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dkirschner's Mixtape (PC)

[August 24, 2026 04:51:40 PM]

This immediately hooked me, has a great first chunk, kind of lulls for periods through the middle, but regularly surprises with creative segments, wonderful juxtaposition of music (huge licensed soundtrack), visuals (absolutely beautiful), and gameplay, and just a fun and nostalgic story.

The story takes place in the mid-90s and follows three teenagers on their last night together before the main character, Stacey, goes off to NYC to follow her dreams of being a film music supervisor (aka an expert in matching the perfect song to the perfect moment). The other main characters are Slater, an artistic stoner type of guy, and Cassandra, a formerly straight-A student turned rebel, who is also daughter of a local police officer. They've got great rapport together.

So, on their last night together, they plan to attend a big party. You spend the first half of the game trying to find booze to pre-game for the party. Maybe you didn't spend your teenage years full of ennui and/or rebelliousness, trying to get drunk and high and find meaning in your middle-class suburban existence. I didn't, not really, and though I was an angsty teen, I was also enamored with BEING an angsty teen, and collected associated cultural styles and practices, such as performing "the skater" (though I didn't skateboard) and "the pothead" (though I had never smoked pot), being angry about religion, wanting an eyebrow ring like the guys in Korn, and telling people I didn't anticipate living to 30. Wow, David, wow. So, these characters spoke to the teen that I imagined being.

Anyway, finding booze turns out to involve a lot of sitting around in characters' bedrooms talking about how to find booze. In so doing, though, you look at objects in the bedrooms and learn about the three friends. Picking up objects can prompt flashbacks, mostly playable sequences depicting memories they've had together. These range from straightforward cutscenes to really fun segments where you might be skateboarding, breaking and entering into a dinosaur museum (I broke and entered into so many places back then to hang out), trying to rent videos from a Blockbuster while stoned (I used to hang out on top of a Blockbuster, climbing the utility ladder on the back of the store), running from the cops in a shopping cart (my favorite sequence), and so on. Technically, in the main story, not much happens, but there is a lot of reminiscing that enriches the current plot.

Now, the game is called Mixtape. Why? Because Stacey likes to make mixtapes. In fact, she's made a mixtape for their last night together. She's mostly into alternative, grunge, post-punk, shoegaze, that kind of stuff. You'll hear Portishead, Smashing Pumpkins, Silverchair (a fun segment), and a whole lot of stuff I never heard of. She speaks directly to the player, breaking the fourth wall, introducing songs as they begin, giving the player brief lessons in music history from roughly the late-60s through the mid-90s (leaning toward the 80s and 90s). As a hopeful future film music supervisor, this is her passion. And she picks the perfect song for every moment. She has their last night planned out and her mixtape is the soundtrack. Except, the last night doesn't go as planned, and so her mixtape adapts. What you get is like a soundtrack that evolves with the narrative. It's really interesting to think about. What song does she pick in the moment when the night's plans unravel? When she learns about her older sister's legacy? When one friend gets mad at another? How does she use music to make sense of her experiences, to cope with (or construct) emotions and situations?

Given the centrality of music to give form to and shape the narrative, it makes sense that there is some magical realism. Trippy synth tracks might accompany your car floating off the road into the sky; the drum beats of a track might coincide with exploding fireworks that you can orchestrate; and so on. Really creative stuff, and really enjoyed the game. It's not long either, playable in an afternoon. Highly recommend even if you didn't hang out on top of a Blockbuster in your Jncos.