Scott Pilgrim EX levels up the series’ beat-‘em-up antics

Again, the storytelling here is very much filtered through the simplicity of traditional beat-’em-ups, and while there are some occasional juicy snippets about where people end up after Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, including what’s going on with more obscure members of the comic’s extended cast, these are more cameos than a main focus. There are also some hilarious asides that capture the comic’s sense of humor (like one that involves train pirates), but the emphasis is generally on busting heads.

It’s a good thing, then, that blasting through robots, demons, and out-of-control vegans is a delight. If there’s a single word to describe the central feel of these brawls, it’s “fluid.” Moves naturally flow into each other as you chain light and heavy attacks into character-specific special moves. Multi-hit jumping strikes lead into additional aerials like in Super Smash Bros., and when you land, you get access to special grounded blows. There’s a surprising amount of nuance at play, and the tutorial administered by a hologram Wallace lays out fighting game inspiration with terms like “wake-up actions” and “anti-airs.” There’s a block button that can transition into an invincible dodge step, and short-hops like in King Of Fighters. Leaps maintain aerial momentum, allowing all kinds of tricky movement that will have particularly agile characters like Roxie zooming across the streets of Toronto. Most of this complexity is quite optional: You can button mash, and things will largely work out fine. But the ability to seamlessly string moves together, rotating between grounded attacks, short hops, special moves, and combos that end in crowd-controlling judo tosses, gives these bouts the kind of punch that will leave discerning beat-’em-up aficionados quite pleased.

It certainly helps that these playable weirdos have relatively distinct movesets and styles, as evidenced by the genre terminology used to describe them. Scott is your standard all-rounder Ryu type, down to the Tatsumaki spin kicks, while Roxie is a ninja (or a half-ninja, more specifically) with great aerial movement. On top of unique light and heavy strings, each character also has two to three special moves, like Lucas’ armored bear hug or Matthew Patel’s ability to summon a demon minion. More than just adding flair, these distinct attacks have unique purposes, like how Roxie’s heavy strike is designed to knock jump-happy demons out of the air, or how a short hop can be used to avoid a vegan’s sliding psychic kick. If there’s a bummer when it comes to the cast, it’s that the game’s leveling system heavily incentivizes sticking with one fighter instead of sampling these varied movesets, as you can only improve one character at a time.

Like the previous game, which also featured RPG mechanics, you can beef up your characters by spending hard-earned coins on equipment and stat-boosting meals. While not absurdly in-depth, you can still feel the impact of these improvements, with agility significantly increasing your movement speed, strength upgrades letting you demolish lower-level small fry, and so on. There’s also plenty of assists to unlock, which, when combined with certain equipment, can set up busted strategies as you chain invincibility thanks to a screaming Stephen Stills or perform screen wipes with Young Neil (thanks, Young Neil).

These progression mechanics give the experience a rewarding ramp, but the major downside is that to net these upgrades, you’ll need to navigate a somewhat lackluster semi-open world. This less structured presentation robs the experience of the more authored gauntlets found in traditional genre entries, like the mandatory part where you’re on a raft for some reason. You’re free to roam much of Toronto from the start, and while there are new areas to unlock along the way that feature more curated brawls and rewarding boss fights, reaching these involves quite a bit of backtracking through familiar regions full of randomly spawned bad guys. It doesn’t help that you’re whisked through these zones by a difficult-to-follow sequence of MacGuffins that further instill tedium and will have you often wondering what’s going on. The dialogue is charming, but the main plot is mostly there to bring you back and forth through familiar streets over the course of this short three to four-hour romp. While Scott Pilgrim has always loved referencing retro influences, the storytelling leans a bit too much into old-school video games.

At least Scott Pilgrim EX is a very pretty throwback, though. Robertson delivers lovingly rendered pixel art recreations of the cast alongside charming new designs. Meanwhile, although Anamanaguchi’s latest soundtrack isn’t quite as earworm-heavy as their last, it sets the mood with groovy chiptunes that chirp through coffee shops and demon battles. Scott Pilgrim EX may not offer more than narrative crumbs, but if nothing else, it’s nice to spend more time with these lovable jerks. It doesn’t hurt that it’s so dang fun to pound the tar out of various cronies and superpower-wielding oddballs. What’s more Scott Pilgrim than that?

Scott Pilgrim EX was developed and published by Tribute Games. Our review is based on the PC version. It is also available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.