Beethoven & Dinosaur's "Mixtape" isn't a classic video game, but rather a roughly five-hour-long, interactive music video about growing up in the 90s. It's the technical and narrative test of a studio that, after "The Artful Escape," has finally understood how to intertwine mechanics and emotion.
The magic of analog dreariness
"Mixtape“ is not the classic good versus evil story, but captures a feeling that the TikTok generation only knows from stories. Three friends – Stacy, Van, and Cassandra – spend one last night together before life spits them out in different directions.”
It's about skateboards, slushies made with rattling machines, and the sacred ritual of creating a mixtape. There's no GPS here, no constant connectivity. Those who meet in the woods meet there out of a sense of adventure, not for a selfie. If you show up, you're there—if you don't, you weren't contacted via WhatsApp. The studio captures this specific 90s feeling even more authentically than "Lost Records," where boredom fueled genuine mischief. Here, we experience memories that often feel hazy or dreamlike, just as memory works. The next generation will hardly grasp the freedom inherent in this constant disconnection. Back then, if you burned down the garden shed, you did it for the moment, not for clicks.
The stop-motion look splits the frame rate.
Technically, "Mixtape" takes a radical approach. The developers use a reduced frame rate for character animations to achieve a stop-motion effect, even though this feels like a significant performance issue in the interactive environment. Anyone expecting a smooth 60 frames per second for every movement will initially be frustrated. It's an artistic choice that intentionally slows down the gameplay.
The hand-painted textures and highly detailed 3D models look fantastic at all times. However, this style sometimes makes simple walking feel clunky. Beethoven & Dinosaur consistently prioritize style over input speed. The transitions between in-game graphics and live-action segments, on the other hand, are technically flawless and demonstrate that professionals were at work here, unafraid of stylistic contrasts.
Gameplay as a minimalist tool
Anyone looking for complex mechanics or challenging puzzles can immediately cross "Mixtape" off their list. The gameplay serves solely to create an emotional connection. We rewind tapes with a pencil, headbang in the car with the press of a button, or mix the perfect slushie at the gas station. These simple interactions, often in the form of quick-time events, seem almost banal in themselves.
In combination with the narrative, however, they work brilliantly. A skateboarding sequence on a dangerous mountain road feels exactly like how you felt at 16: invincible and reckless. Interacting with objects in Stacy's room, like burned CDs or old VHS tapes, provides the necessary world-building without overwhelming the player with walls of text. Stacy comments on everything with a mixture of arrogance and genuine expertise. It feels authentic, not forced.
The soundtrack as the narrative backbone
The music selection (Available on Spotify) isn't just a nice addition, but the foundation of the entire game. With artists like Joy Division, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, The Cure, and DEVO, the developers cover a broad spectrum that goes far beyond cheap Eurodance kitsch. Stacy regularly breaks the fourth wall to explain the songs' historical significance.
She wants to become a music supervisor in New York, and it shows in every line. When Silverchair blasts from the speakers and the characters bob along to the beat, it creates an immersion unmatched by any other narrative adventure game. The music dictates the pace of the scenes. When a song ends, the corresponding memory often ends as well. This ensures perfect pacing throughout the five-hour playtime.
A victory of atmosphere over gameplay depth
Let's be honest: "Mixtape" isn't particularly substantial in terms of gameplay. However, those willing to embrace the game as an interactive work of art will find the best coming-of-age experience in years. It surpasses the competition from "Life is Strange" or "Lost Records"because it avoids supernatural gimmicks and relies entirely on interpersonal dynamics."
The facial animations and subtle gestures – such as a character turning their head to listen to the speaker – make the dialogue extremely believable. The voice actors deliver a performance usually only found in major AAA productions. The fact that the game was released at a fair price makes the decision all the easier.
How the so-called "game journalists" are hyping and celebrating this game again, and yet: This game is DEI and spreads woke thinking and the agenda behind it, not so strongly, but it's there, and you can see that in the so-called "games press." MOUSE: PI For Hire is the best example. IGN's review is a bad joke, and the reason is simple: no one in the so-called "games press" reviews games neutrally, and from a neutral perspective, Mixtape is, at best, an average game.
You call this garbage a must-buy?! So now Playfront is just another irrelevant DEI pusher who have no clue about real games with GAMEPLAY… Mixtape is nothing more than another unsuccessful DEI flop like Dustborne or Relooted.
Nothing more than garbage products created to spread a specific agenda, and as you can see on any Steam charts page, they are absolute trash.
You simply can't write "ignorant" without IGN, and unfortunately, that's exactly what today's journalists are... nothing more than paid agenda pushers.
I trust YouTubers with decent reviews more than you or others.
Wow, you're really lumping things together. Mixtape isn't a political manifesto, but a well-told story about three friends and the music of the '90s. Anyone who immediately sees a global conspiracy behind nostalgic youthful melancholy and a few guitar riffs probably also sees a political manifesto in Sesame Street. We're evaluating the art design, the atmosphere, and the feeling of an era. Anyone comparing that to Dustborn simply hasn't understood the game, or even played it, or doesn't want to understand it. Have fun with your YouTubers, but be careful that they don't end up selling you exactly what you're accusing us of here, amidst all the 'freebies' and publisher gifts. We'd rather stick to our own opinion.
You write:
And give it a 9.6 because all game journalists give it a 9 or 10, even the king of kings of trash journalists, IGN, gives it a 10. It peaked at 1800 players on Steam.
Crimson Desert gets a 6 because it has too much gameplay and overwhelms the journalists, and a game that's once again being pushed in an unnatural way gets hyped. That worked in the past; we don't believe you anymore.
Oh yeah, a game like RE9, which sold millions of copies on Steam, has 50k Steam reviews, while this one has over 1000 reviews right from day one release with a peak play count of 1800 hahaha fake it till you make it 😀
Interesting calculation, but you're forgetting that passion can't be faked. The fact that small niche games often have higher review scores is due to the community, which doesn't just consume content but finds itself immersed in these worlds. Sure, Mixtape won't win any awards for the most complex gameplay, but it reflects a time I can wholeheartedly relate to. If you'd rather play Crimson Desert – go for it! But let's give it a 9/10 for the people who don't just consume content but seek out and appreciate moments.
PS: I bought the game myself, purely out of interest. There was no publisher key included; I was simply drawn to the setting and the music. The rest was a bonus.