Pop, cute Heisei B-movie zombie action returns: Hands-on “Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back” — Juliet's crazy after 13 years [TGS2026]

The horror action game "Lollipop Chainsaw" boasts a cult following. The original was a one-of-a-kind zombie-hunting game born from the collision of edgy talents like Goichi Suda and James Gunn, and now a full sequel, "Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back," is set to be released.

A playable demo of this title was available at the Sega/Atlus booth at TOKYO GAME SHOW 2026, so I went ahead and gave it a try.

With the exhilarating feeling of mowing down zombies by spamming buttons, along with upbeat music and lighthearted dialogue, it’s a true sequel that perfectly captures the atmosphere of the original.

Juliet is back for the first time in about 13 years. This time, she’s dressed a bit more warmly and seems to have matured just a little. That said, her boyfriend Nick is still just a severed head, perched on Juliet’s hip, chatting away about this and that.

So, I jumped right into the hands-on demo. Zombies swarm out of nowhere and slowly make their way toward me. It’s pretty funny how each one’s name from when they were alive is politely displayed.

(Based on the PS5 controller layout) The △ button is for chainsaw attacks, the ○ button for special chainsaw attacks, the R1 button for a chainsaw dash, and the R2 button for revving the chainsaw—the key assignments clearly convey the developers’ strong determination to make the player attack with the chainsaw.Technically, as a cheerleader, I could attack with dance moves too, but most of the time I was just whirring “Booooooom!!” and slicing through zombie flesh.

There are elements like dodging and blocking, but the rough-and-tumble, Heisei-era style controls—as if to say, “Leave those complicated actions to modern games”—are absolutely irresistible. As soon as you spot an enemy, just hammer the buttons with all your might—hammer away! Don’t worry about the exact damage numbers!

Heads fly, blood flows, and arms explode—I can’t get enough of this B-movie gore. This is *Lollipop Chainsaw* at its best!

After progressing a bit, I reached a stage run by ZORBIE, a zombie girl with delusions of celebrity. She was a totally insane boss who attacked by having the zombie guys—who were all head over heels for her—have their heads chopped off one by one.

Again, set to a ’00s-style girl-pop BGM, I ripped off zombie heads and hurled them at ZORBIE.

Before long, she started raining down a massive number of gift boxes. And what was inside them…? Zombies!

Well, I guess that makes sense!!

After smashing ZORBIE with a ton of heads, the demo ended. It was the latest entry in the series—utterly B-movie, and therefore endearing, filled with boundless cheerfulness and sheer silliness. It’s a game even zombies can play!

*Lollipop Chainsaw 2: Back2Back* is scheduled for release in 2027 on the PS5.