- Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
- Release Date: May 7, 2026
- Also On: Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 5
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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May 11, 2026Mixtape is a great game in every way, both audiovisually and narratively. Realistic yet magical. Funny yet melancholic. A short, meaningful story about friendship and life.
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May 10, 2026Mixtape is one of the most personal and emotionally resonant games I’ve played in years. Its experimental structure and collection of strange mini-games won’t work for everyone, but for me, every part of it clicked. The music, visual style, and coming-of-age story come together in a way that feels incredibly intimate and honest. It made me laugh, reflect on my own youth, and at times left me surprisingly emotional. Even though the story is rooted in a very specific time and place, the feelings behind it are universal. Mixtape won’t appeal to everyone, but if it connects with you, it will stay with you long after the final song fades out.
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May 10, 2026Mixtape is a colorful, emotional, and deeply thoughtful game about the final moments of youth, with Beethoven and Dinosaur capturing the ache of growing apart through realistic dialogue, memorable characters, and bombastic audiovisual presentation. Yet this is not a melancholic experience, but a story about gratitude, cherishing everything life has to offer, and carrying the people you love with you forever, even if its constantly shifting gameplay can feel both like a strength and a flaw. Since Stacey felt the need to label every moment in the game with a song, I’ll return the favor: Mixtape is like Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Not necessarily thrilling, but undeniably beautiful and the kind of experience that stays with you long after it ends.
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May 8, 2026To call Mixtape a ride is a little one-dimensional, as there are so many feelings to be had on the way. A ‘joyride’ fits Mixtape slightly better. A joyride with a tailor-made Greatest Hits tape playing along.
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May 7, 2026Mixtape is fun, fantastical and heartfelt. It may be fleeting, but I expect it will stick with you for a long while. Especially when you're inevitably playing one of the game's songs in one of your playlists and someone asks you "where this song is from?"
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May 7, 2026Celebrating the 90’s, excellent music and how it impacts and marks our lives, and the joy of growing up with a few close friends, Mixtape is a stellar experience from start to finish.
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May 7, 2026Mixtape is a coming of age story about friendship, change and growing-up that – depending on your age and the expectations you come in with – may be just be your favourite game of the year. As an old grey-beard that grew up in the nineties, and was similarly…rebellious, it certainly hit all the right notes with me.