Why Mixtape is a Game of the Year Contender

追加: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Step back into the best years of your life in Mixtape, a short but sweet interactive movie story rich presented by Annapurna Interactive, which judging by these user reviews is getting dunked on. I'm Von Frey, into it let's get.

[00:00:19]Set in the vaguely defined 90s, Stacy Rockford is leaving for New York City tomorrow morning to drop her sick mixtape on a music executive, but first has to plan the perfect bash with her friends Van Slater and Cassandra Moreno on their last day together. I streamed what I was expecting to be a first impressions, but ultimately became a full play through of this roughly 3-hour story. It's a wild thing. A movie's too long if it's 3 hours, but a game is too short. I think there's room for these kinds of experiences like mixtape, which brought to mind a similar title also from Annapurna Interactive, What Remains [music] of Edith Finch, with its flashbacks with stylized so real gameplay. What mixtape really excels at is a movie-like presentation and pacing.

[00:01:05]This isn't you haphazardly falling to your death or failing in the name of learning controls or wading through a tutorial for an hour. Instead, you're thrown into guided paths with as little on-screen immersion breaking prompts as possible. On paper, it seems like an interactive cutscene, but better than a quick time event. Every chapter presents new gameplay aspects that keep mixtape engaging. I didn't have mixtape on my playlist because I was expecting something of a redressed Netflix series.

[00:01:37]Netflix didn't want it, can we add some kind of gameplay to this? You know, make it a glorified slideshow. Thankfully, that's not the case at all. But even more so, I quickly fell for the characters. Stacy is a Ferris Bueller type based on YouTuber Drew Gooden.

[00:01:54]There's the aspiring musician Slater and hot-tempered rebellious [music] daughter Cassandra. We see how their relationships began and feel the foreboding bittersweet goodbye. Mixtape it makes these characters feel like your friends better than any game I've ever encountered. [music] The voice acting is so sharp and authentic. I wish scenes weren't broken by dated loading screens.

[00:02:16]Not a one-to-one representation of a specific time. These are activities that may give you a loose nudge of nostalgia, but I'm not so sure teens were saying "Let's jet." Making heart hands, wearing [music] wireless headphones, or burning a CD until the very end of the decade.

[00:02:32]And you're looking at the only teenager in America who was listening to anything that wasn't brand new in the '90s. The story's concept is simple to understand but not perfect. The town's one black girl is seen as magical. Cassandra's controlling cop father is sort of played for the villain when in fact her behavior completely vindicates him. The pseudo stop motion inspired character animations clash with a 60 FPS world, but Into the Spider-Verse made it cool, so here we are. Criticism of Mixtape seems to stem from the realization that it has a nepo baby publisher whose contributions to a certain Middle Eastern country, likely Cyprus, have well, developed scorn in the community.

[00:03:14]Having a dad with an infinite money glitch precludes Mixtape from being an indie game. No surprise the licensing for the songs alone would eclipse many budgets. So why are gamers confusingly referring to Mixtape as an indie game?

[00:03:28]Okay, so it doesn't have an online multiplayer with battle passes and 30-hour campaign. That doesn't categorize it as an indie title, but let's see if The Game Awards gets this one right before we jump on it. I played Mixtape on the Xbox Series X via Game Pass Ultimate, and while Game Pass slop is getting to be a term, I think the service can occasionally shine a light on smaller titles we would otherwise overlook. Mixtape would have made for a great rental experience in the 90s, but with today's digital only releases of smaller games, maybe we should view Game Pass as a means to rent. Mixtape shows that we just can't put up with today's teens. Do they even know how to party?

[00:04:07]Wouldn't they just stand around looking at their phones, taking selfies? I loved the surreal experience that is Mixtape.

[00:04:15]It left me wanting more and I give it a 9.1 out [music] of 10.

[00:04:20]Hey, it's Von's mom again and I just want to remind you that for at least the moment, the like button is free, but don't put it past YouTube to charge money for it someday.