Romeo is a Dead Man is Suda51's gory, trippy spin on Back to the Future

Picture the scene: it's 6pm on the final day of Gamescom. My head is sore from dehydration and fluorescent lights. My voice is hoarse from three days of interviews. My feet are destroyed. The energy levels are low for my last appointment of the entire event. Thankfully, Romeo is a Dead Man immediately blasted my lethargy into deep space. It's an assault on the senses, with flashy, bloody combat and constant thematic whiplash.

A 'You Died' screen depicting the skin peeling off a person's face before revealing a spinnable, gameshow-style wheel. Difficulty settings presented as different flavors of chocolate. A hot date that ends up tearing her own head off and transforming into a fire-breathing, 30-foot-tall abomination. This is a game so gory and eccentric that only one studio could have made it - Grasshopper Manufacture. I got to play a small slice of Romeo is a Dead Man and interview Grasshopper's iconic studio head Goichi 'Suda51' Suda, who says that creating a completely new IP for the first time in years is a "refreshing but daunting task" given how beloved his past games and characters are.

As a cyborg cop called Romeo Stargazer who can travel through space and time to face all manner of surreal enemies, it's unsurprising that he's got a leftfield appearance. With a futuristic sheriff suit and his Dead Gear helmet fit for interdimensional scuffles, he's one of the most striking protagonists I've seen in a while.

"[Romeo's appearance was created by] one of our lead concept artists, Tadayuki Nomaru - basically, the dude's a genius," Suda51 tells me through a translator. "I didn't have to give him any specific instructions; I just said 'this is the kind of character it is, and this is the basic setting we have in mind,' draw something up for me. In total he designed around 20 different versions of Romeo with the Dead Gear helmet on, and we picked one, and he pretty much nailed it. He's the kind of guy where you can say 'I want this, this, and this' and somehow he comes up with exactly what you were picturing."

As for the wider universe surrounding Romeo, Suda51 says he was heavily inspired by one of his favorite franchises, Back to the Future, as well as the more modern, eccentric space-hopping you see in Rick and Morty. Both influences are definitely felt, but there's never a point that can be specifically labeled a 'Back to the Future moment' or a 'Rick and Morty reference.' Romeo is a Dead Man carves out its own identity too - its flavor and aesthetic is, well, having lots of flavors and aesthetics. Cutscenes and elements of UI flit between styles - western comic book, manga, crudely hand-drawn cartoon - and act as something of a vodka shot after sipping on the more palatable, higher-fidelity, Unreal Engine 5 action. Even in real-time gameplay, there are still big, unexpected moments.

My hands-on demo begins like many zombie games. You're in a dark, grim wasteland switching between some weapons and shooting off limbs. However, out of nowhere, you are imprisoned in a small area by digitized red police tape as sirens wail in your ears. A horde of zombies (and some aggressive crows) swarm you, and then it's time to bring out your melee weapons, such as a huge double-ended staff that can tear through enemies. Things conclude with a boss fight against Juliet, a romantic acquaintance who seems very into Romeo before decapitating herself, throwing her noggin' into a bonfire, and transforming into a huge, flabby, headless monstrosity. A fairly simple loop of shooting weak points to stun and moving in for high-damage slashing ensues. I wouldn't describe the third-person shooting or the hack-and-slash combat as S-tier in isolation, but it's certainly enjoyable in combination, and the immediate availability of both styles is refreshing. This combat system is the work of another "genius" in Suda51's ranks, Grasshopper veteran Toru Hironaka.

"We made a game a while back called Killer Is Dead, where the main character uses both a sword and a gun," Suda51 says. "So we do have a little bit of experience in the 'sword and gun' arena, I guess. For Romeo is a Dead Man, I explained to Hironaka 'these are the kind of characters we're having, these are the kind of settings,' and he said: 'OK, check this out. I want to do the gun and sword [style] again.'"

Suda51 is full of praise for his lead programmer - so much so that he issues an industry-wide warning. "For any game studios out there who are reading this article later on, you keep your hands off of Hironaka. If you try to take Hironaka away from us, James will go and kill you," he jokes, referencing James Mountain, Grasshopper's extremely lovely and totally non-threatening community manager and localization guru, who was translating this interview.

Romeo is a Dead Man is Grasshopper's first totally original IP in some years now, and I ask Suda51 if he's enjoying forging a universe and characters from scratch once again. "Having that kind of pressure of having to make everything up and ensure it all makes sense and fits together, it's both refreshing and a daunting task at the same time," he admits. Without wanting to "sound like an asshole," he notes that his games have featured some pretty iconic and beloved characters like Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes) and Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw).

"[The new characters in Romeo is a Dead Man] don't necessarily have to completely go and top these previous characters, but they at least have to be able to hold their own against them. I don't want them to be just some throwaway garbage. They need to be good. They need people to be like: 'OK, yeah, that's a Grasshopper character.'"

That doesn't mean that past favorites won't reappear in Romeo is a Dead Man. I ask if, given all the space and time-hopping, crossovers could be on the cards. "It's a really sharp question," Suda51 says. "I would say that the chance, or chances, of seeing a character in Romeo is a Dead Man that you've seen before in some previous Grasshopper game is probably somewhere around 99.999%. But of course, that also means that it might not happen. So take from that what you will."

Suda51 closes our interview by pointing a banana at me when I ask about his favorite game of the year so far (it's Donkey Kong Bananza, if you didn't get the hint), and it's these kinds of unexpected, surreal moments that are going to be bountiful in Romeo is a Dead Man. I'm sure the combat will be tightened up a bit before launch, but to be honest, even if it isn't, my 20 minutes of lunacy and carnage was enough to convince me that I want to play more of it.