Just as much as any genre in media, video games can be all about the vibes, and that’s exactly what I got when I first saw Mixtape during the Day of the Devs Showcase during SGF this year. That said, I jumped at the chance to demo Mixtape at Summer Game Fest, and I can’t wait to get back into it when it finally ships.
Developed by Beethoven and Dinosaur (of The Artful Escape fame), they’ve really nailed the aesthetic with Mixtape.
As someone born in the late ’80’s who remembers this style of teen angst, I really appreciate the setting that was thought up for the game, but what really sets it apart is its heavy focus on music, and the soundtrack boasts some great names of the time including Joy Division, Devo, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Bop, Roxy Music, The Cure, and more.
I definitely didn’t listen to all these bands as a kid, but as an adult I’ve really grown to appreciate what I believe was a better time in music, and I feel like once people get their hands on the game, they’ll immediately feel it too. The very beginning of the game even starts with a vibe check as you skateboard with your friends down a fairly busy hillside highway to Devo’s “That’s Good.” I had headphones on, pulsating my head as the names of the game’s cast and people on the team just scrolled through like they would in early films of the ’80’s and ’90’s. In fact, I’m absolutely certain someone on another publication will make comparisons to John Hughes’ films because whether it’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, or even Home Alone, which are all his — it’s easy to see the inspiration. The music added to the adrenaline rush as we picked up speed and risked crashing into other cars and rails on the way down, and when I bailed or got hit at any point, the game just rewound a few seconds with the music uninterrupted. To unapologetically bring it up one too many times, it was a vibe.
The game’s first five minutes are an adrenaline rush that’ll really make you decide whether you’re into it or not.
The crew skated all the way down to the protagonist’s house, and here the game became your standard Life is Strange-esque walking simulator. You can walk around the house, look at stuff, and talk to your friends who are just chillin’ in your room. Interactive objects or people are highlighted are marked by a button prompt, and they’re marked by a different color when they move the story forward. Most of these colored prompts led to the main character reminiscing about an event that happened in their lives, which led to a vignette that somewhat changed gameplay.
The first object that we looked at, for example, was a mixtape made by the main character’s ex. This led to a vignette about a first kiss, where you end up playing a minigame that has you take control of two intertwining moist tongues. Gross, yeah? So was that time for a bunch of people.
There was another memory where you and your crew are just listening to a song while driving, and what was simply cruising on the streets becomes straight up rocking it at different speeds and getting the attention of the cops before calming yourselves down.
Finally, there was another vignette that you unlock by finding a bunch of polaroids in your room and putting them together on blank spaces on the wall next to other polaroids. In this memory, you’re at a house party that gets raided by the cops, and you escape by jumping from the back window onto a shopping cart in what eventually becomes a high speed chase down the highway and into a lake.
This shopping cart chase scene was one of the most positively despicable scenes in demo.
All of these memories are shown and played alongside different songs, and I was just totally immersed by the experience. I normally try to mess myself up because it’s a demo, but I played like I really was at home trying to entertain myself. I had Adriana with me as there was two sets of headphones to enjoy the demo despite just me playing, but she was totally into it as well. I didn’t know all the songs, and I didn’t think to bust out Shazam while I was playing, but that’s how into the whole thing I was.
I haven’t even the mention the game’s fantastic visuals — that’s how great the overall aesthetic already is. The game very much resembles that lower frame rate animation we’ve seen in the Sony’s Spider-Man Spider-Verse films. It’s been done before, but in a game that knows what it is, it just adds flavor to the overall meal.
Mixtape is currently slated to release sometime this year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S (day one on Game Pass), and I definitely plan on being one of the first people to review it when that time comes. I need those vibes in my life right now. It looks like everything Lost Records: Bloom & Rage tried to be, but I’m almost certain Mixtape is going to hit me with its best shot. Fire awayyyyy!
Just as much as any genre in media, video games can be all about the vibes, and that’s exactly what I got when I first saw Mixtape during the Day of the Devs Showcase during SGF this year. That said,…
Just as much as any genre in media, video games can be all about the vibes, and that’s exactly what I got when I first saw Mixtape during the Day of the Devs Showcase during SGF this year. That said, I jumped at the chance to demo Mixtape at Summer Game Fest, and I can’t wait to get back into it when it finally ships.
Developed by Beethoven and Dinosaur (of The Artful Escape fame), they’ve really nailed the aesthetic with Mixtape.
As someone born in the late ’80’s who remembers this style of teen angst, I really appreciate the setting that was thought up for the game, but what really sets it apart is its heavy focus on music, and the soundtrack boasts some great names of the time including Joy Division, Devo, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Bop, Roxy Music, The Cure, and more.
I definitely didn’t listen to all these bands as a kid, but as an adult I’ve really grown to appreciate what I believe was a better time in music, and I feel like once people get their hands on the game, they’ll immediately feel it too. The very beginning of the game even starts with a vibe check as you skateboard with your friends down a fairly busy hillside highway to Devo’s “That’s Good.” I had headphones on, pulsating my head as the names of the game’s cast and people on the team just scrolled through like they would in early films of the ’80’s and ’90’s. In fact, I’m absolutely certain someone on another publication will make comparisons to John Hughes’ films because whether it’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, or even Home Alone, which are all his — it’s easy to see the inspiration. The music added to the adrenaline rush as we picked up speed and risked crashing into other cars and rails on the way down, and when I bailed or got hit at any point, the game just rewound a few seconds with the music uninterrupted. To unapologetically bring it up one too many times, it was a vibe.
The game’s first five minutes are an adrenaline rush that’ll really make you decide whether you’re into it or not.
The crew skated all the way down to the protagonist’s house, and here the game became your standard Life is Strange-esque walking simulator. You can walk around the house, look at stuff, and talk to your friends who are just chillin’ in your room. Interactive objects or people are highlighted are marked by a button prompt, and they’re marked by a different color when they move the story forward. Most of these colored prompts led to the main character reminiscing about an event that happened in their lives, which led to a vignette that somewhat changed gameplay.
The first object that we looked at, for example, was a mixtape made by the main character’s ex. This led to a vignette about a first kiss, where you end up playing a minigame that has you take control of two intertwining moist tongues. Gross, yeah? So was that time for a bunch of people.
There was another memory where you and your crew are just listening to a song while driving, and what was simply cruising on the streets becomes straight up rocking it at different speeds and getting the attention of the cops before calming yourselves down.
Finally, there was another vignette that you unlock by finding a bunch of polaroids in your room and putting them together on blank spaces on the wall next to other polaroids. In this memory, you’re at a house party that gets raided by the cops, and you escape by jumping from the back window onto a shopping cart in what eventually becomes a high speed chase down the highway and into a lake.
This shopping cart chase scene was one of the most positively despicable scenes in demo.
All of these memories are shown and played alongside different songs, and I was just totally immersed by the experience. I normally try to mess myself up because it’s a demo, but I played like I really was at home trying to entertain myself. I had Adriana with me as there was two sets of headphones to enjoy the demo despite just me playing, but she was totally into it as well. I didn’t know all the songs, and I didn’t think to bust out Shazam while I was playing, but that’s how into the whole thing I was.
I haven’t even the mention the game’s fantastic visuals — that’s how great the overall aesthetic already is. The game very much resembles that lower frame rate animation we’ve seen in the Sony’s Spider-Man Spider-Verse films. It’s been done before, but in a game that knows what it is, it just adds flavor to the overall meal.
Mixtape is currently slated to release sometime this year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S (day one on Game Pass), and I definitely plan on being one of the first people to review it when that time comes. I need those vibes in my life right now. It looks like everything Lost Records: Bloom & Rage tried to be, but I’m almost certain Mixtape is going to hit me with its best shot. Fire awayyyyy!
by Danreb Victorio
