This is a difficult review to write. Trying to faithfully describe developer Beethoven and Dinosaur’s latest entry is like trying to describe music to someone who has never heard any. Part musical, part point and click adventure, Mixtape, released yesterday, could probably be best described as a John Hughes movie wrapped in a homage to the music of the 80’s and 90’s, with a dash of Wayne’s World thrown in for kicks.
The story is a loose affair, following 3 teenagers — Stacey Rockford, Van Slater, and Cassandra Morino — on their last big night together. It’s the summer of 1999. High school is over, and that California road trip they were planning to take might not even happen now that Stacey, the core of their trio, is off to New York to pursue a job as a Music Supervisor instead.
However, Camile Cole is planning an epic beach party tonight, and everyone who is anyone is going to be there. As our friends attempt to scrounge up booze and weed (because it would be so so embarrassing to come empty-handed), they reminisce over their friendships, enemies, doubts, insecurities, and hopes for the future.
The first thing you’ll notice about Mixtape is it’s unique and highly stylized hand-crafted aesthetic that almost looks like stop-motion. Beethoven and Dinosaur used a “stepped” lower frame rate animation style here in order to create a deliberately nostalgic, 80s/90s coming-of-age atmosphere (Think Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and it works beautifully.
The second thing you’ll immediately notice about Mixtape is the music. Stacey narrates throughout the game, breaking the fourth wall to reveal individual tracks in her ultimate mixtape. This is her perfectly curated playlist; a compilation of songs that carry the most meaning for her, and as she introduces them one by one, they become the soundtrack to the game’s action in that moment.
The mixtape itself is a who’s-who of 80’s and 90’s “shoe-gaze” and other works by seminal artists behind the classic atmospheric, moody, and textured vibes of the era. Portishead, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Lush, Devo, Silverchair, Rainbow, Mitch Murder, Curtis Dunn, and many others all make curtain calls to the end of an era.
The game’s action is triggered by memories. Stacey might pick up a photo, or recall a person or event that introduces the next song on the mixtape. There aren’t any game puzzles as such here. You may be asked to keep Stacey on her skateboard as she sails downhill, or to pose in a photo booth, or examine items in her room. In one scene you have to grind tongues as Stacey recalls her first kiss! (The fact that there is a “that’s enough” button you can use to end the battle of the tongues tells reams about how she felt about it.)
It’s surprising moments like these that serve as the perfect foil to Mixtape’s quieter moments. We are reminded that being eighteen is a messy, funny, and deeply uncoordinated business. Yet, beneath the laughter and the impeccable musical selection, the characters remain remarkably grounded. Stacey, Van, and Cassandra aren’t archetypes, but rather people we all knew, or perhaps, people we once were. Their fears aren’t solved by the time the credits roll, because life doesn’t work that way.
Sometimes the trios memories are fantastical, like when Slater recalls that one time Cass got wasted and they had to take her home in a shopping cart, but ended up being chased by the police on the interstate. Well, that’s how Slater remembers it, anyway.
In another beautifully done moment, the friends find themselves racing across a field of sprouting wildflowers, with great gusts of wind blowing their inexplicably suddenly weightless bodies up into the air. We navigate their journey as they skim over the landscape, their feet barely touching the ground, like 3 helium balloons set loose in the breeze.
But Mixtape isn’t all speeding skateboards, fields of flowers, and improbable fireworks. Between vignettes, the game gives its characters space to air their insecurities in the face of an uncertain future. Cassandra has no idea what she’s into or wants to do with her life. Stacey fears mundanity. Slater wonders if being himself is enough. These ideas may be coming-of-age tropes, but Mixtape is careful not to make the mistake of making a melodrama out of them. Nor does it preach or pander. Most often, our heroes, on the cusp of adulthood, just sit and talk things through. Often without resolution or discovery. There’s a sadness and a sense of loss in these scenes juxtaposing the dreamlike freedom felt in other moments that nails the dichotomy of being 18 perfectly.
For all its sensitivity, Mixtape does occasionally throw a little mischievous shade at teens. In one scene Stacey’s Dad calls from another room inquiring if her big sister is going to pick her up at the airport in New York tomorrow, to which Stacey wails “Stop pressurizing me, Dad!”
If I had to nitpick, I might point out the fact that Mixtape isn’t especially long (there are about 3 and a half hours of gameplay, total), nor are the “puzzles” actually very puzzley. However, both of these choices feel deliberate. This game and others like it (Eric Osuna’s Indie title Pizza Delivery springs to mind) are about the journey rather than the grind.
By leaning into a shorter runtime and simple interactions the Devs have made a bold creative choice here, prioritizing emotional resonance over mechanical complexity. It’s a brave direction in an industry often obsessed with content hours, but Mixtape understands that a memory doesn’t need to be long to be life-changing.
Like an incredible song that makes you feel all the feelings, Beethoven and Dinosaur presents us with a mixtape to the end of an era, the soundtrack of a generation, and the reminder that some of the most profound moments in our lives were the ones where absolutely nothing “happened.” Mixtape is a masterclass in nostalgia. It references the 90’s in a way that also captures the ache of realizing a chapter of your life is closing in real-time.
As the final Mixtape notes fade, and especially if you are of a certain vintage, you may very well find yourself left with that familiar, hollow-yet-full feeling of standing on a suburban curb at 2:00 AM, looking at your best friends, and knowing that while the song has to end, the fact that it played at all was a miracle.
Release Date: May 8, 2026. Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Developer: Beethoven and Dinosaur. Publisher: Annapurna Interactive.
Mixtape: Mixtape is a brief, beautiful, and deeply human experience. Don't just play it. Listen to it. Gazing at your shoes optional. – jgriffin
