What is Mixtape?

Growing up is a different adventure for everyone, and Mixtape highlights the glory days of youth in the 90s. Leaping cydelic 2D painterly landscapes from The Artful Escape to a fully 3D adventure, this soulful journey lays its heart bare for the world to see, using simple gameplay to express its narrative.

Does this blast from the past deliver a wild time? Or is this a busted record? After finishing the short four-hour adventure, I feel emotionally fulfilled, even if I wish the gameplay were more involved.

Publisher/Developer: Annapurna Interactive, Beethoven & Dinosaur
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox PC, PC (Steam & Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2
Price: $19.99
Release Date: May 7th, 2026
Reviewed On: Xbox PC via Game Pass Ultimate/PC

PC Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 6000 Series
GPU: AMD Radeon 6850M XT
RAM: 32GB

Atompshere – The Premise

• Taking place in a fictionalized 90’s California, Stacy and her two best friends plan a final ‘adventure’ together before the trio goes their separate ways.
• Narrative uses a mixture of flashback sequences and present-day sections to tell its musical story.
• The conclusion was effective, wrapping up the narrative well and being emotionally satisfying.

Taking place in California during the 90’s, Stacey wants to become a famous music supervisor, with a flight to New York with her name on it. But she sadly had to cancel a road trip adventure with her friends Van Slater and Cassandra “Cass” Morino. So her friends compromise, deciding to go on one final wild adventure, with the gang planning to attend a major party to round up their time together.

Along the way, the three friends reminisce on their time together, recalling memories through Stacey’s immense knowledge of music across the eras. Sneaking into a dino-themed amusement park, skating downhill, narrowly avoiding cars, and repairing a worn-down house in the woods are just some of the many misadventures these teenagers went through together.

Without giving away any spoilers, the narrative’s conclusion left an impact, following through with character development and a powerful final moment between two friends, leaving things on a positive note for Stacy and her friends.

More Than This – Characters of Mixtape

• The core of the game’s narrative is the development and growth of Stacy, Cass, and Van.
• Stacy seems unlikable early on, but she grows on you as more of her character is revealed.
• Van is the highlight, as he’s hysterical while also having the most grounded moments in the game.
• Cass has the most emotional development, as her friendship with Stacy and Van puts her at odds with her father.

The emotional core of Mixtape, is the friendship between Stacy, Cass, and Van. This trio seems bland and almost one-note at first glance. It took me a while to warm up to them, especially Stacy, at how in-your-face and obnoxious they can get at times.

But as the narrative develops, you see the nuances and deeper personalities of these close friends.

Stacy

Being the main character of the story, she did not leave a good first impression. Her narrating the songs that play throughout, not helped by her smug tone, made me groan whenever she spoke. However, in key moments, you realize that her love of music is her way of coping with the world around her, such as when she has a major argument with her friend, and she puts on her headphones, picking a random song to play due to genuinely not knowing what will help her feel better.

But despite her somewhat ‘know-it-all’ attitude, she has a big heart, and moments in the game’s second half reveal that to great effect.

Van

By far my favorite character of the entire game, he’s an artist and a childhood friend of Stacy. His chill attitude makes him the ‘voice of reason’ in the friend group. He also offers one of the funniest gameplay sections in the entire game, involving entering a Blockbuster knockoff under the influence.

The game’s second half gives him additional depth, with two major sequences cementing him as Stacy’s rock and the one person who will always be in her corner.

Cass

The newest member of the friend group, Cass, has a home life that conflicts with the carefree nature of Stacy and Van. Her dad being a cop puts additional risk on her associating herself with genuine troublemakers. But she doesn’t care, wanting to have fun and form real relationships with people.

Her relationship with Stacy is also complex, as the two have a deeper bond but neither one wants to act on (or at least that’s how I infer things). But when the consequences of being friends with Stacy and Van come to a head later in the game’s story, I was invested in seeing how everything would conclude.

The Touch – Gameplay

• Gameplay is split between three distinct styles: Exploration Sections (walking around an area to interact with objects to move the narrative forward), Mini-Games (short vignettes linked to the game’s stellar soundtrack), and Riding Downhill/Running Sections (Stacy rides a shopping cart or skateboard downhill).
• All three styles are mechanically simple and have little depth. However, they are still engaging nonetheless.

So while the overall narrative of Mixtape largely worked for me, what about the gameplay? It’s split across three different gameplay styles: exploring locations to interact with items, mini-games, and downhill skating/shopping cart riding/running sections.

I enjoyed all three styles of gameplay, though I would be remiss to say that the lack of deeper gameplay mechanics disappointed me somewhat. But let’s break down what makes each gameplay style engaging despite a lack of depth.

Exploration Sections

• These sections have Stacy interact with objects around her, either triggering the other gameplay styles or casually reflecting on moments with her friends.

At several points during the experience, Stacy moves around an area and interacts with various objects, learning more about the world and reflecting on memories with her friends. These offer some charming dialog sequences, with her friends commenting on everything she picks up, alongside her own thoughts on the world around her.

These are less about engaging with the world and more about being absorbed in the world around Stacy. I enjoyed these sections a lot, with my favorites being Van’s Room and the Dino Amusement Park. The former had the coolest things to interact with, while the latter used a camera mechanic, letting me take pictures alongside interacting with the attractions.

Mini-Games

• Mini-Games are varied, covering the spectrum of moments across the lives of Stacy, Van, and Cass.
• Ranging from realistic tongue kissing to trying to hit a home run, they are simple mechanically, but the variety keeps things engaging.
• Trophies/Achievements are linked to doing well in these mini-games, characters react to your performance, and your actions in these mini-games carry across the rest of Mixtape.

Spread throughout the entire game and triggered after interacting with the yellow-highlighted objects during Exploration Sections, these have Stacy and her friends reflect on a major moment they’ve experienced.

They can range from Stacy recalling her first kiss and controlling realistic tongues, skipping rocks across a lake, trying to hit the most objects, and playfully posing with Van in a photobooth. Some of these mini-games actively affect later portions of the game, with the player’s creations or results in the mini-games showing up later on. I loved how a door I painted in one of these mini-games actually showed up later on, for example.

And while they don’t offer any major rewards for completing them perfectly, the achievements/trophies earned from doing so and seeing the cast react to my actions were enough.

Riding Downhill/Running Sections

• Riding downhill, Stacy uses either a shopping cart or a skateboard. While the Shopping Cart can only be spun left/right, the skateboard has a few tricks (like Olies)
• These sections don’t have a fail state, and you can’t do major tricks (like grind rails or chain combos), which initially were disappointing.
• There is a single 2D Bit.Trip.Runner-like section, with Stacy jumping and sliding through obstacles.

The last of the trifecta of gameplay styles is riding downhill in a shopping cart or on a skateboard. When riding in a shopping cart, you can spin it around with the bumper buttons, but by far the most enjoyable sections were when Stacy rode a skateboard.

When I first started playing, I was personally annoyed that I couldn’t do more with the skateboard until I realized that these downhill jams were about enjoying the sights and engaging with the game’s stellar soundtrack. And no single downhill riding session is the same, with the final one involving explosions in an empowering way.

Oh, and the game embraces Bit.Trip.Runner-esc gameplay style for a major story moment, and I wish they did more with that. It controlled great, and being able to chain sliding/jumping with the beat of the music would’ve fit perfectly with Mixtape‘s approach to music.

State of the Heart – Visuals/Art Style

Mixtape combines several art styles to express its music-powered narrative, but the core visual art style grounding the experience is based on the Into the Spider-Verse films. Characters move at a lower framerate, but the world around them runs at a higher framerate, adding to the game’s film-esc look. But Mixtape plays around with its mixed medium to great effect.

Some transitions use real-life footage, some visual filters to highlight how ‘out of it’ characters feel, and one particular gameplay section uses a lack of color to convey emotions. One of my personal favorite examples of the game’s presentation involved the trio of friends running toward the wind, flying across a wide-open field. And seeing a trail of flowers (reminding me of Capcom’s Okami) underneath the characters toward the end of the section was such a cool visual.

Performance of Mixtape

Playing this on my Gaming Laptop, it ran at a smooth frame rate at Max settings without a hitch. It also supports Xbox Play Anywhere via the Xbox App, meaning progress can be shared across home PC, PC handhelds, and Xbox Series X/S platforms.

Roads – Soundtrack

The heart and soul of Mixtape is fittingly its soundtrack. I love music, with my favorite genres being rock and metal. When I realized the game’s 90’s setting, I was eager to hear my favorite Metallica or Alice in Chains tracks during the journey. Even though those artists aren’t included in this playlist, the ones that are fit the narrative and add to the game’s visual storytelling.

The somber, emotionally heartbreaking melody of Portishead’s ‘Roads’, the powerful upbeat energy of John Paul Young’s ‘Yesterday’s Hero’, and the heavy grunge ‘Freak’ from Silverhead were my favorites, hands down. The few original compositions are fantastic too, with one late-game track hitting me just as hard as it did for the characters that listened to it.

Closing Thoughts on Mixtape

Music has a power, pulling its listeners back in time or to a moment one can never let go of. Listening to a great Alice in Chains or Metallica song will always pull me back to positive memories of my late mother, for example. So Stacy’s musical journey in Mixtape hit me harder than I expected.

While I wish its gameplay mechanics were more involved, the strong presentation, amazing soundtrack, and engaging narrative keep you glued to the controller until the credits roll. It’s a wonderful adventure full of heart. I can recommend it to any music lover out there.

This game was reviewed on PC via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/PC