A good write-up, I suppose, but I think maybe I just don’t agree with all of it. But I’ve said before, I think this game just isn’t for me. At several points in the review something is pointed out in the manner of “this thing sounds bad, but it’s actually good” whereas I react more like “no, that still sounds bad to me”. Like this:

One of Mixtape’s few flaws is that it can occasionally slip into plainly stating its themes out loud, its teen protagonists coming out with sudden profundities well beyond their years. But this is also, like a lot of Mixtape’s excesses, part of its charm.

I’ve seen some footage of it (though admittedly not all of the game), and this was irking me a lot. But maybe I’m just wrong here? Maybe a game about teenagers where the teenagers don’t speak like teenagers is actually better?

I don’t know, there is something off about the whole thing. The article even hints about it: it’s millennial nostalgia bait for a time millennials have no memories of being a teenager in. It doesn’t seem to explore the realities of being a teenager as much as indulge in the imagined ideal of being a teenager in a 90s Americana movie. But I don’t know, maybe my teenage years just overly sucked and that’s why I can’t relate.

Maybe I need to play it to get it.