I button-mashed my way through 30 minutes of Scott Pilgrim EX, but I'm already longing to dive back in and learn each character's "very complex combos"

Scott Pilgrim is set to make a grand return to video games next year with Scott Pilgrim EX, and after just 30 minutes with the side-scrolling beat-em-up adventure at Gamescom, I'm feeling confident that it'll be worth the 15+ year wait.

As I sit down with Scott Pilgrim EX at Gamescom – playing in couch co-op alongside a team including the game's narrative designer and marketing director – it's an immediate delight. Its brightly colored 2D pixel-art style is full of charm, each character is delightfully expressive, and landing hits on incoming foes simply feels so damn good.

Familiar faces

I was thrown straight into the action – no learning the ropes here – and as you'd hope, it's very easy to just pick up and play. I'll admit, I relied on button mashing, but each playable character has an expansive arsenal of unique attacks and skills to unleash, encouraging you to experiment with each of them.

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During my preview session, I played as both Ramona Flowers and Scott himself, but the roster includes seven playable characters, including evil exes Roxie Richter and Lucas Lee. They both seem like strong allies – while Roxie wields a sword, Lucas can lend the team a hand with a plethora of heavy punches and kicks. I'm already keen to dive back in and see what tricks everyone has up their sleeves, especially as I'm told about the game's "very complex combos."

"The idea is to try to make something that [is] similar to what we made with [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge], which is sort of a party game, something you can easily pick up and that everyone can enjoy," Tribute Games narrative designer Yannick Belzil tells me, before adding that any player who "wants to get more in the weeds and more in the complex stuff, they can find something there as well."

Marketing director Eric Lafontaine agrees. "There's so many combos, and the physics, the game will reward improvisation, but also, if you're a good gamer and you're very elite with those fighting games, you'll find ways to become very creative and create very, very complex combos," he says, before adding: "It's a great canvas to have fun with friends. And if you just want to button mash also, you'll have a lot of fun."

Making a comeback

It's been a long time since Scott Pilgrim's last all-new video game romp. In fact, it's been over 15 years since the original release of Ubisoft's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. While it isn't Ubisoft working on Scott Pilgrim EX, Lafontaine describes the upcoming release as a "full circle project" for Tribute Games.

"The original crew that worked at Ubisoft on the original game founded Tribute many, many years ago. [...] So it's kind of a full circle project with Tribute," Lafontaine explains. "Tribute didn't work on the original game, but still fans think that we did, and we kind of did as our founder, our technical director, the original game director, the background artist… they were all Ubisoft, now at Tribute."

Furthermore, the devs "reconnected with Bryan" Lee O'Malley, the creator of Scott Pilgrim. When the time came for the series to return to video game form once more, "Tribute was ready."

At the time of writing, Scott Pilgrim EX still has a vague 2026 release window, but I'm feeling very optimistic about that full launch given how smooth things felt in my demo. We'll just have to watch this space to see how the new story from O'Malley fits into the series' overall lore.

To read more from GamesRadar+'s Autumn Preview, be sure to take a look at our Gamescom 2025 coverage hub.