Summary
2024 was the year of the Suda51 remaster, as not one, but two of his previous titles were remastered for modern hardware.Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remasteredlets you blast through the forces of hell, andLollipop Chainsaw RePoppits you against zombie hordes.
Hella Remastered was handled by Suda and the original developers, Grasshopper Manufacture, while RePop was put out by Dragami Games. While they are priced as budget titles, not everyone has the cash to pay for both. This begs the question: which rerelease reigns supreme?
Story
Winner: Lollipop Chainsaw RePop
When it comes to story, there isn’t a lot to speak about in either package. Shadows of the Damned’s narrative is as bare-bones as any Mario game, with your one objective being the recovery of your girlfriend. Likewise, Lollipop Chainsaw sees Juliet killing the undead so they don’t take over the world. There’s nothing here you haven’t seen a million times before.
RePop earns a slight boost, however, due to its writing. Before he became a household name as a film director, James Gunn penned Juliet’s adventure, imbuing it with his trademark edge. While not every joke lands (and some have aged better than others), Lollipop Chainsaw delivers a handful of genuine laughs, making the game an interesting snapshot in its writer’s career.
Gameplay
Winner: Shadows Of The Damned: Hella Remastered
It’s an unfortunate hallmark of the beat-‘em-up genre that they can become repetitive after a short period of time. This is the situation RePop finds itself in; the majority of your gameplay experience will be engaging in similar combat encounters from the first level until you reach the credits. On top of this, controls in the RePop remaster are a bit sluggish, resulting in an experience arguably worse than the original release.
In contrast, Hella Remastered’s controls feel very tight. The title never truly strays away from a third-person shooter framework, but instead finds creative ways to use its gunplay. Enemies and bosses require different strategies in order to kill them, and there’s a healthy dose of puzzles thrown in for good measure. Thankfully, they don’t take too long to beat, but offer a pleasant reprieve from the action.
Visuals And Performance
Winner: Shadows Of The Damned Hella Remastered
Remasters of older games are supposed to be slam dunks in terms of performance; they’re being brought to new, more powerful hardware that should alleviate any technical hiccups and make them better than ever before. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, and RePop has some serious problems.
The game doesn’t look very appealing, with new lighting that changes the visual identity, often appearing blown out. On top of this, RePop can’t lock to a consistent frame rate, instead running uncapped.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered fares much better. It won’t fool anybody into thinking it’s a current-gen game, but the art direction has been translated well over to modern systems. It targets 60fps performance on all platforms (sans Switch), which it can have a problem maintaining, but it’s still much more consistent than what you’ll find in RePop.
Additional Content
Remasters often need to sell themselves to owners of the original release by promising new content you can’t get anywhere else. Hella Remastered comes up a bit short in this area; you’ll be able to outfit Garcia with some new costumes and play through the adventure again in New Game Plus, but by and large, this is the same package that launched in 2011.
RePop packs a bit more, but its additions aren’t without controversy. The soundtrack is completely new due to licensing issues; this means the songs from the original aren’t present. It adds time attack and the titular RePop mode, which replaces zombie blood and gore with different sparkly graphic effects.
New costumes and chainsaws are also available to customize your Juliet. Not every new feature may be your cup of tea, but there is certainly a lot more than what is included with Hella Remastered.
Verdict
When you compare every aspect of both titles, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered comes out on top. Superior gameplay and performance put it head and shoulders above RePop. It’s a wonderfully unique title and a great way to get acquainted with Suda51’s off-the-wall game direction.
This isn’t to say RePop is a complete bust! You can get a lot of enjoyment out of it if you’re willing to accept some technical shortcomings. If nothing else, its dialogue provides some decent entertainment value. It’s an oddity worth experiencing at some point, but probably at a steep discount.
