While many people will see Romeo is a Dead Man’s manga-like cutscenes and pixelated spaceship sequences as a fun change of pace from the game’s 3D graphics, game director Goichi “Suda51” Suda and production director Ren Yamazaki reveal these were created to cut production costs. Because the game was in development for a long time and on a tight budget, Grasshopper Manufacture had to change some of its elements to fit with the original plan.
In an interview with 4gamer, Suda51 says that the biggest difficulty the developers faced was making sure everything that they initially planned made it to the final game. Since Grasshopper Manufacture wanted to go for a more AAA experience with Romeo is a Dead Man, the graphics and action are where most of the budget went. To compensate, Yamazaki explains that elements such as story presentation and the interior of the spaceship, were reworked so as not to make them look “cheap.”
According to Suda51, all of the cutscenes were initially planned to be rendered in real-time. Due to production costs, however, some of the scenes were replaced. With the help of concept artist Tadayuki Nomaru and Ren Yamazaki, the developers created moving panel cutscenes that felt like a mix of fast-paced anime and manga.
The spaceship interior, which was supposed to be fully modelled in 3D, ended up being pixelated. The pixel art was created in collaboration with Hattori Graphics, a pixel animation artist.
Despite the original plans for real-time cutscenes and full 3D models, Suda51 seems happy that changes were made. Otherwise, the game would look no different from other studio titles. Thanks to the various restrictions, Grasshopper Manufacture was able to put another unique spin on the action-adventure genre.
Romeo is a Dead Man is set to release in 2026 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
