TL;DR – A joyous exploration of that cliff in time when you transition from one stage of life to the next, full of its promises, dangers, and the desire to look back while you are hurtling forward.

Disclosure – I paid for this game.

Mixtape Review Introduction

Every form of art throughout history has explored that threshold on which a child becomes an adult. That moment when you become a complete being, more than just the sum of your family circumstances. In cinema, we are served a plethora of powerful examples: 10 Things I Hate About You, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Edge of Seventeen, Booksmart, The Princess Diaries, & Clueless, to name just a few. But until today, I have not seen a video game really get into the weeds of that genre; well, this changes now.  

So, to set the scene, Stacey Rockford (Bella DeLong), Van Slater (Max Korman), and Cassandra Morino (Jessica Ma) are three best friends living in the mountainous north of California in the early 1990s. They are cruising through the streets of their town on skateboards, celebrating the end of High School. But this is also a crossroads; some are leaving their claustrophobic town, some are staying, with all three being pulled to different parts of the country. Stacey’s life revolves around music, and she has created the perfect playlist for their last full day together, but fate might have different ideas.