Scott Pilgrim Creator Bryan Lee O’Malley Is Making a Video Game Based on Seconds and It Already Looks Incredible

Bryan Lee O’Malley created Scott Pilgrim, one of the most beloved graphic novel series of the 2000s and the source material for both a cult classic film directed by Edgar Wright and a critically acclaimed video game. His follow-up graphic novel, Seconds, published in 2014, is a standalone story about a young chef who discovers a way to rewrite her past mistakes using magical mushrooms, and which many O’Malley fans consider his most emotionally mature work.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

A video game adaptation of Seconds has been announced, with O’Malley directly involved in its development. For fans of both the source material and the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, this announcement is one of the more exciting events in the indie gaming calendar. Here is everything currently known.

What Seconds Is About

Seconds follows Katie, the head chef of a successful restaurant named Seconds, who discovers a magical ritual involving mushrooms that allows her to rewrite mistakes from her past. Each use of the mushrooms creates a new version of her life with the mistake corrected, but the cumulative effect of rewriting her history creates increasingly strange and dangerous changes to her reality.

The story is a meditation on regret, the impossibility of perfectionism, and the way that trying to optimize every decision leads to deeper unhappiness than accepting imperfect outcomes would have. It is also funny, visually inventive, and genuinely moving in a way that is unusual for the magical realism genre.

The thematic material maps naturally to game mechanics: the ability to undo actions and try again is a fundamental gaming convention that Seconds treats as a narrative device with real consequences. A game built around this mechanic with Seconds as its source material has unusual potential for thematic coherence between gameplay and story.

What the Game Will Look Like

O’Malley’s visual style, characterized by expressive character designs, dynamic action sequences, and a distinctive blend of manga influence with North American indie comics aesthetics, defined both the Scott Pilgrim comics and the Scott Pilgrim game’s visual identity. Based on early descriptions and promotional materials, the Seconds game appears to maintain a similar aesthetic approach while developing a visual vocabulary appropriate to the restaurant setting and magical realism tone of the source material.

The color palette apparent in early art suggests warmer, more intimate tones than the Scott Pilgrim game’s saturated arcade energy, which is appropriate for a story centered on a kitchen and domestic spaces rather than action sequences and rock concerts.

Gameplay Direction

The specific gameplay mechanics have not been fully detailed. Given the source material’s central mechanic of replaying moments with different choices, a game design that incorporates meaningful choice and consequence, possibly with rewind or replay mechanics that tie directly to the story’s themes, seems likely.

The Scott Pilgrim game was a beat-em-up that stayed close to its action-comic source material. Seconds has more narrative depth and emotional complexity that might point toward adventure game or RPG mechanics rather than pure action gameplay. O’Malley’s direct involvement in development suggests the game’s design will be informed by the same creative sensibility as the source material rather than being a licensed adaptation built by a team without his input.

Why This Matters for Indie Games: O’Malley’s involvement in the Seconds game represents a model for creator-driven game adaptation that is relatively rare: the original creator of the source material is shaping the game’s design and creative direction rather than licensing the property to a development team. The Scott Pilgrim game’s success with this model gives reasons for optimism about what creator involvement produces.

The Scott Pilgrim Game Legacy

The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, originally released in 2010 and re-released in 2021, is regarded as one of the best licensed game adaptations ever made. Its combination of River City Ransom-inspired gameplay, O’Malley’s visual style translated to pixel art, and an exceptional soundtrack by Anamanaguchi created a game that felt genuinely of a piece with the comics rather than derivative of them.

The game’s original delisting from digital platforms due to licensing complications, and the enthusiastic reception of its 2021 re-release, demonstrated both the enduring appeal of O’Malley’s properties in game form and the fan appetite for new games from the same creative universe.

What Fans Should Expect

Based on available information, the Seconds game is in active development with a release window that has not been officially confirmed. O’Malley’s direct involvement suggests the project will take as long as it needs to be done right rather than being rushed to meet a marketing window.

• Expect a release on PC as the primary platform with console versions likely
• Expect O’Malley’s visual style in a form optimized for interactive media
• Expect the mushroom rewind mechanic to play a central gameplay role
• Expect a distinctive soundtrack consistent with the creative quality of the Scott Pilgrim game
• Do not expect a release timeline faster than the source material warrants

Bottom Line: A Bryan Lee O’Malley-directed game adaptation of Seconds has all the ingredients for a standout indie title. The source material is emotionally rich and thematically game-friendly. The creator’s direct involvement is the strongest quality signal available. Cautious excitement is the appropriate response until more gameplay details emerge.

Related: Console Exclusives Making a Comeback | Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remake | Best Indie Games of 2025

Bryan Lee O’Malley official site

Seconds graphic novel on Amazon

Scott Pilgrim game official site