MIXTAPE

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I too, once, was a teenager. An awkward one, a nerdy one. With wizards living in my brain, casting spells and tantalizing my impressionable, young mind with visions of a greater future. And like any modestly-sized outcast, who never had a chance to be with the Cool Kids on the block, I had my two escapes – my dorky friends forming a strangely cultish clique. And music. Good old music, which, of course, could not be any of the mainline stuff. No pop and radio rock for me! Because I was a sidelined strange kid, I had to indulge myself in tunes that – at least in the school setting! – were considers strange and niche.

Apocalytpica. Bathory. Sepultura. Oh yeah, I got quickly pulled by the strangers in the metal club to share in their fondness of heavier tunes. It made us part of the same, grander structure. The self-proclaimed elite who stood above the ‘everyday shlock’ to listen to some, ah… Sophisticated tunes. Melodies for the intellectuals! Instruments of the refined!

How goofy it all was from the perspective of time. How silly and clannish, how utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But that’s being a teenager, isn’t it? You are still raw matter, still twitching to every formulating experience. Defining yourself, not knowing what you’re about, and so, you look all around you to see if there are puzzle pieces that feel just right to attach to your newly sculpted shell of identity.

MIXTAPE is a project that showcases this well. But first, I must address the very awkward elephant in the room – MIXTAPE is hard to categorize as a game. A game’s game, I mean, an interactive activity in which a controlling player uses input via interface to decide the variety of outcomes or overcome a set of challenges. This project is the most Walking Sim out of them all. There are no outcomes different than the one that must be told. There are no challenges to overcome, no decision to make. While there are interactive components, quite a few of them, they are decorative pieces – things to do with your hands while the story unfolds. I fully understand why so many claim it is, at best, an interactive movie.

I really enjoyed the teenagers trio. They are believable, grounded, with their own set of naivety, motivations, dreams and firm desire to wrench an identity for themselves.

For me, it hardly matters. I enjoy walking on sims. I like that the medium of games allows creators to tell a story with new tools to play with, to give players some sort of control over the pictures they are seeing. Sure, some agency is always delightful to have, generating that feeling and feedback that your actions matter to the story. But, well, it is not always a necessity, not in my mind. Sometimes it’s more about letting me help build an ambience. Set the scene. Have a little artistic freedom in how the details are presented. This is where MIXTAPE shines, for each and every activity is a little experience in containing freedom of expression. Paint the door. Toss the rocks over the river to knock out some gnomes. Decorate principal house with so many toilet paper ribbons as your heart desires.

Those are all small activities. Their outcome never matters, for their very existence is already deciding the next step in the narrative. Your control, at best, is about the intensity of the ride you’re on.

And to MIXTAPE credit, for the game short run it never clings with desperation to any of its little ideas. And there are oh so many of them, from skate rides to photo sessions, tiny injections of activity aplenty, never overstaying their welcome, always giving you space to have your goofy fun as much as you want.

As disappointing as they might be for someone who was looking for a Game here, they are utterly delightful for the narrative presentation. There is some hypnotic, trance-like quality to the scenes, the sweet filter of nostalgia that squeezes out some phantasmal vibe to the narration – which, balances between almost report-like realism to a grandeur of retelling with a sprinkle of magic in it. Mundane mixes with the perception of the fantastic. Those scenes help us dwell deeper in the emotions that our trio of unruly teenagers are going through in each moment, setting the stage for us to immerse ourselves in their inner turmoil.

The "minigames" are simple, but they happen frequently, never really repeat ideas and add a sense of fantastical grandeur to the retelling of the story. It's pure escapism.

And the story is… Good. I am not going to glaze it too hard, because it is NOT anything revolutionary. It’s not a Pulitzer worthy telling of a coming-of-age adventure, it is not dwelling deep to discover from the muck of human experience some new, gleaming pearls of insight. But it is, nonetheless, lovingly real. I enjoyed the lingo, the conversations. How real each character felt, how realistic in their expressions and experiences. And most of all, that the teens we join on that short stint are properly realized humans – they are not walking stereotypes, not surface level beings, but each have their own depths to explore within the short hours of play. Bah, they even manage to squeeze out a few more profound thoughts here and there that made me nod along in understanding. I feel’em. I want them to find what they are looking for. I root for them.

I would be charged with a crime if I didn’t mention the core narrative setup here – the Soundtrack. See, our main protagonist is a bit of a dorky rebel with a titanic passion for music. Not making music, but supervising it, by knowing what song of her vast library fits any scene, any emotion. A Soundtrack Curator. That’s her dream job, and that’s how the story is set, with almost Wes Anderson inspired fourth wall breaks to let you – the player – know what song is coming next, with a bit of nerdy trivia attached to it and quick explanation why it was chosen for the next scene to roll with. It’s a fun touch, great core premise that gives the game its excellent pacing. It’s never boring, always rolling forward with a tangible, kinetic momentum.

In short, MIXTAPE was a pleasure. Warm and tender, raw and direct, it is a story that was told well from start to finish. With extraordinary art style, superb soundtrack curated to perfection and a story that hits all the right notes, it might not be a game proper, but it was still an experience that kept me locked to it from start to finish without a breath to spare. Is it a masterpiece we’ll forever remember fondly? Nah, for it lacks a bit of substance, with story that we’ve seen before and gameplay that’s barely there. But for what it is, it is stellar, and if you want to enjoy a chill story with excellent presentation, you will absolutely have a jammin’ good time with this title.