Gamers are divided over the ‘90s-inspired coming-of-age title Mixtape, which launched last week.
READ MORE: ‘Pragmata’ review: ‘The Last Of Us’ meets ‘Alien’ in surprisingly wholesome space horror
Mixtape tells the story of three friends embarking on their final night together after finishing school.
“En route to their final party together, a perfectly curated playlist draws three friends into dreamlike reenactments of their formative memories,” explains the game’s description. “Experience a variety of narrative vignettes exploring the pivotal moments that shaped them. Players will immerse themselves in the teenage wasteland by playing through a mixtape of joyful gameplay, from skateboarding and flying to taking photos after hours at an abandoned theme park, hitting baseballs, and putting on a fireworks show from the backseat of a car. It’s the greatest hits of the teenage experience, from the first kiss to the last dance.”
However, the game can be completed in around three hours and takes heavy inspiration from the visual novel genre, meaning a lot of that time is spent watching cutscenes.
The game, created by indie studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, has received positive reviews from critics and has a “generally favourable” score of 85 per cent on aggregate site Metacritic. Some fans aren’t impressed by Mixtape though.
“What the fuck is happening to gaming? Just make a movie instead. What is the point of pressing a button once in a blue moon and calling it a game. Gameplay is king,” wrote one disgruntled Metacritic user. “One of the worst games ever made, if you can even call it a game because it barely has gameplay,” said another.
This is a huge problem in gaming right now. A bunch of theater kids who couldnt break into Hollywood got jobs writing for game studios.
But they dont give a shit about video games, they wanted to make movies.
There is nothing wrong with games wanting to be cinematic but it has… https://t.co/KMxpX9OnAx
— Epic Mike (@The_Epic_Mike) May 9, 2026
“What is a video game? Mixtape feels like it pushes the boundaries of the definition more than most. Sure, there is not much in the way of traditional gameplay, there are no choices to make and no alternative endings to replay for. However, I found myself enjoying my time with the fairly short game,” wrote a third gamer.
“Is it a game, a visual novel or is it a story telling device with the shell of a video game? I won’t play it cause I don’t like those kinds of games but you know what, I’m glad they are being made. Not everything needs to be a AAA [title, costing] 70 dollars [and offering ] 100+ hours of gameplay. Sometimes 20 bucks is a good price for a simple short game,” added one Reddit user.
The debate about game length is nothing new. Capcom’s newest IP Pragmata has sold more than 2million copies since it launched last month despite players completing it in around ten hours, while the open-world Crimson Desert offers gamers hundreds of hours of content with some overwhelmed by the scale of the title.
In other news, a new Mortal Kombat game is in the works following the success of the recent blockbuster movie, according to the franchise’s co-creator Ed Boon.
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