Mixtape Reviews
But as a game and a story I was hoping for something with a little more kick. Perhaps, much like an actual mixtape, it will get a nice place somewhere and you'll think about it every once in a while. Going back however will probably show the cracks in the foundation that were always there.
Without evoking the emotional depth of *Journey* or the intrigue of *What Remains of Edith Finch*, *Mixtape* strikes us more as a charming summer movie we’d casually watch on a repeat broadcast one August afternoon.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Mixtape is an experience that resembles watching a film more than anything else rather than actually participating in a game. Unfortunately, the little interactions you have in Mixtape are not enough to make up for the lack of actual gameplay.
You know that sequence everyone talks about from Alan Wake 2? The one that was so acclaimed it was partly performed IRL at The Game Awards? Mixtape has ten of those. It never stops surprising, innovating, stirring the pot and pushing the boundaries of what a game can and should be. Mixtape is so good, and so entirely its own thing, that it has become my new favourite game. Even though I have already played through the entire game twice, I am going to complete it again and again. I have never felt so deeply connected to a game in my entire life.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
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.
Lovely, beautiful, heartwarming, and unable to convince me it needed my input as a player at all.
A musical delight from start to finish, Mixtape sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in video games and does so with a masterful sense of style.
Despite the limited gameplay and slightly repetitive nature of wandering around rooms to click on objects, Mixtape is an experience I’ll remember for a long while. The sharp dialogue that feels real and stays the right side of grating, easy-going storytelling, excellent soundtrack, and supreme confidence to play around with the medium make Mixtape well worth tuning into, even if some will be put off by a perceived lack of things to do. I still haven’t really figured out if Mixtape is a video game, but I do know that I thoroughly recommend you give it a spin.
The vibes are immaculate here even if you've never heard the term "shoegaze" before in your life.
Mixtape has an incredible atmosphere, and like my favorite coming-of-age stories, makes me nostalgic for a life I never lived.
Music can make us feel incredibly powerful or cathartically vulnerable. And when the right song hits at the right moment, it may just send a happy shiver down your spine, which is how I spent much of my time with Mixtape, and why I'll never forget it.
Mixtape takes players through a journey to a rebel adolescence and the last day enjoying it with friends.
Mixtape's greatest accomplishment is that it more than lives up to its name. This is a thoughtfully curated collection of music, sure, but before that, it's an exciting, sentimental, funny game. Rather than simply twiddling your thumbs while the licensed music plays, you're living life with a soundtrack – the only way Stacey Rockford would have you do it.
Mixtape is a coming of age tale that hits all the right notes from beginning to end. While it's a short game that you might only play once, that does not take away from how special the journey is along the way. Witty, hilarious writing, incredible voice performances, gorgeous art direction, and consistently creative gameplay beats are paired with a flawless soundtrack that serves as the backbone for every single scene perfectly in a '90s period piece that knows exactly what to drive home. The result is a wholly unique gaming experience that's loaded with nostalgic charm, great humor, and many poignant moments that will make you reframe how you think about your own personal memories of youth. I cannot recommend it enough.
While much of the industry seems intent on recycling formulas and chasing after others' successes, games like Mixtape remind us of something essential: that there are still video games capable of making us feel something different. Of moving us. Of transporting us to another moment in our lives. Of making us breathe a little easier. And in times like these… that's worth as much as oxygen itself.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Mixtape is the best kind of adolescence.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A heartwarming adventure about growing up, packed full of imagination and 90s snark, but its main strength is the way in which it manages to expertly capture what it feels like to be a young, bored teen on the verge of adulthood.
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.
Mixtape is incredible. An indie narrative adventure that's part game, part movie, part album, it captures the end of teenage life, of friendship and family, all while looking to the possibilities and unknowable potential of the future. It is, in a word, essential.
With some of the most beautiful visuals you’ll see on PS5 and a rocking soundtrack full of nostalgic vibes, Mixtape is a meaningful coming-of-age story that is a blast to play through.