Mixtape is finally out with a massive 90s soundtrack

Annapurna Interactive and developer Beethoven & Dinosaur have released Mixtape, a narrative adventure about three friends on their last night of high school. The game is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.

The original reveal happened at the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024. The wait has been long, but the developer's pedigree makes it easy to see why expectations are high. Beethoven & Dinosaur previously made 2021's The Artful Escape, a game that leaned heavily into music and surreal cosmic visuals. Mixtape takes that same creative energy and aims it directly at 90s alternative rock.

The game's release comes after a turbulent period for its publisher. Annapurna Interactive suffered a complete staff walkout in late 2024. Mixtape was one of several projects caught in the middle of that corporate chaos. Seeing it actually cross the finish line intact is a relief.

The music budget

Beethoven & Dinosaur did not cut corners on the tracklist. The game includes songs from Joy Division, The Smashing Pumpkins, DEVO, Iggy Pop, and Portishead. You will also hear Lush, Alice Coltrane, Roxy Music, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure.

Licensing a lineup like that is notoriously expensive for an independent studio. The music dictates the tone of each memory segment rather than just playing quietly in the background. The songs turn standard coming-of-age tropes into interactive music videos.

This heavy emphasis on music makes sense when you look at the studio's leadership. Lead designer Johnny Galvatron fronted a touring rock band before he started making video games. That background bled into the guitar-shredding mechanics of The Artful Escape, and it clearly drives the playlist-focused structure here.

Vignette gameplay

The structure is straightforward. The game plays out as a series of surreal vignettes triggered by a mixtape. The three main characters are driving to their final party together. Each song pulls them into a playable memory.

These segments jump between different mechanics and visual styles. You might skateboard down a suburban street or hit baseballs in a stylized stadium. Other memories involve taking photos in an abandoned theme park, setting off fireworks from the backseat of a car, or riding a dinosaur against a neon sunset.

The Artful Escape had incredible art direction but very light platforming mechanics. Mixtape appears to follow a similar design philosophy. The focus is clearly on the audio-visual experience rather than complex gameplay loops. The character models have a distinct stop-motion quality to their animations. The lighting constantly shifts between grounded suburban streets and wild neon-soaked dreamscapes.

The 90s nostalgia wave is currently replacing the 80s synthwave trend that dominated indie games for the last decade. Mixtape leans hard into this shift. The game ignores modern technology entirely. The characters rely on physical media, landline phones, and word of mouth to figure out where the end-of-year party is happening. It isolates the cast in a way that modern smartphones make impossible.

Where to play it

You can buy the game on Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It is also out on the Nintendo Switch 2.

A lot of games try to capture the feeling of being a teenager with nothing to do. Most of them just end up feeling like an adult writing a script about teenagers. Mixtape seems to understand that the actual experience was mostly just hanging out, listening to loud music, and making things up as you went along.