Good news for Lollipop Chainsaw fans in the West. The release date for the remastered version of RePOP has been moved up in the US and Europe. Originally scheduled for release on September 25, the game will now be released almost two weeks earlier, on September 12. This is a pleasant surprise considering the game was supposed to be released a year ago, but was pushed back until this summer.

A less pleasant surprise, at least for some, was the price, which was revealed at the same time as the date change: $45 for Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, which, by today's standards, is still a crappy $70, considering it is a scaled-down version of a 12-year-old game. Some argue that it is too expensive.

"Isn't this a pretty bare-bones remaster, with the soundtrack removed or something? Seems overpriced," asked one user on Reddit, to which someone replied, "It's just a classic AA remaster. It's overpriced and hardly updated. Another wrote, "A 12 year old game that was middling at best when it was released is being sold for $45 with very few improvements. The only reason they could ask for that money would be because the game is stuck in the old generation of X360 and PS3, and there are literally no other options to play the game.

This complaint is understandable to a certain extent; RePOP was originally slated to be released as a remake in 2022, but was replaced by a remastered version last year. According to original producer Yoshimi Yasuda, this change was in direct response to feedback from fans. While fans (myself included) expressed concern about the direction of the remake, I don't think they necessarily wanted to forgo it altogether.

It is also fairly certain that the licensed songs from the original game will not return, and the official website advertises a soundtrack "primarily composed of original songs." Licensed songs play a pretty big part in creating the atmosphere, so I'm anxious to see what hits like Sleigh Bells' Riot Rhythm and Toni Basil's Mickey are being replaced with. Coupled with the fact that Suda 51 and James Gunn, who were heavily involved in the development of the original game, were not involved in this process, it is easy to see where the anxiety comes from.

After all, this is the first time Lollipop Chainsaw has appeared on the PC. At least, that's what the marketing says, despite the fact that there is no Steam product page right now. But the original game remains locked in the prison of old consoles and will probably never see the light of day outside of emulation. As someone who had a great time with the original version, I still regularly find myself saying lines like "Rah, rah, it sucks to be a head" and "I screwed up, I'm yellow" to my decapitated boyfriend, Nick.