„A roadtrip down memory lane” Mixtape is a wonderful blend of gameplay, music, humor, and nostalgia
Mixtape is like an interactive coming-of-age movie. After spending half an hour with it at Summer Game Fest, it's one of my most anticipated games of the year.
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What if those classic teenage comedies about growing up were made into a video game? You don’t have to wonder because Day of the Devs immediately after for a deeper look. At the Play Days event in Los Angeles, I had the fantastic opportunity to sit down and play through the first half hour of Mixtape. This feels like a generational gaming experience, even if it’s not about your generation.
Mixtape is the perfect blend of music, gameplay moments, humor, and nostalgia
Mixtape perfectly blends the chaotic mind of a teenager with an excellently nostalgic soundtrack to provide a mix of over-the-top adventures, moments of silly gameplay, and an overall narrative that relishes in life’s imperfections and what it means to be young and full of imagination. The story follows three best friends as they share one last night together before one of them travels to New York City. They have a plan to grab booze, head to a party, and end up at the beach, all while listening to the perfect mixtape.
You never know what you’re going to run into in Mixtape. Exploring one of the characters’ bedrooms might lead you to look at a stack of cassettes. One of those can thrust you into a memory of a first kiss, which turns into a disgusting gameplay moment where you are zoomed in on two mouths, controlling two tongues. Thankfully, after about fifteen seconds, a prompt appears on the screen to move on, reading my mind by simply stating, “That’s enough.”
Exploring memories.Mixtape, Developer: Beethoven & Dinosaur
The gameplay is not so much a challenge (though you can “fail” at moments, like when I was hit by a car skateboarding down a hill, after which the game rewound by five seconds like a cassette player); it’s more about exploring and experiencing. It’s a road trip down memory lane. It doesn’t claim to be accurate; it’s a teenager’s memory of their best and worst moments. It pokes fun at itself as much as it celebrates youth, friendship, and adventure.
Cruising through leaves.Mixtape, Developer: Beethoven & Dinosaur
In one particularly epic memory, the characters evade the police by careening down side streets in a shopping cart, eventually racing down the highway as the evening news reports the high-speed chase on live television. At the end of it, as we snap back to the present, one of the characters sits up and states, “At least that’s how I it.” Mixtape is full of embellishment and exaggeration, much like the memories of any group of teenagers would be.
Narrowly escaping the cops.Mixtape, Developer: Beethoven & Dinosaur
If you’re worried about not appreciating the music, don’t be. Most of the music is songs I’m not familiar with, but I can still enjoy and respect their importance. Mixtape has inspired me to look at music in a different way, how it can be a tool to moments or document a time in life. I only played the game for half an hour, but it made me wish I had thought to make a mixtape to my trip to LA for Summer Game Fest.
Caught.Mixtape, Developer: Beethoven & Dinosaur
Despite taking us back to a time before cell phones, Mixtape taps into something anyone of any age can relate to. Sure, there’s the nostalgia of making great memories with friends and going on life’s adventures. But also, trying to design the perfect evening with friends. Life is inherently imperfect, just like music, friendships, and memories. You can try to control and plan for the ideal moments and outcomes, but at some point, your friends are going to tell you to play that stupid song from that mixtape your first crush gave you. “This is NOT from the mixtape,” the text on the screen vehemently adds as the character begrudgingly obliges.
Mixtape is planned for release later this year, and I look forward to exploring more of what it has to offer. From what I’ve seen so far, this looks like it could become a touchstone piece of media for a certain generation of gamers, much like those classic high school movies, such as Superbad and Fast Times. I can’t wait to see how these characters tackle the imperfections of their last night together. Will they try to fight it, or will they lean into it? Mixtape will be available on Xbox Game the day it launches, and will also be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam. You can add it to your wishlist now.
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