Mixtape

Mixtape‘s narrative is beautiful and fleeting; each song is carefully picked, and even though it goes by fast, Mixtape is incredible. The run time didn’t end up being a problem for me, as it feels like an interactive movie with absolutely no bloat or wasted sound. A song can repeat, but the memories you make to it and the people you do it with will never be the same. Mixtape is a celebration of fleeting youth, of the people who help make you who you are, and it is worth every minute.

Even as it wraps up within four hours, Mixtape feels like an exemplar of the form: generous, indulgent and expertly curated, a crowd-pleaser with just the right number of deep cuts. If it doesn't persuade you to make one of your own, it may well convince you to call up an old friend to reminisce about the moments you spent together. When the world simultaneously sucked and felt so full of potential. When you were bored and rudderless and didn't realise how good you had it. [Issue#424, p.114]

Mixtape, from The Artful Escape studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, is a delight. It's a celebration of teenage life that makes its point, aptly, just as a teenager would.

There are pieces of a good game and story here, but even in two hours, it feels like it wastes a lot of time and doesn’t create anything all that compelling in the end.

I love coming-of-age stories, but Mixtape stands out even among my favorites for how well it nails its earnest, whimsical tone, treating life milestones with grave sincerity. Its stellar writing, concise runtime, and inspired use of its licensed soundtrack make it an instant classic and a heartfelt trip down memory lane.

Collectively, it's less like you're playing a game with a great soundtrack and more like someone has turned a soundtrack into an interactive experiment. It had to be a game, and that's partly what makes it so much more affecting than if this were a movie, but still, the music leads. Mixtape is whatever it needs to be in each moment, and the studio makes a strong case for why it must be that way.

You won’t find a challenge in Mixtape, just a superbly directed adventure in which teenage fears, stunts and drama intertwine with dreamlike imagination and pure, unbridled fun, all carried by one of the best video game soundtracks of the year. And that’s quite enough for me; as someone who remembers rewinding a cassette tape with a pencil, I had a brilliant time.

Mixtape is an impressive take on what it feels to be a music-obsessed young person trying to come to terms with growing up and moving away from something they took for granted for years. The bittersweet feeling of having regrets and “big hits” stays as a lingering to a life that will never come back. It’s an emotionally powerful adventure in a way that's definitely worth giving a try.

The best games rarely cater to the broadest possible audience, and Mixtape is proof of that. The limited gameplay and lack of freedom are deliberate choices that won't appeal to everyone, but they're precisely what make the game what it is. Beethoven & Dinosaur tells a four-hour story that is more convincing, more heartfelt, and more memorable than what most games manage to achieve in dozens of hours. Those who surrender to the experience get something back that is hard to describe: the feeling that you yourself are saying goodbye to Rockford, Cassandra, and Slater, as if you lived through that final evening yourself. And just like the best songs on a mixtape, that feeling lingers long after the last note has faded.

Mixtape is a one of a kind adventure game that allows me to dive deep into the emotionally complex world of teenagers. It’s silly and over-the-top from time to time, but often also heartfelt and nostalgic - especially thanks to the fantastic ’80s soundtrack. I still lacks depth in terms of gameplay, partly because Mixtape is over far too quickly. But the simple gameplay sequences still impress with their creativity and variety.

Brilliant, irreverent, and visually stunning, Mixtape is a sensory masterpiece—an absolute must-play for anyone who has ever been 17 and felt the urge to remake the world with headphones on. Beethoven & Dinosaur demonstrates boundless creativity in bringing this musical journey to life, led by an utterly endearing trio. A pantheon-worthy entry in narrative gaming that strikes right at the heart.

If you can find the experiences you're having in Mixtape game within your past or within yourself, you can be sure it promises an unforgettable feeling. Johnny Galvatron, please continue, but make it a bit more gamified. Thanks.

Lovely, beautiful, heartwarming, and unable to convince me it needed my input as a player at all.

Mixtape, through its expertly curated catalogue of songs, pulls together a genuinely heartfelt and nostalgic story about all of the friends we make, and invariably lose, in our formative years. As a cross-section between music and wasted youth, Beethoven and Dinosaur’s sophomore title is undeniably special. It’s an ode to the importance of music, how it shapes us and reminds us of who we are, all wrapped up in a bow and delivered through playable vignettes that are all killer, no filler, and a stark reminder of how fucking fun it was to be a kid.

In some ways, I suppose Mixtape's short length is reflective of its thesis, too. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Across its short runtime, Mixtape makes a deep impact. As much as it’s about the story of three friends trying to savour their last moments together, it also speaks to the great promise of growing up and how wide-open, beautiful and terrifying the world once seemed then. It’s about growing as a person and what that can mean for the people left behind. Mixtape is also about the power of music and how it can help with these fears – how it can be a companion, express inner doubts, excitement and ambition, speak to the soul, or just provide an artful escape. In this exploration, Mixtape is simply magical.

When I rolled credits on Mixtape, I was sad that it was over so soon. But then, I was immediately excited at the prospect of multiple future playthroughs where I could toy with all of the quirky minigames and their outcomes en route to seeing everything the game had to offer. It’s how I knew that I truly love a video game. Like with many of the coming-of-age films it takes inspiration from and the timeless artists featured on its soundtrack, I know I won’t be able to resist the urge to come back to Mixtape again and again.

The musical journey we take through the life and times of Stacy Rockford is flawlessly underscored and curated, every emotion given its own voice and melody from the margins of mainstream pop and rock.

Mixtape knows what it wants to be, and it succeeds often enough to make it worth recommending. Beethoven & Dinosaur has crafted a small but sincere work where music doesn't accompany the story but generates it.

Mixtape is a warm hug; a nostalgic look at what us oldies would now define as “simpler times”. Set in a sleepy American town, it can work as a parallel for most western childhoods (though Rockford’s Rage shirt certainly reminds this is an Aussie tale, born and bred). It’s grunge and punk, hopeful and foolish, ultra cool and super nerdy, confident and insecure in equal measure. Simply put, this is one you need to experience for yourself.

By the end of Mixtape, which takes only about four hours, I had felt the pure joy of living, the seething heat of betrayal, the confusion of unexpected rejection, and the bittersweet feeling of being on top for one single moment. Tears escaped my eyes walking away from it, even as I smiled.

Mixtape is a brilliant narrative masterpiece that masterfully blends nostalgia and sound. It delivers an emotionally resonant journey through perfectly paced vignettes and a legendary soundtrack. While the gameplay remains simple and technical performance fluctuates, its creative hand-drawn animation and intelligent storytelling create a uniquely beautiful experience that prioritizes heart over mechanical complexity.

If you grew up in the 90s or 2000s, Mixtape will likely bring laughter, nostalgia, and maybe even a few genuine tears. For those born in the TikTok era, it's almost like a time capsule of a less connected, but perhaps more present, youth.