After making one of my favourite indie games of the last decade, Beethoven and Dinosaur is back with another music-first showstopper coming to Xbox, PlayStation and Steam
Beethoven and Dinosaur’s last game was more a psychedelic prog rock concept album than a game – and that’s absolutely fine. I said it at the time, when I was writing for a rival publication and music magazine. The game, The Artful Escape, is a love-letter to all of us that have ever dreamed of being rock stars. The game speaks, directly, to anyone that’s grown up loving music – and, also, who is A Little Bit Weird.
The developer has been quiet for a while now, but at the big summer Xbox Showcase of 2024, the platform holder gave Beethoven and Dinosaur the stage once again. And what an encore. If the gorgeous art style and fuzzy nostalgic filter didn’t get me, the confirmation that the game will be set to a soundtrack of DEVO, Roxy Music, Lush, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Joy Division did.
I was born in 1991, so a lot of this music is actually a little before my time, but I grew up with an old punk dad and a motown-loving mum, and found prog rock and skateboarding myself in my teenage years. It feels like Mixtape is made specifically with me in mind – I couldn’t ask for a game more aligned with what I want if you put a gun to my head.
The trailer tells us that we’ll be joining a crew of coming-of-age teens as they skate, party, avoid the law, make out, sneak out, hang out (and more!). Remember having free time? These kids do.
Mixtape follows three teenagers (names yet to be revealed, as far as I can tell) as they prepare to graduate high school and leave their Northern California hometown. We will be playing through little music videos, it looks like, reimagining and reinterpreting the key moments that made these teens on the cusp of adulthood who they are today.
A press release says that “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 teenage friendship, from the first kiss to the last dance.” Perfect for 30-something losers like me that have settled into an office job and still, secretly, dream of being rock stars, then.
Though the game was announced at the Xbox showcase, and we know it’s coming to Series X/S and Game Pass on Day One, I’ve also had an email telling me the title will also launch on PlayStation 5 and Steam on the same day.
