Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back has been announced for PlayStation 5, bringing zombie-hunting cheerleader Juliet Starling back for a new action adventure set to arrive sometime in 2027. The sequel returns to the deliberately outrageous world established by the 2012 original, but it also gives its heroine a significant mobility upgrade: rollerskates.
Footage shown during Tokyo Games Show 2026 offered an early look at Juliet carving through crowds of undead on city streets. Her new skates let her move rapidly through the chaos, creating a different rhythm from the original game's on-foot combat. The reveal also introduced a boss called Zorbie, an apparent undead play on the Barbie concept, and outlined a story that moves the action into a rebuilt version of San Romero.
That city is now known as Jaredwood, a huge metropolis shaped around the film business. It is an appropriate setting for a series that has always leaned into genre parody, horror imagery, loud fashion, and intentionally absurd characters. This time, a mysterious director traps Juliet inside a warped zombie film. She must work with her allies to expose the conspiracy behind the situation and confront a fresh menace connected to the Corrupted Realm zombies.
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Juliet returns to a transformed San Romero
The first Lollipop Chainsaw introduced Juliet as a high-school cheerleader with a chainsaw, a relentlessly upbeat attitude, and a life complicated by a zombie outbreak. Its strange tone and fast, stylized action earned the game a cult audience after its 2012 debut. Back2Back is positioned as a continuation of that premise rather than a restrained reinvention: Juliet remains the center of the action, the undead remain the primary obstacle, and the setup is once again intentionally larger than life.
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Jaredwood appears designed to push that theatrical quality further. A city constructed around filmmaking gives the sequel room to turn its environments, villains, and scenarios into exaggerated movie-world spectacles. The announced premise suggests that the boundary between a produced zombie movie and Juliet's real danger will be central to the plot, though details on how that idea will affect progression, level design, or gameplay systems have not yet been confirmed.
Juliet is also returning in a new outfit, with the reveal emphasizing both her redesigned look and her enhanced abilities. The visual presentation has prompted a broad range of reactions online. Some viewers have been enthusiastic about the character's return and the prospect of another unabashedly eccentric zombie action game, while others have said the early footage looks rough or insufficiently polished. With the game still targeting 2027 rather than an immediate launch, there is substantial time for further development and for more complete gameplay demonstrations to shape expectations.
Rollerskates could change the feel of the action
The most immediately noticeable gameplay addition is Juliet's use of rollerskates. In the footage, she uses them to zip around the street while dispatching zombies, giving her a faster way to reposition in a fight. Speed has always been an important part of making a large horde encounter feel dynamic, and the skates could allow Back2Back to make encounters more mobile than the original's more conventional running and melee approach.
For another perspective on this story, read Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back Brings Juliet Starling to PS5 in 2027, With Rollerskates and a Movie-Mad Zombie Plot.
There are still many unanswered questions about the mechanic. It is not yet clear whether rollerskates will be available throughout the entire game, whether they can be improved through progression, or whether they introduce new attacks, evasive maneuvers, traversal challenges, and combo opportunities. The concept naturally fits Lollipop Chainsaw's heightened style, however. Juliet skating at high speed while carrying a chainsaw is precisely the kind of knowingly ridiculous image the series has historically embraced.
The Zorbie boss fight shown in the announcement also points to a continuation of the franchise's tendency to turn pop-culture-inflected ideas into grotesque monsters. No information has been provided about the character's role in the story or the full boss lineup, but the encounter indicates that Back2Back will retain a taste for flamboyant, themed antagonists rather than focusing solely on anonymous zombie crowds.
A sequel without the original's best-known creative names
While Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back shares its predecessor's setting, heroine, and broad sensibility, it does not reunite the complete creative group most closely associated with the 2012 game. James Gunn, who partly contributed to the original's witty script before his work on major Marvel and DC films, is not involved with this sequel. Suda51, the prominent Japanese creator associated with No More Heroes, Shadows of the Damned, and numerous other unconventional projects, is likewise not contributing.
Instead, Back2Back is being developed by Dragami Games. The company previously released a remaster of the first Lollipop Chainsaw, which received mixed reactions. That history makes this sequel particularly notable: it is an opportunity for Dragami Games to establish what its own full follow-up can offer beyond updating the original for a newer audience.
The absence of Gunn and Suda51 does not necessarily define the final result, but it does make the sequel's writing, humor, and personality major points of interest. The first game's cult reputation was built on more than chainsaw combat. Players also remembered its aggressively strange jokes, stylized characters, soundtrack energy, and willingness to commit to an almost cartoonishly excessive premise. Back2Back will need to demonstrate how it can preserve that identity while finding its own voice.
What has and has not been confirmed
At present, PlayStation 5 is the only announced platform for Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back. The release window is 2027, but no specific date, price, edition details, or information on additional platforms has been announced. Details about multiplayer, performance modes, combat progression, supporting characters, and the scope of Jaredwood are also still under wraps.
That leaves the Tokyo Games Show footage as an early indication rather than a comprehensive breakdown. It confirms Juliet's return, the rebuilt San Romero setting, the movie-centered story setup, Corrupted Realm zombies, rollerskates, and at least one unusual boss. It also confirms that the project is aiming for a sequel with more speed and a new visual backdrop instead of simply revisiting the first game's locations.
For fans who have waited years to see Juliet Starling return in a new mainline adventure, the announcement is significant even with its many remaining unknowns. Lollipop Chainsaw arrived in an era full of character-action games, but it stood out through a combination of horror-comedy excess and a protagonist whose cheerful confidence never matched the grimness of the world around her. Back2Back appears determined to keep that contrast intact.
The wider Lollipop Chainsaw revival continues
The sequel is not the only sign that the series is being revisited. An anime based on Lollipop Chainsaw was announced as being in development last year. There was no further update on that adaptation alongside the Back2Back reveal, so its release plans, format, staff, and story remain unconfirmed.
Together, the game sequel and anime project show that Juliet Starling's world is being expanded again after a long gap. The immediate focus, though, is on Back2Back and whether its skates, cinematic cityscape, and new zombie-movie premise can deliver a follow-up worthy of the original's cult status. More information will be needed before players can judge how the combat, story, and presentation are taking shape, but Juliet's chainsaw is officially headed back to PlayStation 5 in 2027.
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