Mixtape: A love letter to the ’90s and adolescence told through music

Talking about the 1990s means looking back on a time that may seem distant, almost abstract, to younger generations. For those of us who lived through it—and spent our teenage years in those days when there was still some hope for the arrival of the new millennium—it is remembered as a time of greater happiness, or at least of fewer worries. It was the transition from analog to the early days of digital; the arrival of the internet, combined with a heavy reliance on physical formats, dictated content consumption by television and radio. It meant visiting stores without knowing if the product you were looking for had arrived yet, or spending Fridays at a video store hoping to rent that movie you wanted to see so badly. Mixtape, developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive, transports us back to that era through a simple yet deeply special experience.

Mixtape is a narrative game in which you play as Stacy Rockford, a teenager spending her last day with her friends Van and Cassandra before leaving her small town in Northern California to move to New York and pursue her dream of becoming a music supervisor. This change completely upends the group’s summer plans: what was originally supposed to be a trip to check out the college Cassandra will attend in Los Angeles is now a quest for alcohol on their last day together. The excitement of living that last day—attending the end-of-school party for the coolest girl in school or spending one last night at home—is enough to make it a once-in-a-lifetime experience, complete with a carefully curated soundtrack.

The game not only depicts that day, but also key moments in the friendship between the three characters and their lives: from how they met and their first night out, to everyday situations like going to a video store drunk to rent movies. These memories not only evoke nostalgia in those who have had similar experiences, but also reflect the characters’ own melancholy as they find themselves at a turning point in their lives despite their youth.

Mixtape’s gameplay is deliberately simple. It can be described as a walking simulator with interactions designed to blend exploration with that sense of carefree adolescence, punctuated by bursts of imagination. Throughout the story, we can skate, throw rocks, paint doors, arrange furniture, nod our heads to the beat of the music, or simply observe and interact with the environment. There is no real risk to the characters, even in moments that appear most dangerous. Although some critics point out that the game can progress with almost no input from the player, it does require a minimum level of interaction for the narrative to continue.

One of the cornerstones of this experience is youthful imagination. As events unfold, fantastical elements appear: flying over open fields, watching a softball stadium materialize out of thin air, or blowing everything around us to smithereens—just as we so often wish to do as teenagers. It’s a work that leans more toward an interactive film than a complex game, yet without completely abandoning the interactive essence of the medium.

While Mixtape doesn’t aim to stand out for its technical complexity, it more than makes up for it with a heartfelt audiovisual experience. At its core, it feels like living inside a music video that captures that ’90s attitude—one that, by today’s standards, makes Stacy seem like a difficult character at times: sarcastic, self-centered, and with an air of superiority that, paradoxically, makes her a believable teenager. This is balanced by Van’s calm demeanor, which also serves as a reflection on what it means—and doesn’t mean—to be “metal.” Meanwhile, Cassandra emerges as the most interesting character: a young woman seeking to rebel against extremely strict parents, including a police officer father and a mother who has turned the home into a rigid space, incapable of change without external approval.

To talk about Mixtape without mentioning its music would be a serious oversight. The soundtrack is carefully curated and is far from being a simple compilation of “90s greatest hits: the video game.” Instead, it features a mix of sounds, bands, and decades that doesn’t strictly fit into any one era. The names are recognizable, though many of the songs chosen aren’t necessarily the most commercial ones. Each has a reason for being there, reinforced by a key detail: at the start of each track, Stacy breaks the fourth wall to introduce the song, explain its context, and the reason for its selection. The balance is remarkable, ranging from artists like The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, DEVO, Joy Division, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as forays into other genres with Alice Coltrane, John Paul Young, and David Gray.

The visual aspect of Mixtape also has its own charm. The game’s aesthetic is very reminiscent of that used in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ which at times makes the animation seem to run a little slower than it should. But with that, it also has a very distinctive look, almost as if we were watching a stop-motion animation. Mixtape also plays with some elements of the era, such as a small digital camera that takes us back to those moments when we were facing the real future, with photos that were barely distinguishable, but we made do. Along with this, the game has a visual style that exudes nostalgia for the era it seeks to represent.

Mixtape manages to make unique use of one of the most important elements of a video game: interaction. Although it’s a cozy game, the blend of suburban life, the power of imagination, and a mix of music makes it feel like an intriguing experience. It’s not a game that sets out to revolutionize the genre, nor does it aim to be one, but it offers a blend of elements that make it an exceptionally special title—or, at the very least, one that a generation might perceive as such. While it’s clear that it once again opens up a series of controversies in the world of video games—such as ratings, what makes a studio “indie,” or what elements must be present for a game to be considered a video game—it should undoubtedly be appreciated for what it is: a nostalgic, musical journey that takes us back to a stage of adolescence when we first began to face the challenges that push us toward adulthood.

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