Sex Bob-omb members have been kidnapped, can Scott and friends rescue them in time for their gig?
What Is It? Scott Pilgrim EX is a 2026 side-scrolling beat-em-up from Tribute Games. Tribute has been on a strong run of recent games in the genre with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion both achieving renown. Scott Pilgrim EX is not a direct sequel to the 2010 Ubisoft Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, but does play similarly.
I’m not a big Scott Pilgrim lore person. I saw the movie and have now played both games, but I couldn’t name more than a few characters. I am reading that the story for EX picks up after the cliffhanger ending of the Netflix series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. In EX, Toronto is embroiled in a massive gang war between demons, vegans, and robots, with the non-Scott members of Sex Bob-omb being kidnapped somewhere along the way. The game lets you choose and switch between seven characters including Scott and Ramona Flowers.
The game plays like most side-scrolling beat-em-ups. Walk to a new screen, beat up everything that attacks you, then onto the next. On the purely mechanical front, this game controls really well. You are armed with a standard and strong attack, with the expected “faster, weaker hits vs slower, stronger hits” tradeoffs, along with grab, jump, block, run, and special attack buttons. Everything works as you would hope, the dedicated run button was nice as I often found myself needing to escape a brawl and relying on the “double tap in a direction to run” controls is always hit-or-miss for me.
Combat is weighty and satisfying. A flurry of normal attacks will knock back enemies who aren’t blocking while one or two strong attacks will typically stun them, allowing for more damage to be quickly applied. Many enemies will block which is when the grab move becomes important as blocks typically don’t block grab attempts. Grab an enemy and either pummel them or toss them to deal damage. You can also grab one of many pick-up attack items, using them to bash enemies or throw at them. There is a nice variety in these and having the right one really helps the fight. More on the specifics of the combat below, but I will summarize it by saying this is definitely some of the most satisfying beat-em-up combat I’ve played.
Beyond fighting, you will also have to do a little exploring in this game. It isn’t a purely linear, level-based affair like many others in the genre. You freely roam around various points in Toronto to rescue bandmates and advance the story. Many spots are initially gated by some story action that needs to occur, but there is always a lot of real estate you can cover. Overall, the footprint of the world here feels significantly smaller than the sum of TMNT or Marvel’s levels, but it never feels small and the 3-4 hour runtime ensures it doesn’t get stale.
The main gameplay loop has you going after a particular band member to rescue. You will get a marker on the world map where you need to go. Arrive at that spot, fight some enemies, then find out there is another requirement to get to your bandmate. Take a small detour to get whatever item the game wants you to have, unblock the route to your teammate then face the boss fight. It isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but it gets the job done in terms of keeping the game moving and making sure you don’t get lost along the way.
The final mechanical aspect of the game is the economy. You will constantly collect coins as you defeat enemies. I primarily used these coins to purchase food which will heal your HP and GP (“Gut Points”, used to fire off special moves). Most every piece of food also increases stats which feed into a leveling system that has each of the seven characters leveling up independently. Also, you can store one snack which will auto-fire if you die during a fight. You can also use your money on equipables which boost specific stats. The details of this are a little under-explained, but the overall system works well and is a nice addition. It wasn’t until the very end that I had so much money that I never had to sweat about being able to heal.
The game looks great with a pixel art style and bright, vibrant colors throughout. There are many easter eggs throughout referencing various videogames and I’m sure all kinds of Scott Pilgrim lore I’m unaware of. The soundtrack is strong as well.
Finally, the game offers local and online co-op with up to four players. Beat-em-ups, of course, always shine with friends.
The Best Part: The combat. This is some of the best, most satisfying beat-em-up combat I’ve ever played. While Shredder’s Revenge and Cosmic Invasion, both games I loved, take a more floaty approach and make their combat a bit easier, Scott Pilgrim is more rooted in the old school games like Streets of Rage and Double Dragon. The game sends hordes of enemies at you but it’s a smart mix of types. The standard, easy-to-dispose type, the strong, the fast, the blocking, etc… It’s a fun mix which gives you small puzzles to solve each time the room fills up with baddies. Do you set a full-screen attack to your special move to serve as crowd control? Or do you keep a healing option there to stay alive longer? How often do you fire off your small AOE attack, at the expense of GP?
I did not die very often outside of boss fights, but the “waves of enemies” sections that preceded most bosses were always tough enough to drain enough of my HP to make the boss fights extra tough. The bosses themselves are mostly about learning the pattern and being patient for the openings, but the tougher ones took me a few tries or more. This tough-but-fun trial and error approach to combat is a far cry from my prior Tribute Games expectations, but I, ultimately, ended up liking this combat a bit more.
The Worst Part: I have mixed feelings on the open, non-linear layout. It is a fun idea to break from the normal level structure, but I’m not quite sure it actually adds much to the experience. Given the nature of the game, revisiting the same areas many times doesn’t actually help you learn them or enjoy them anymore. For the most part, they are just different backgrounds to look at while you fight the enemies appropriate for the area. It also introduces backtracking when you need to spend some coins to heal or grab a snack. The game always has a marker on the map telling you where to go next, so this structure doesn’t even lead to you needing to explore more. I don’t hate this aspect, I’m just not sure the game is better off with this structure than it would be with a string of purely linear levels.
The Verdict: Scott Pilgrim EX was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. I went in expecting a continuation of the line Tribute established with Shredder’s Revenge and Cosmic Invasion. I was harshly greeted by a game which eschewed many of the tropes those two games shared. If I had read a detailed description of EX, with its non-linear play, increased difficulty, boss fights that would take me ten tries, and so on, I probably never would have bothered buying this game at all. Luckily, I didn’t do any research at all and simply jumped right in.
What I found definitely surprised me, but after an hour or so I understood what the game offered and found a lot of fun in its formula. The increased difficulty turned into a massive plus for me by the end. I enjoyed each room being at least somewhat challenging and each boss fight potentially being the start of a bunch of try-and-die replays as I learned patterns and to be patient. Ultimately, if this game were simply another reskin of the TMNT or Marvel formula, I would not have liked it nearly as much because I have very few ties to the Scott Pilgrim IP.
I had a great time with Scott Pilgrim EX, I suspect many others will too. Give it a try if you want something a bit old school, a bit difficult, and a lot of fun.
How to Play: PlayStation 4/5*, Xbox Series, Switch 1/2, PC
*console played on for this review
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