Playing the Hits - Mixtape (2026) - Beautiful Games Club

A book club, but the bookmark is a save point 🎮

The Beautiful Games Club is a community for people who love games that move you - emotionally, visually, creatively. Each episode, we pick a game that deserves some extra special attention and explore it together, one beautiful game at a time.

For episode 5, we're talking about Mixtape (2026) - a coming-of-age adventure from Beethoven and Dinosaur, published by Annapurna Interactive. We follow Stacy Rockford, an aspiring music supervisor spending one last night in Blue Moon Lagoon with her two best friends before they all go their separate ways, soundtracked by the mixtape she's made for the occasion. We skip rocks, TP a teacher's house, head-bang in the back of a car, and endure a first-person kissing scene that absolutely none of us were prepared for.

With its Spider-Verse-style stepped animation, camera work lifted straight from a film set, and a soundtrack that hides original songs among the real 80s and 90s tracks so convincingly we couldn't tell which was which, Mixtape is the kind of game that shares somebody else's nostalgia but you will feel it anyway.

So. Is Mixtape a beautiful game?

⚠️ FULL SPOILERS for Mixtape throughout, including discussion of underage drinking and drug use. Listen with caution if you haven't played! (Mixtape is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2 for around £16 depending on platform. About 4 hours of gameplay, more if you keep running your skateboard into cars)

Listen along to the songs we discussed in this podcast here.

Host: Angel

Guests: Alannah, Mike and Lale

Game: Mixtape (2026) by Beethoven and Dinosaur & Annapurna Interactive

The Beautiful Games Club is brought to you by ustwo games - the studio behind Monument Valley, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, and Assemble With Care.

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