Following the announcement of Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back, we got to test a brief but interesting demo of the game at Tokyo Game Show.
The demo appeared to be fairly early in development, notably with completely missing spoken dialogue and audio that appeared to be unfinished or placeholder, but the game is coming out in 2027, so there’s still plenty of time for refinement.
The visuals, on the other hand, were rather fetching, powered by Unreal Engine 5. Juliet’s model definitely received lots of attention, and she definitely benefited from the fresh coat of paint compared to Lollipop Chainsaw RePop.
Not only have her looks been greatly improved, but her combat animations are fluid and quick, which isn’t too surprising considering that the game is developed by JP Universe. The studio is helmed by Hajime Tabata, whom you may remember as director of Final Fantasy XV.
I really appreciated what I saw of the UI, which is stylish and cartoonishly appropriate to the setting and mood of the franchise. Another interesting aspect is the fact that the two environments showcased in the Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back demo were basically opposites in terms of palette and visual moods.
Of course, the point of the game is to eviscerate countless zombies, and Juliet has plenty of ways to do so. She can slash them with her trusted chainsaw, bludgeon them with her cheerleader pom-poms, or even use her roller skates to charge them, which is a great way to get into combat quickly or out of trouble when things get too crowded.
The hack-and-slash gameplay is underlined by the inevitable hit counter, and there’s plenty of blood all over the place, alongside dismemberment. The developers of Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back don’t seem to be afraid to send the sensitive crowd to bed with no dinner.
While the first part of the demo was set in a rather generic neighborhood overrun by zombies, the second part was certainly more colorful and full of personality.
It was basically a boss battle against a zombie lady named Zorbie (which I imagine may be a Barbie reference), set in a luna park of sorts.
Zorbie is on stage, receiving the adoration of a line of adoring male zombies, whom she sends to do her bidding, which is basically trying to kill Juliet.
Since Zorbie is on the stage and we’re on the floor, she can’t be damaged directly. Instead, during the first part of the fight, we have to send the zombies’ severed heads flying into her face.
Once her first healthbar was depleted, she definitely got pissed off and started stomping on the ground, causing big gift boxes to fall from the sky. Each contains a flying and exploding zombie that Juliet needs to both avoid and redirect to hit Zorbie.
It’s a chaotic fight in which you’re encouraged to make ample use of your roller skate charge. While it was already fun, it’s certainly easy to imagine it’ll be even better when voice-overs are added. After all, the dialogue is half the fun of Lollipop Chainsaw, and it’s easy to imagine that it’ll also make or break its sequel.
Speaking of audio, some more satisfying chainsaw sounds will probably be needed for the combat to feel more visceral and kinetic, underlining the animations, which are already quite effective.
The one element that felt a bit frustrating is the animation that plays when you get knocked down by zombies. It felt a bit slow and awkward, but perhaps it’s intentional so that getting yourself caught feels punishing. That being said, more variety (there really is only one knockdown animation at the moment, regardless of what knocked you down) and perhaps the ability to trigger a quick recovery would be in order.
Ultimately, while it’s still early to see whether Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back will be able to capture the essence and the magic of the original game, it was pretty obvious to me from the short demo I played that there are people who loved Lollipop Chainsaw working on this sequel.
It almost doesn’t feel real that we’re getting a sequel at all, but the reception of Lollipop Chainsaw RePop has certainly shown that there are many who want more of this kind of whimsical game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but still offers quality action and plenty of fun.
