Mixtape Review: Beautiful Coming-of-Age Drama That Barely Feels Like a Game

Mixtape understands a very specific kind of teenage nostalgia. The kind where every dumb late-night adventure feels mythological in hindsight, where music turns ordinary moments into permanent memories, and where friendships can feel simultaneously inseparable and fragile. It’s a coming-of-age story built from mixtapes, bad decisions, jealousy, and the awkward fear of growing apart.

The problem is that while Mixtape absolutely nails the feeling of reliving adolescence, it sometimes forgets to make that experience engaging as a video game.

Setting Expectations: Mixtape Is an Interactive Drama

A third into the game, and most of what I’ve done is mix slushies, evade cars on a skateboard while cruising downhill, and push carts for my wasted friend while escaping cops. There’s barely any fail state. The game rewinds itself whenever you mess up, so every narrative beat stays canon no matter how badly you perform. Even in Track 21, when you rush toward Heaven 11, there’s no real consequence for failure. You just bump into obstacles, stumble for a second, and keep going.

That sounds fun, but most of these gameplay sections last what feels like less than five minutes each, while the rest of the experience is mostly extended cutscenes. There’s no real penalty for underperforming because the game seems more concerned with preserving the narrative than creating challenge or interaction.

It reminded me a lot of 2018’s Bandersnatch. If Mixtape were a Netflix series or interactive movie, this structure would make perfect sense. But as a game, it feels strange. I can get a similar delinquent vibe from something like Jackass: The Game on PS2, except that game is way more engaging. Mixtape leans much closer to interactive drama than a walking simulator like in our LAVALAMP review, and at times barely feels like a game at all.

If we approach it that way, it becomes much easier to set expectations correctly.

Music, Visuals, and Writing Are a Perfect 10

The movement feels really janky at times. It’s especially noticeable in Track 8, during the section about the map Debbie left Stacey. The friends literally turn around in sync whenever you’re far from them, then snap back again once you get close. It feels unpolished. Narrative-heavy games can still have smooth animation and believable movement, and Life is Strange proved that years ago.

That said, there are more moments where the game’s artistic direction shines. Some animations feel overly surreal, like the scene where they run across the field, but I must let that slide because it clearly serves the emotional tone the developers were going for. And when the game works, it really works.

Track 12, for example, was amazing. During the softball sequence, the stadium keeps evolving into something grander every time Cassandra lands a good swing. The game constantly reminds you that music is central to these characters and their memories, especially when Stacey says music makes moments shine brighter, but visually the game deserves just as much credit.

Another standout moment was Track 14, when Cassandra rejects Stacey’s invitation to hang out, only to later be seen outside with Jenny instead. You briefly control Stacey as she floats backward, crashing through everything in her path. The sadness on her face, combined with the surreal presentation, makes the moment land surprisingly hard.

Reliving the Teenage Years I Never Had

At its core, this is a coming-of-age story about teenage friendship, insecurity, and memory. If you feel like you missed out on parts of your own teenage years, there’s something oddly comforting about reliving that chaos through a game like this, even fictionally.

Story-wise, one of my favorite parts was Stacey explaining why she hates Jenny Goodspeed. The game never dumps exposition directly onto the player. The writers trust you to observe the interactions and piece things together yourself. By the end, it becomes pretty obvious why Stacey feels the way she does.

I’m not going to explain it further. I’d rather let you discover and infer things through your own observations.

Slater, on the other hand, feels underused. He mostly exists to fill space in the group dynamic and never really gets a meaningful arc of his own. The emotional focus is clearly on Cassandra. Even during the turning point, when Stacey and Cassandra argue about bringing Jenny to their secret hideout, Slater just stands there awkwardly like a permanent side character.

The ending is cinematic in a very ‘90s kind of way. Meaning, of course, explosions. Still, it felt slightly anticlimactic. The emotional buildup surrounding Cassandra’s arc eventually resolves in a scene that feels both cliché and unrelatable. Nonetheless, the game’s larger themes of teenage friendship and growing apart after high school are wrapped up emotionally well without leaving major loose ends.

Final Verdict: Great

Overall, the plot is genuinely strong, and I don’t mind minimal interaction in a narrative-heavy game. Mixtape fully embraces being a walking simulator with cinematic visuals, strong music choices, and fantastic artistic direction.

But it still bothers me how little input is actually demanded from the player. I never really felt like I contributed much to the experience, and considering the game only lasts around three hours, that disconnect makes the price feel harder to justify.

FAQs