During an official stage presentation at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, producer Joe Tung of Nada Holdings took the floor to discuss the troubled development of Lollipop Chainsaw 2: Back2Back, the long-awaited sequel to the cult classic that first launched nearly 15 years ago. Tung opened his remarks by paying tribute to the original’s creative visionaries—director Suda51, writer James Gunn, and character designer Yoshimi Yasuda—whose “legendary” work he said motivated his own involvement in the recent RePop remake. That experience, he explained, ultimately led him and Dragami Games to revive the franchise for its first sequel. Yet the early playable demo unveiled on the show floor paints a starkly different picture, suggesting the project may be drifting aimlessly away from the identity that made the original memorable.
From the outset, the intent behind Back2Back appears to have been to reinvent the wheel rather than build upon it, and that became abundantly clear the moment attendees approached the demo area. A photo spot greeted visitors with protagonist Juliet and three zombies posed and ready to be sliced down, instantly evoking the familiar world of the first game. The cheerleader heroine is back, complete with the severed head of her boyfriend still attached to her waist. Amid all this nostalgia, however, it proved difficult to discern what new ideas the developers hope to bring to justify the game’s existence beyond a rehash of its predecessor.
A Rough Draft Devoid of Its Original Spark
Any sense of original vision is further complicated by the demo’s admittedly rough state. The footage was arguably not ready for public viewing, though the team may have felt compelled to reveal it given the investment in a physical stage presence. Regardless of the reasoning, the game felt stripped of nearly everything that allowed the original to transcend its generic hack-and-slash loop and leave a lasting impression. With no introduction to the setting and none of the snappy writing that enlivened the first game, the demo unceremoniously dropped players into a burning gray cityscape filled with waves of zombies to slice and dice their way through.
Where the original relied on a pumping soundtrack of licensed hits to inject a rebellious, unapologetic energy into its zombie apocalypse—heightened by special attacks and fluid animations that made combat feel more than just repeatedly pressing the same button—there is little weight or impact to any action in the sequel. In contrast to the tactile satisfaction of cleaving through enemies in the first game, combat here feels floaty, with no feedback to signal that attacks are actually connecting. Blood sprays and a combo meter climb, but every slice is so nonchalant that it reads as disconnected from the player’s own input. Sliding across locales on Juliet’s roller blades feels less like graceful movement and more like wading through soup.
The original was hardly a looker despite a healthy injection of cash from Warner Bros. to fund development, but at least it had a distinct vibe, blending grungy aesthetics with Juliet’s bubblegum-cheer-squad looks.
Senior Contributor, Gamer24h
The humor that defined the original is entirely absent. In the first game, Juliet’s boyfriend chattered with relentless comedic energy, punctuated by sharp quips that had not yet become groan-inducing thanks to a decade of self-aware MCU-era dialogue. While the sequel’s voice acting may simply not be recorded yet, its absence only underscores how little is on offer in this vertical slice—a shortfall the demo’s visuals appear to reinforce.
A Boss Fight That Should Have Been a Slam Dunk
The most disappointing moment of the showcase was the boss encounter. Conceptually, the fight is interesting: the boss is an overt Barbie parody set within a Barbie-esque “dreamhouse,” where an army of zombie Kens worship their pink princess with empty wonder before being rewarded by having their heads unceremoniously tossed at Juliet as an offensive strike. Yet the scene lacks any writing to provide context, and what should have been an immediate victory instead devolves into a disjointed mess.
The developers at Dragami Games clearly grasp the absurdity at the heart of the Lollipop Chainsaw formula, but they seem to have missed the delicate blend of visual design and writing that made it work all those years ago. It is hard to know whether the team understands the direction it is taking with the game. It is possible that refinement and voice acting could resolve some of the issues present in the demo, though that remains uncertain.
Looking Ahead
At the showcase, the team insisted that Lollipop Chainsaw 2: Back2Back will release in less than a year. That timeline feels potentially insufficient for the major overhaul in direction and approach that the game appears to need. The demo is rough, and a far cry from what the original once was. Whether the final product can recapture the spirit of Suda51, Gunn, and Yasuda’s landmark creation remains to be seen, but for now the sequel stands as a cautionary tale about the difficulty of reviving a beloved franchise without its original creative soul.
As the Tokyo Game Show draws to a close, Back2Back will be closely watched by fans hoping for a genuine evolution of the series. The coming months will reveal whether the developers can transform this early, aimless prototype into something worthy of the legacy they are attempting to honor.
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