Essential guide: Romeo is a Dead Man, but you don't have to be

Romeo is a Dead Man released just today on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series (with a potential Nintendo Switch 2 version on the cards already), and you can read our review for much more about Grasshopper's latest.

Now, even though it feels, looks, sounds, and plays like a Suda51 game, Romeo is a Dead Man introduces a bunch of interconnected RPG systems that you'll soon have to understand and master if you don't want to see the death roulette too often. Oh well, "introduces" is putting it mildly, as the games just throws them at you with silly badass names and a bunch of on-screen tutorials. So to help you out in the first few hours of playtime, and also if you want to become an expert for later on, here's all those systems explained together with a bunch of tips and tricks.

"Romeo, listen up, you're going to die in about 15 seconds! - Seriously?"

Bloody Summer

This is your special attack - press R1 when the meter is ready. It fills up with blood on the screen's left bar by landing close-quarters hits on your enemies, but the ability can be triggered for your ranged weapon as well. You can also release it when dodging, jumping or mid-combo, so take a look at the different results depending on your weapons of choice and choose accordingly for the various enemy types. It also recovers some health, so perhaps it's best not to use it when you're full.

Space-Time Pharmacy

Like in Metroid or the Souls titles, when you save your game in one of these stations, while your health and Regenetizer pills are replenished prescribed, all the surrounding enemies will respawn, so keep this in mind strategically in every zone. Most let you teleport back to the Last Night spaceship, which is very convenient if you're struggling with a horde or right before an specific boss. Just go there as you'll find more upgrade and customisation options in TickTock Boy's Training Room than at the pharmacy itself. But also remember just that: you have the Enhance option at hand to unlock and upgrade weapons at the pharmacies.

Emerald Flowsion

It is the main currency of the game, and you'll both find and earn it all around. "Deciding where to use it is the real challenge", as you'll see with several options below.

Upgrade your weapons on the DeadBall Enhancer with Sentrey

Sentrey are the most coveted collectibles in Romeo is a Dead Man, as these crystals act as the secondary/scarce currency to upgrade your firearms and CQC weapons. Together with the description of each weapon and its different stat-based levelled parameters (Attack Power, Break Ability, Bloody Summer, Blood Amount), you'll clearly see if you have enough Sentrey to expend.

Create new Sentrey with space debris at the Sentrey Forge

Other than finding Sentrey Crystals hidden around the map, you can also use the space junk you collect to extract Emerald Flowsion from it and then generate more. And how do you collect space debris? When you're navigating the Fragmented Universe space from point to point (be it main missions in Dimensional Seers or optional dungeons in Tears), you can move the reticle with your right stick to gather these. Remember you can fly back and forward to fully comb the path!

You can then put your Emerald Flowsion into either Normal Sentrey and Red Sentrey (higher-level upgrades). Convert as you see fit according to your current weapons' needs.

Melee weapons

Each pays tribute to a different, legendary spaceship from the global pop culture, and each one changes your CQC approach considerably based on damage, range, speed, attacks, and so on...

• Spazer (Mazinger Z)


• Star Destroyer (Star Wars)


• Juggernaut (Alien)


• Arcadia Space Pirate Captain Harlock)

Ranged weapons

Each pays tribute to a different, legendary spaceship from the global pop culture, and each one changes your firearm approach considerably based on damage, range, speed, attacks, and so on...

• Discovery (NASA)


• Diaspora (Battlestar Galactica)


• Nebuchadnezzar(The Matrix)


• Yggdrasil (Hyperion Cantos)

Upgrade Romeo's stats on the Deadgear Cannonball mini game

This Pac-Man type 8-bit arcade might look weird at first (as many other things) or unplayable, but you have to come back when you've collected enough "fuel" in the form of, of course, Emerald Flowsion. Then, trace a full path around the level by steering around (you can rewind if needed) and you'll enhance your character just like in an RPG as reflected on the main Status/Power Up screen, including attack power, HP, Regenetizer limit or recovery, reload speed, aim speed, blood charge capacity, and Bloody Summer health recovery. As you can see, it is much, much more important than it seems at first sight!

Bastard cultivation

These are assist minions you can equipo and summon by pressing L1 and one of the face buttons. You bring seeds to Luna's garden in the Last Night spaceship then plant different sorts of Rotters. These will grow and can then be harvested as Bastards, with different abilities and their own levelling system (cooldown time, attack power, range) and can be common, rare, or epic. You can increase their power by waiting for them to grow and by feeding them with Emerald Flowsion before harvesting them to shorten the remaining time. They also taste sweet when licked, if you were wondering.

Consumable items

Drinks such as Mango Lassi give you buffs or free replenishes. You can find them in the world or buy them at Shiroyabu's store with Emerald Flowsion, for example to refill your Bloddy Summer gauge or to end your Bastards cool-down waiting time.

Pins

Pins act as upgrades to Romeo's basic moves. For example, "Mercury", learnt by killing the first boss, named "Everyday Is Like Monday", lets you do just like her: to roll on the ground for a double-dodge by pressing the dodge button twice. As such, they're unlockable abilities and not something you need to switch on and off.

Badges

Badges, however, are interchangeable and you should actually assess which ones to wear according to your playstyle and current needs. For example, "Myopia" is quite extreme, as it increases melee attack power by 30% but decreases ranged by 60%. Angel's Face, however, increases Bloody Summer attack by 20%, but also damage taken by 30%. There are 36 badges to collect in the game.

About button shortcuts

You might think that all the consumables are assigned to the D-pad, but there's something to keep in mind: only the Regenetizer pills (up on the D-pad) are just a button press away, as all the other items you can assign are used once you press L1 to change the menu. The same goes for the Bastards, which replace your regular movement and combat commands by pressing L1. And what do D-pad's left, down, and right do in the meantime? You may have not noticed because you only have one weapon of each type at first, but left switches ranged weapon, right switches melee weapon, and down draws or holsters them. You'll soon realise that on-the-fly weapon switching is also crucial to adapt to different enemy types as you go.

What is the subspace and how to take advantage of it

At first it may seem like this peaceful cubic space is reserved for a relaxed walk as you step onto Emerald Flowsion and find some hidden collectibles, but soon enough will you realise how it's actually connected to the real world. In other words, if you see a seemingly inaccessible area in the map (for example the storage room in the shopping mall), chances are you need to reach that area from the subspace and then take a different exit (intuitively, without the map, as that's part of the magic). Conversely, if you see some juicy but unreachable collectibles in the subspace, perhaps you need to find a different J-Edgard CR TV from which to enter the subspace. Finally, we recommend you get close to the different walls as that's how you find secret entrances, exits, and stairs, which build before your eyes only when you're near enough.

What is the Klista Gate key

These keys allow you to open the so-called Klista Gate, which blocks you from progressing further into the level. The fragments for these keys can only be found in the subspace.

Cooking Katsu Curry

As shown by one of the cartoon cutscenes, Romeo's family loves to gather to eat curry together in a very Rick & Morty fashion. His mom, and the cook at the Last Night is Marianne, who you'll have to visit to give it a try at cooking yourself. The different Katsu Curry types act as a buff item you can use in battle, and the grade you get (D-S) in the cooking mini game reflects the number of points of the effect. Collect ingredients around the levels (and when scanning the Fragmented Universe with the spaceship's reticle, as we all know paprika comes from the space) and then try to nail the best moment to stop frying the recipe. There are 10 recipes in the Mum'n curry house menu.

Trial Room

Once unlocked by defeating the Punisher, this training room allows you to fight already defeated bosses in rematches. You can bet Emerald Flowsion on the time given for the battle for a chance to win, recover, or lose some of it depending on your performance.

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You can master your hack 'n slash combat in Romeo is a Dead Man, but if you don't master a good bunch of all these systems too you'll have a much more challenging, unbalanced experience. We hope that our explanations and tips help you out during your Space-Time adventure!

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