This new 80s teen game about three friends' last night of high school together is already making me nostalgic thanks to its awesome music and aesthetic
What you need to know
Today during Xbox Games Showcase 2024, a brand new teen adventure game was revealed called Mixtape.
This game is about a group of high school teenagers in the 80s as they spend their last night of high school together and relive important experiences that lead up to this point in time.
It has a fantastic soundtrack featuring songs from The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, DEVO, Roxy Music, and more.
Mixtape will come to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, cloud, and Game Pass sometime in 2025.
During today's Xbox Games Showcase 2024, we learned about a brand new game from Beethoven & Dinosaur called Mixtape that's all about saying goodbye to high school friends. As explained on Xbox Wire, "On their last night of high school, three friends embark on one more adventure together. En route to their final party together, a perfectly-curated playlist draws them into dreamlike reenactments of their formative memories together."
Based on what we saw in the trailer, this game is already making me feel nostalgic for my teenage years and I cannot wait to play it.
Gameplay apparently takes players through a "variety of narrative vignettes," similar to what happens in What Remains of Edith Finch, where you'll help the characters re-experience important moments from their pasts together. These special moments include things like someone's first kiss or a memory from a dance.
To help bring you into the nostalgia of it all, the game features a fantastic soundtrack with songs from The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, DEVO, Roxy Music, and more.
Mixtape is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, cloud, and Game Pass sometime in 2025. You can learn more at our Xbox Games Showcase live blog run by our own Jez Corden.
I'm so ready for this game
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There are a bunch of teen-focused games out there that try to play on nostalgia, but few are able to pull me in and make me as interested as Mixtape did with its reveal trailer. Of course, having some of the best music from my childhood and teen years play a significant part in the adventure is a big part of that.
But outside of the literal mixtape idea, the stop-motion style animation, 80s aesthetics, and the focus on it being these teens' last night together brings me right back to that special feeling conjured by the likes of classic teen movies like Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and more. It's just you and your friends against the world, right before being pulled apart and going your separate ways, unsure of if you'll stay in contact or what the future holds. Bittersweet, but full of potential.
