To mixtape ze mě zase udělalo mileniálního teenage šupáka
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Mixtape is an answer to a question: What if High Fidelity was a video game? It's not a perfect analogy, but it's close enough and, either way, it's a sign that Mixtape is going to be a fabulous slice of late-'90s, early-'00s nostalgia, complete with a banging soundtrack. You can hear it in the trailers – Mixtape totally nails the classic Moviefone tone, and that vibe seems to extend to the game I played. I played roughly 30 minutes of Mixtape at Summer Game Fest 2025, and in that time, I became enamored with the game's lead character, a rebellious and insufferably cool teenager named Rockford who is about to leave the suburbs to pursue her dreams of being a music supervisor in New York. She talks directly to the player as she introduces her two also-cool best friends and cues up the game's music, completely breaking fourth wall, the same as John Cusack. Most of the gameplay takes place in a third-person view, following along as Rockford and her friends casually skate down tree-lined streets, flee from the cops in a high-speed shopping cart sequence, and hang out in her bedroom, looking at Polaroid pics and CDs while planning on how to snag liquor from her parents' stash. Mixtape comes from The Artful Escape studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, and it's no surprise that it similarly uses music as a core storytelling and scene-setting device. The studio founder, Johnny Galvatron, is a legit rockstar, so he should be pretty familiar with the topic. Leaning into musicality worked out great for The Artful Escape, which earned Beethoven & Dinosaur a BAFTA award in 2022. Mixtape's soundtrack is populated by the most popular teenage dirtbag bands from the 80s, 90s, and slightly beyond. Some of the bands you'll find in this game are DEVO, Roxy Music, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division and the Cure (but, no, not Wheatus as far as I can tell). In terms of visuals, Mixtape has a painterly 3D aesthetic with gorgeous golden light and purple shadows. If I had to compare, it would be similar to Life is Strange or Telltale's The Walking Dead. All of the characters move in this windswept, Spider-Verse animation style that doesn't get in the way of gameplay. Even soaring down winding asphalt roads on a skateboard, Rockford responded immediately to controller input – no stray or late animations interrupting my ride. Mixtape looks lovely, and it feels great. There are also a surprising little moments of alternative mechanics in the game's first half hour, including a Wayne's World-esque scene where you make the trio headbang in a car, and another where you control two tongues making out in a close-up, Ren & Stimpy-type of cartoon realism. There's an educational interlude when Rockford explains what a music supervisor is; real-world reference images fill the screen in a sort of tongue-in-cheek montage. Throughout all of this, the music keeps on rollin', with each song placed purposefully and given time to shine. While it would be easy for Mixtape to feel like an easy nostalgia grab, an exploitation of Millennial players' memories, that isn't what's happening here. Mixtape feels like a love letter to the early aughts, filled with surprising mechanics, beautiful graphics and the most accurate, best references. Mixtape is due to hit Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2025, published by Annapurna Interactive. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/mixtape-turned-me-back-into-a-millennial-teenage-dirtbag-200337301.html?src=rss



































