It’s been some time since we’ve heard from Goichi “Suda51” Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture, but both he and the studio were back with a vengeance at last night’s State of Play, showing off a bombastic trailer for upcoming “ultra violent” sci-fi adventure, Romeo Is a Dead Man.
It’s so violent, in fact, that GhM calls the violence the “main feature of this game,” letting you swap between a wide array of weapons to “unleash wave after wave of splattering blood, and experience unmatched levels of violence and hyper-stimulating action.”
“At this point, our development team is working at full force to get this thing finished. Back in the day, this would’ve been right around the time when staff members started bringing in sleeping bags to stay overnight in the studio, but nowadays we make sure that everyone gets enough time to rest and refresh properly,” Suda51 explained.
“I’ll never forget the craziness of working all night in a frenzy back in our salad days, receiving warning mails for doing too much overtime (this actually happened). The final stage of game development is really similar to the world of the movie Beautiful Dreamer, like the night just before a big school festival. Man, it’s been awhile – now I want to watch Beautiful Dreamer again. What, you don’t know that movie…? I guess maybe a lot of you are a bit too young to remember it… It’s probably streaming somewhere, so check it out sometime.”
Romeo Is a Dead Man is an “ultra-violent science fiction” action game coming from the collective minds of Suda51’s Grasshopper Manufacture. Romeo Stargazer — which is one of the best protagonist names I’ve ever seen, by the way — is an FBI Space-Time special agent searching the universe for the most-wanted fugitives. It’s slated for PC via Steam and Microsoft, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S, but isn’t expected to release until 2026. As for why Grasshopper has given such a vague release window?
“That’s kinda obvious, isn’t it?” Suda51 said, hinting at what can only be in reference to GTA 6. “That One Game had its release date announced, right? Every publisher wants to make sure to steer clear of That One Game’s release date. But what if we were to flex a little and release it on the same day… Yeah, nope — just thinking about that is way too scary. Alright then, see you later.”
Sony kicked off the summer reveal season with a bang, presenting a smorgasbord of new games to whet our appetites going into Summer Games Fest Week. Here’s everything announced at PlayStation State of Play 2025 last night, including 007 First Light, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, and Silent Hill f’s release date.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
