In case you’ve been (responsibly) clear of social media in the last few days, you might not have seen that gamers everywhere are seemingly bagging on Mixtape, an all-new narrative title released on May 7. It has proven to be the most divisive game in a hot minute, producing staggering review scores but rotten sentiments across social platforms.
Mixtape, which is a short-and-sweet coming-of-age title rooted in nostalgia, is one of the best-rated games of 2026, but if you ask a fair portion of the online community, you’ll hear nothing but awful things about it, including how it’s not even a ‘real game’.
So, what’s wrong with Mixtape, and why is it at the centre of a mixy controversy right now?
Mixtape Has Solid Reviews, But Nobody Believes Them
Mixtape has been pulling in massive numbers from most reviewers, ultimately earning a high Metascore of 95 on Xbox (but 91 on PC and 85 on PlayStation 5). It has been labeled a heartfelt and visually stunning artistic marvel that resonates emotionally with players of all shapes and sizes, and boasts a dreamlike setting that transports older players to days gone by.
But in some corners of the internet, it’s being pulled to pieces, used as a punching bag by many, who have branded this game a bizarre failure of a title. It all boils down to a few key criticisms:
- Mixtape can be completed in just two or three hours, depending on how fast you whip through it.
- The game has minimal mechanics, and certain on-rails sections can be completed without any input from the player.
- On social media, ‘strange’ clips have surfaced, focusing closely on one segment of the game that simulates teenagers making out quite crudely.
Because of these elements, content streaming sites and social media have become a hotbed of folks picking the game to bits.
One user shared a three-minute clip of Mixtape, showcasing an on-rails section with QTE fragments that completed itself without any involvement from the player. This garnered a whopping 14 million views in just two days, with the same user writing:
All flash. No substance. Whenever there’s a small character moment they yeet you on over to the next playable set piece.
Here’s the clip:
Some of the industry’s most recognizable creators joined the foray, offering their two cents about Mixtape, often professing their alignment with that bandwagon that it’s ‘barely a game’.
Of course, many pulled up reviews from the likes of IGN, which awarded Mixtape a 10/10, and questioned how much of a bag they’d secured to rate the game so highly.
I’ll take this opportunity to draw attention to our review of Mixtape, which also gave perfect marks with the following comment:
Beethoven & Dinosaur’s Mixtape is a deeply nostalgic, coming-of-age masterpiece that beautifully captures the emotional weight of three friends facing their last day of high school. Through its inventive gameplay, stop-motion-inspired visuals, and stellar soundtrack, it delivers a profound and unforgettable experience about growing up and the bittersweet nature of goodbyes.
In another clip uploaded on social media (with three million views), one creator shared a promotional package themed around Mixtape that was shared by the game’s developer and publisher. Again, this prompted netizens to claim that influencers were being ‘bought’ to give Mixtape strong reviews.
In The Numbers
It’s a pain point for the industry, but Steam’s player count came into question once again. It’s the most public source of player information available, and it’s almost always used in an extrapolation effort to paint a picture of the wider state of play for games.
Mixtape peaked at 2,245 users on Steam, and as I write this, it has 1,932 players. It’s a tricky thing, as the game is free as part of the Game Pass subscription service, which typically claims the lion’s share of the audience. It makes sense that Mixtape would only have a couple thousands players on Steam.
Interestingly, despite the low peak player count overall, thousands of users offered their thoughts about the game on Valve’s storefront, generating more solid feedback. At the time of publishing, Mixtape has a score of 89.79% positivity from more than 3,000 reviews.
The game absolutely failed to make any waves on streaming platforms, earning a peak viewer count of around 20,000 users on Twitch, but that’s almost entirely down to the game’s audio model. This title has a fully curated soundtrack, and it’s all about the music, almost all of which is licensed and cannot be easily streamed without running into copyright concerns.
It’s worth stressing that Mixtape isn’t trying to be this mechanically rich, expansive adventure. It’s a short-form title that represents a classic mixtape, which in the 1990s would have maxed out at around 90 minutes of playtime. It nails the vision it was aiming for, but a vocal minority hates it because it doesn’t gel with their desires, and it goes against the grain of what sells these days.
Have you played Mixtape? What would you rate the game? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Embark Studios is all in on The Finals esports
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
Comments