The Lollipop Chainsaw remake is now just a Lollipop Chainsaw remaster, but that's apparently what the fans demanded

For those not familiar with Lollipop Chainsaw, here's the launch trailer from 2012. It's really something.

We learned in 2022 that Lollipop Chainsaw was back, although it wasn't clear what "back" meant until a few weeks later, when original producer Yoshimi Yasuda said that a "remake" of the game was in the works. But now it seems that fans might want to dial their expectations back a bit: Yosuda now says that Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, as it was recently entitled, is not actually a remake, but a remaster.

"We have changed the game design of RePOP from Remake to Remaster based on your requests!" Yasuda tweeted.

There's no further clarification about what that means, although generally speaking a remaster spit-shines a game's graphics but otherwise leaves it alone, while a remake is a more in-depth updating of story, characters, mechanics, and other fundamental aspects of the game—closer to a complete do-over, in other words. (A complete do-over would be a "reboot," but we don't need to complicate this any further.)

Whatever the team at Dragami Games has cooking, it looks to be more of a struggle than was initially expected. When Yasuda announced the remake in July 2022, he said it would be out sometime in 2023. But in August of this year, it was delayed until summer 2024, basically a year-long pushback—a far bigger postponement than you typically see when developers want to spend a little more time bug-hunting and polishing. 

There's also still no confirmation of platforms: Lollipop Chainsaw was originally released in 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 but never made its way to PC. We hope the remaster comes our way, but we just don't know at this point.

(Image credit: Yoshimi Yasuda (Twitter))

The "requests" from fans that Yasuda alluded to may have been a factor in the delay too. When the remake was first announced, features producer Mollie Taylor said she was "not super-jazzed" about some of the planned changes, including an update to the licensed soundtracks (only a few of the songs from the original soundtrack were planned to carry over to the new game) and a "more realistic approach" to the game's visuals. It's fair to assume that Mollie wasn't alone on that front, and reversing course on some of those planned changes could have contributed to the need to push it back so far.

I'm not really what you'd call a Lollipop Chainsaw guy but based on this comparison from January, I think the original looks better too (although honestly I'm not sure the word "realistic" applies to either):

(Image credit: JeamWSR (Twitter))

Anyway, that's where it stands now: Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, originally intended as a remake and not a remaster, is now a remaster and not a remake. We will continue to hope for the best.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
An elderly bearded man in medieval garb making a face after eating garlic
'Please remember the game has no plot': Vampire Survivors dev points out one of the many challenges in turning its roguelike into a live-action film
Alice from Resident Evil movie holding a big gun and a regular gun
It's been about four years, so yeah, let's go ahead and give Resident Evil yet another movie reboot
Days Gone's Deacon St. John giving you the winky face
Using the State of Play showcase to announce a remaster of Days Gone makes it feel like Sony has graduated to deliberately trolling Bloodborne sickos for kicks
A screenshot from Recettear HD
Iconic shop sim JRPG Recettear is getting an HD remaster in 2025
Lara stands in the cut training area from the Paris level of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
The worst Tomb Raider game is getting cut weapons, areas and voice lines restored as part of its upcoming remaster
Onimusha 2 cover art
Capcom announces a remaster of samurai classic Onimusha 2, coming to Steam this year
Latest in Fighting
The four Ninja Turtles, back to back, slam their shells into Brainiac
Great moments in PC gaming: Injustice 2's over-the-top super moves
2XKO promo image - Ahri
2XKO fans despair for a 2025 release as Riot pushes back a planned 'larger-scale global playtest' in favor of a 'much smaller one'
The Joker in MultiVersus
MultiVersus is somehow using its dying breath to go full looney tunes and put out what may be one of its best patches, and now fans want it to be saved
Virtua Fighter 5 key art
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. isn't just a PC port of a 19-year-old game: it's the reason a diehard fighting game community can 'finally reach out and play with each other across the world'
Tasmanian Devil
Multiversus director addresses fans angered by its upcoming closure: 'You're entitled to what you say and think, but when there are threats to harm it's crossing the line'
The Joker as he appears in a trailer for fighting game Multiversus
The true victims of Multiversus closing are the people who bought that $100 Founder's Pack
Latest in News
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
Possibility Space concept art.
Possibility Space owners sue NetEase for $900 million over allegations it spread 'false and defamatory rumors' of fraud at the studio that ultimately forced it to close