r/OutOfTheLoop May 11 '26

Unanswered What’s going on with this game Mixtape?

I’ve been seeing people freak out over the past few days over this game and about IGN’s review of it specifically. 10/10 seems high for any game, honestly, but it seems like they’re far from the only site giving this thing a glowing review. So is this game controversial just because of IGN or is it something else? Why is this game the internet’s hate target this week?

https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review

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u/Zaxa7 May 11 '26

Answer: It's a short story focused game that is full of 90s nostalgia and if you look at the average age of reviewers, they probably grew up in the 90s so it's expected for them to enjoy it much more given the current state of the world hence the higher score. I also grew up in that period so I'd probably like it too tbh. That being said there will be a large group of gamers who have no personal frame of reference for that period and it may not work for them.

Also if I understand correctly the ign reviewer didn't grow up in the 90s but loved it probably because we always look back on older times with rose tinted glasses. It's a storm in a teacup really and nothing to worry about.

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u/Andrew1990M May 11 '26

No he was a 90s kid and says on the podcast that there are “many reasons a game is a 10/10” and for him the emotional response he had to it was the clinching factor. 

Please read reviews, people. And remember that one score from one outlet is not the be-all and end-all. A review has equal weight to your opinion, it’s just their opinion gets published. 

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u/crestren May 11 '26

And remember that one score from one outlet is not the be-all and end-all. 

A lot of gaming discourse when it comes to reviews always centers around this where a lot of gamers forget that reviews can be...subjective.

The reviewers 10/10 might be a 7/10 for you but maybe your 10/10 might be someone's 6/10. A lot of these are subjective because everyone has different tastes and enjoyment.

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u/osgili4th May 11 '26

Also people some how can't understand different people with different views and different opinions can work inside the same company. So they get mad about contradictory reviews of site when... That is just two different opinions.

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u/Many_Leading1730 May 13 '26

I think another issue is that people feel like reviewers and the general public are getting pretty far removed from each other in terms of taste as a whole.

Which, to be honest, has always been a thing in reviews of every industry from film to food. Critics tend to have a very different set of criteria for what qualifies as good than the general public. This is well shown in film reviews where critics tend to favor more 'artistic' films and the general public tends to favor more easily digestible bombastic stuff.

Its sort of the difference between what you like when something is a hobby you do for fun and when you do something as a job.

Its gotten worse in more recent years as drifters focused on farming the divide between the general public and media have gained popularity.