One minute, you're skateboarding down a highway, blissfully ignoring the irritated drivers coming your way. The next, you're having your first kiss with about 500% too much tongue. That's just being a teenager.
That's also the experience I had in Mixtape, a game being developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive. I had the chance to play about 25 minutes of Mixtape when I was in L.A. for Summer Game Fest 2025.
Despite seeing the reveal trailer last year during the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, I really didn't know what to expect, but I'm happy to say that after playing the demo slice, Mixtape is one of the most creative games I've played in a while, with perfect pacing and constantly-shifting gameplay.
The premise for Mixtape is simple. A small group of friends have finished high school, and with one of them flying states away in pursuit of her dream job, they all decide to attend one last party, having one last amazing night to remember before they split up, possibly forever.
All three are obsessed with great music, and so amid this teenage twilight, the group is making sure they put together one last incredible mixtape.
Music is at the core of the experience, and there's always some beat in the background, no matter what's happening, with the soundtrack boasting songs from DEVO, Roxy Music, Lush, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, "and many more."
Speaking with creative director Johnny Galvatron, I asked how he figured out which songs to include. He's open about how most of them are from his personal favorites, with a smaller handful of additional tracks added where the team needed to "work backwards" and fill the space with the appropriate beat.
In crafting Mixtape, Beethoven and Dinosaur took an unusual approach, building a "horizontal slice" that had the game playable from beginning to end in a very rough state. From there, the studio expanded or trimmed sections as necessary in order to ensure the soundtrack fit snugly.
Mixtape's gameplay changes rapidly, and it's sometimes jarring, but never difficult to understand. A particularly noteworthy segment sees the juvenile trio escaping from a house party as the police close in.
With one of them nearly passed out, they commandeer a shopping cart, rapidly turning and twisting down highways as multiple police cars and even a helicopter descend in pursuit. It's fun, exhilarating, and borderline ludicrous, something Johnny affirms is intentional.
"When you're at that age, everything feels like a bigger deal than it is," he says, explaining that he wanted to represent that sense of anxiety and turmoil that teenagers go through.
It's not all narrow escapes and trauma bonding, though. One fun chunk has the group headbanging along with a song as they roll out to order cheeseburgers, with their rhythm determined by how quickly I could mash the buttons on the controller. It's fun, and like all the other bits I played, it doesn't overstay its welcome.
When I asked Johnny if he's got a release date in mind, he's evasive, but does note that he feels good about the next calendar year (or the next 12 months, to be clear). Whenever it eventually launches, I'll be eager to return and finish this album.
To close out our discussion, I asked Johnny if there was anything else he wanted potential players to understand about Mixtape. His response is appreciably blunt and honest.
"Just play it."
Mixtape is slated to launch on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam and Xbox PC), and PlayStation 5. It's also coming day one to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
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