LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP is a barebones PC port and quite demanding with 4K

LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP was released for PC yesterday. And to be honest, I wasn't planning on doing a PC performance analysis for it. Until I tried it out. From the looks of it, LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP is a demanding game for PC.

For these first 4K benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB DDR5 at 6000MHz, and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090. I also used Windows 10 64-bit and the GeForce 560.94 WHQL driver. In addition, I disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D.

LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP is a remake of the original using a new engine. The original game was based on Unreal Engine 3, and this remake uses Unreal Engine 5. Now, I'm not calling it a remake because the game uses the same levels, cutscenes, and 3D models as the original. So basically, the developers reworked the lighting and textures of the game to provide better graphics.

Since this is a remaster of an X360 game, I expected it to run at really high frame rates on PC. Again, the 3D models and levels seem similar to the original. However, at 4K, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 was maxed out. To my surprise, the first cutscene ran at 60-80 fps. During gameplay, performance seemed to be higher, as we reached between 90 and 120 fps.

Don't get me wrong, 90-120 fps at native 4K is perfectly fine. However, this is a remaster of an X360 game, so it's understandable to expect better performance. To put things in perspective, Outcast – A New Beginning, a game that looks better than LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP, runs at 87-105 fps at native 4K. Or how about SAND LAND, a game that looks better and runs SIGNIFICANTLY faster? Or Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which looks MILES better than LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP?

As the title suggests, LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP is also a barebones PC port. While keyboard and mouse are supported, you can't use the mouse to navigate the menus. Mouse movement is also weird (especially due to some weird dead zone issues. There are no mouse acceleration issues as far as I could see). Still, the original game was designed for controllers, so we should at least be thankful that we have proper keyboard and mouse prompts in the game.

The biggest problem with LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP is not the KB&M controls, but the lack of any graphics settings. The game only allows you to change the resolution and display mode. And that's it. As a result, the game will have major performance issues on older GPUs. Not only that, but it will also run terribly on Steam Deck by default.

The good news is that since it's a UE5 game, you can use some INI tweaks, so to get the game running on old GPUs, you'll need to use the following settings.

[ScalabilityGroups]

sg.Resolution quality=80
sg.ViewDistanceQuality=2
sg.AntiAliasingQuality=2
sg.ShadowQuality=1
so-called GlobalIlluminationQuality=2
sg.ReflectionQuality=1
sg.PostProcessQuality=2
sg.TextureQuality=2
sg.EffectsQuality=2
sg.foliage quality=1
sg.ShadingQuality=1

I also had weird audio/dialogue issues. During some cutscenes, Juliet's lip sync was all messed up. Sometimes the cutscenes felt unfinished or in a “beta” state. I also had numerous issues with texture streaming. Thankfully, though, there are no issues with stuttering.

All in all, LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP is a little disappointing on PC. You'd expect a remaster of an X360 title to run much better. And then we have the PC options/features at the bare minimum.

Our PC performance analysis for this game will go live later this weekend, but until then, enjoy the 20-minute PC gameplay video below!

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