Scott Pilgrim EX Hands-on Preview – Hands-on Preview
Scott Pilgrim is perhaps even more closely associated with videogames than his own comics. While Scott Pilgrim vs. the World the Game was once regarded as one of the most precious ‘lost media’ titles, its revival a few years back by Ubisoft and the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Anime really helped introduce a new generation to the dating nerd from the mysterious land of Toronto, Canada. During my preview at Gamescom 2025, I asked the developers at Tribute why create a new Scott Pilgrim game now and their answer was simple: “Brian Lee O’Malley called us.”.
Indeed, the passion from the developers cannot be overstated when pixels start bursting on screen. Tribute was founded by ex-Ubisoft employees who worked on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World the Game and you can sense that they clearly had a vision on how not just to improve on the original, but make Scott Pilgrim EX a game all its own. Structurally the game is still a side-scrolling beat ‘em up. The game features and original story that takes place after the main events from Scott Pilgrim the comic/the movie/the game/the anime. Even if you’ve read or watched only one of these, it should be easy to follow along. You can choose from a wide variety of characters, and during our time with the game we got to play with Roxanne Richter and Lucas Lee, aside from Scott and Ramona. Every character has their own dedicated movepool. As Lucas you can slam around your skateboard and also you’re a bit bigger than most enemies and allies, making it easier to punch around and grab opponents. Combos, special moves and throws are all here as you’d expect.
What I wasn’t expecting however was that the game takes much more of an ‘open world’ approach for a 2D beat ‘em up. While you’ll travel from left to right, more often than not you come across challenges and quests that you can assist people with. The mission we did during the demo was unlocking a set of bomb-dispensers in order to blow up a crystal on a beach. We first had to go to the beach, receive the quest and then head to the town, complete a challenge and unlock the bombs, before we would return to the beach and participate in another challenge. All the while prehistoric fighters, vegan ice cream vendors, demon hipster chicks and characters from parallel universes would hinder our progress and require me and my fellow demo-participants to work together. The group shares a pool of cash that can be spent at a multitude of stores for regaining health, but also upgrades and badges that improve the overall stats. It makes the world of Scott Pilgrim feel that much more alive. Especially when you start to connect and understand how the world works and is interwoven. I also liked that you’re able to swap out special moves at most rest stops and that they aren’t tied to any one character. Whether you’re Scott or Ramona, you can summon Lucas’s stunt doubles, or Wallace Well’s protective veil.
Stylistically the game is firing on all cylinders. From the absolutely stunning pixel-art and animation on the fighters, enemies and objects (seriously, even the food looks great), to the incredible backgrounds with so many nods and winks to other games I couldn’t even begin to count them all. And of course, there’s the music, once again performed in part by rock/chiptune band Anamanaguchi. It’s very exciting to have another full album to look forward to when the game releases sometime next year and from what I’ve heard so far, there are going to be some absolute bangers on repeat in my household.
Scott Pilgrim EX is shaping up to be one of the more exciting Beat ‘Em Ups coming out. This genre is very crowded and new games that follow its style tend to fall into the same trappings, soit’s encouraging to see Tribute bringing some new ideas to the table that helps to bring the characters, settings and powers to the forefront. If you’re looking for something to sit down with friends and relive that arcade-like feel, I’m pretty sure that Scott Pilgrim EX is exactly what you might be craving.
