of the most memorable elements of this game is the fact that you really never know what is going to happen next. One minute Romeo is on a date with Juliet, displayed through modern graphics, and suddenly you are brought to the spaceship, which is covered in blood. At some points in the game, you might think you finally understand what is going on, and that’s when the credits start rolling mid-game.

This is not a criticism of the game. The non-linear storytelling does not aim to give you all the answers right away. For some, this might be frustrating, but I found it encouraged me to continue playing in hopes of finally understanding what was going on.

 The Literary Canon

Romeo and Juliet is Shakesphere’s most famous love story, and Suda51 doesn’t shy away from history’s literary canon. Suda51 also references Dante’s Purgatory, includes quotes from Oscar Wilde, and there are many ponds Romeo must run by, where I couldn’t help but think of my dearest Ophelia from Hamlet, another one of Shakesphere’s tragedies. These references are no surprise as Suda51 has mentioned that one of his favourite authors is Franz Kafka.

 The mention of Dante is the most interesting, as Dante is famously known for taking historical figures, such as Virgil, author of The Aeneid, and making them his own. For example, Virgil guides Dante through Inferno, Purgatory and all the way to the top of Paradiso. Obviously, Virgil did not actually do this as he was very dead, which is why Dante’s Divine Comedy should be  read as an allegory. The question then is: is Romeo is a Deadman an allegory? If so, what for?

 By doing this, Suda51 puts themselves in conversation with writers dating back to the 1300s.  Historically, writers have talked to one another through books, letters, speeches and essays, now in 2026, writers are talking to one another though videogames.

 Overall, I really enjoyed this game. It looked beautiful, the characters were hilarious, and the story was amazing. The literary references were perfectly placed, and they made me want to finally pick up Kafka (whom others have said is present throughout the game). The controls were quite intuitive, and most of the time, the objective was clear. This game is unlike anything I have ever played before, which is rare in 2026. If you have time, you should definitely check out Romeo is a Deadman.