Just like the summonable energy-shooting ghouls I cultivated in my spaceship zombie farm, Romeo the Lifeless Man is a little bit of a grower. Grasshopper Manufacture’s weirdness is sufficient, however Grasshopper Manufacture’s allure is not a lot to point out for after a delicate begin, the disparate components ultimately coalesce to type a lean, muscular hack-and-slash with a playful aptitude for mixing media.
God, there are such a lot of mediums on the market. The story of Romeo, a small-town cop turned cyborg samurai who enlists to seek out a number of spatiotemporal anomalies of the apparently evil ex-Juliet, is informed by means of animated pulp comics, stop-motion, and 16-bit pixel artwork, in addition to Unreal Engine cutscenes, and that is simply the primary half-hour. It should even be eclectic whereas really taking part in. Gory melee fight stays the primary focus, but it surely does not take lengthy earlier than you are dragged out to do 3D puzzles or play arcade video games and mini-games to improve your stats and objects.
Sadly, not every thing will land within the early levels. Such selection initially looks like a surface-level veneer of innovation on high of the motion, but it surely begins out sluggish in itself, solely leaving you battling the shambling undead and the occasional powered-up flesh monster. It additionally does not assist that the plot is essentially multi-world nonsense with no stakes, taking a bland, literal interpretation of Suda51’s recurring Kill the Previous theme and repeatedly contradicting it with a hilarious “don’t be concerned” hand gesture. recreation, me need To fret about it! Worrying simply provides an additional syllable.
However keep it up, and “Romeo Is a Lifeless Man” develops an actual means to shock. One cause for that is understanding when to decide to a bit. There’s an prolonged sequence halfway by means of that descends into survival horror, and fairly than merely taking away Romeo’s means to wield a sword, your entire recreation shifts to a claustrophobic over-the-shoulder perspective, introducing stealth and Resident Evil-style puzzle components by no means replicated elsewhere. That is an enormous funding for a single switch-up. I do not need to spoil the later levels. As a lot because it appears to be attempting to do within the horror components, these are additionally executed much more on the cross-media aspect, cleverly softening a number of the extra dramatic moments at work and turning them into absurdist and visually numerous comedy.
Additionally, it is a fairly good motion recreation. The fight additionally recovers from a weak begin, trusting you to uncover the nuances of combo sweezing, and progressively increasing the flapping swarms of offended flesh, principally in smart problem order, to check what you have discovered. Romeo is not any Dante or Raiden when it comes to agility, however what his combating fashion lacks in flashiness he greater than makes up for in particular and satisfying heft. Even the default sword, maybe probably the most purely useful weapon amongst energy fists and sci-fi spears, cuts by means of crowds and bisects behemoths with a thicker thud. Romeo may also wield a gun, however I had sufficient enjoyable with the blade that I now solely pull out the shotgun when mandatory. For instance, it’s essential to shoot one thing that’s both a) flying out of your attain, or b) more likely to explode in your face in case you slam it.
Comparatively lengthy wind-up and restoration occasions require greater than a specific amount of timing, and your boss will probably be comfortable to show you a tough lesson. However on the identical time, Romeo Is a Lifeless Man infrequently passively waits for the opening. There aren’t any blocks or parries, and every profitable assault will replenish your blood gauge, permitting you to carry out much more highly effective particular strikes. This may even partially restore your well being. All of this conspires to thrust you into a really aggressive and excitingly paced brawl. So it is likely to be value taking just a few hits in case you can replenish the return blood bar. Dodge additionally usually feels extra like an offensive maneuver to transition into an optimum backstab angle than an evasion method.
None of that is significantly groundbreaking. However earlier than you begin juggling extra slasher films and genres, it appears essential to verify your motion recreation has good motion. And the struggle components in “Romeo Is a Lifeless Man” are meaty, frenetic, and a whole lot of enjoyable.
Reality be informed, it isn’t simply Deadman’s most formidable and absurd asides that elicit laughs. Between missions, I at all times loved returning to the FBI’s spaceship hub (lengthy story). There, you possibly can chat, commerce, and improve with unusual brokers and amusingly out-of-place relations in alternate for a farewell to the third dimension. The “certain, no matter” humor works higher right here than the primary story beats. Nobody questions the logic of constructing your zombie allies develop like carrots so you possibly can summon them in later battles. Issues get much more attention-grabbing while you pull zombies out of the grime with a fanfare of victory. And there is one thing candy and humorous about the truth that Romeo’s mom, who lives within the cookhouse, cooks up a mouth-watering cutlet curry utilizing elements she discovered adrift in house. Yuri Gagarin mentioned: “I noticed how lovely our planet is and what number of jars of cumin are floating on it.”
I wasn’t as comfortable in Subspace, a loosely Tron-esque alternate dimension the place most missions require you to hunt round for keys or mild navigation puzzles. Its aesthetic, like a Zen backyard inbuilt Minecraft with closely modified shaders, is totally gorgeous. However whereas the remainder of the sport obtained higher over time, the enchantment of additional dives into subspace solely waned. First, many of those sections are far too lengthy, slowing down progress in methods which can be more and more disproportionate to the propulsive fight. The opposite factor is, once I went there, the body fee was fully flat out.
Usually, PC efficiency wobbles like pedaling by means of Regent’s Park throughout a Caribbean storm. Normally a simple 1440p, however on my RTX 3090 operating Extremely settings at high quality stage DLSS 4, it could not reliably keep 60 fps, dropping to 30 fps and even dropping even additional in some subspace areas. I additionally tried the Steam Deck utilizing the bottom attainable settings and FSR upscaling, and it was nonetheless within the 20s, even in actual house. Fortunately, this is not a repeat of the PC port of No Extra Heroes, because it a minimum of has first rate mouse/keyboard assist and apparently customized graphics choices. Nonetheless, it isn’t a clean runner both.
Even when it is a breakdown in negotiations, I will stand between you and your gadget. For those who can In motion, nevertheless, Romeo Is a Lifeless Man delivers smiles, surprises, and memorable sword fights, particularly when it will get heat. It in all probability will not go down as an all-time work in Grasshopper Manufacture’s oeuvre, and I doubt that in 20 years YouTube will probably be recommending Romeo movies as usually as Killer 7’s Russian Roulette scene is now. However that is okay. The standard slashing and natural zombie gardening remains to be effectively value it.