Mixtape Is Your Latest Day One Game Pass Title, And It's Available Today (May 7)

Making a new record?

by Ben Kerry
Thu 7th May 2026

Mixtape Is Your Latest Day One Game Pass Title, And It's Available Today (May 7)

Update [Thu 7th May 2026, 3:43pm]: The reviews have now landed too, and they're seriously impressive!

Original Story: Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! Today we've got just the one game entering the library, but it's a big one in the form of day one title Mixtape - from the folks behind The Artful Escape.

This Life is Strange-esque title has been on our radar for some time now, and we're interested to see how it lands with players, including those on Xbox Game Pass. Without further ado, here's a quick introduction to this new day one title:

Mixtape (Series X|S, PC, Cloud) - Ultimate, PC

"From Beethoven & Dinosaur, developers of BAFTA award-winning game The Artful Escape, Mixtape draws inspiration from classic coming-of-age movies, bringing together nostalgic aimlessness, mischief, music, the highs and lows of adolescence, and the bittersweet feelings brought about by growth, transformation, and moving on."

Excited to try this one out? Talk to us about Mixtape on Xbox Game Pass down below!

Ben is a News Writer at Pure Xbox, and is a fan of action, racing and straight-up shootin' in any Xbox game he can get his hands on. When he's not clutching an Xbox controller like his life depends on it, Ben spends his time listening to music that's far too old for him, watching football on the telly and probably eating somewhere.

1
ZeD
Thu 7th May 2026

FYI - Release time is 1pm in UK

2
Skinny-Pete
Thu 7th May 2026

Had this on my radar for a while I'll definitely try it out tonight I hope it's good!

3
awp69
Thu 7th May 2026

Surprised there hasn’t been any reviews of it yet. Guess the devs didn’t send out codes prior to the actual game launch. Hoping it turns out as well as the original hype!

4
Sol4ris
Thu 7th May 2026

Really, really liked their previous kaleidoscopic The Artful Escape game, so this will be right up my alley for the soundtracks alone. Another good GamePass addition.

5
Nexozi
Thu 7th May 2026

Hoping this game will be as enjoyable as Artful Escape was.

6
dskatter
Thu 7th May 2026

@awp69 That…is almost never a good sign.

Edit: I stand corrected. Both Push Square and Nintendo Life have reviews up and they liked it.

7
RBRTMNZ
Thu 7th May 2026

Guy with three plates of food meme

Game Pass is so ridiculously good. It's crazy to me that so many core gamers hate it.

8
Skinny-Pete
Thu 7th May 2026

@RBRTMNZ They hate us because they ain't us!
Simples if playstation made gamepass it would be the greatest thing to happen to gaming ever no doubt about it!

9
SigmaTheDJ
Thu 7th May 2026

@ZeD It's 2PM, not 1. I tried to launch it after seeing your comment, but it just asked if I owned the game, so I checked X and the devs just tweeted to say "One. HOUR. UNTIL MIXTAPE.".

10
somnambulance
Thu 7th May 2026

@Skinny-Pete @RBRTMNZ I’m not always a fan of Gamepass because it’s usually cheaper to just buy games than to remain subbed. Let’s say you’re subbed for just Mixtape this month, right? If you’re subbed for Mixtape, it’s $20 to purchase while a monthly subscription for ultimate is $23.

I sub when it saves money on newer games, but ever since Xbox jacked up the price, it hasn’t been worth it to me, not even with the recent price decrease. It may be worth it more when Forza comes out, but the service is inconsistent and I’ve probably wasted hundreds of dollars on GP saying “next month will be better” only to be wrong.

When I did a cost analysis on my GP spending from May 2019 to May 2024, I found I would’ve saved money on buying every game I played and completed on the service rather than subbing for that time period. Subscriptions give you the illusion of cheaper now in the pursuit of making more money over time. That’s why so many businesses push them over pure sales right now.

Ultimate is a great value proposition if you only play Gamepass games and you play enough of them to offset the cost.

11
BIG3
Thu 7th May 2026

Cant wait to play this tonight!!

12
Shinato2024
Thu 7th May 2026

@somnambulance For those who don't play much, it's really not worth it.

13
Skinny-Pete
Thu 7th May 2026

@somnambulance I can definitely see why you think that I don't blame you feeling that way I would myself.
I've been subbed to gamepass for the last couple years but lucky due to EU laws the price per Month hasn't gone up at all I'm still paying 15.99 euros at most could be cheaper a month so I'd be silly for me to unsubscribe whilst I'm getting it at this price.
Also I take full advantage of the rewards system.
Your reasons are 100% valid when I was responding to that other dude I was more talking about those who do it for supposedly moral reasons the saviours of the gaming industry or those who criticise it without ever using it.
I still do believe it would be thought of as a much more positive thing if playstation thought of it especially before the big price bump

14
GeeEssEff
Thu 7th May 2026

@somnambulance This, in a nutshell is why Microsoft love subscription services. I was horrified recently to find out my Dad has being paying about £70 per year for the best part of a decade just to use Word and Outlook. They bury the one time purchase options so deep in the store pages he didn't realise he could get the whole shebang for £120. Pretty much any Microsoft created or acquired product from PowerBI to Github will have some sort of associated subscription service, usually with premium features locked behind it.

15
RBRTMNZ
Thu 7th May 2026

@Skinny-Pete I don't think it's a PS fanboy thing. I think most of the hate for GP comes from Xbox gamers who prioritize owning a few games over getting to play dozens of games.

16
Lup
Thu 7th May 2026

This one has been on my radar for a while. I do play quite a lot, so I think I could finish 2-3 games a month.
Amazing deal for me.

17
RBRTMNZ
Thu 7th May 2026

@somnambulance I specifically mentioned core gamers because we spend a lot of time gaming and are not going to just play Mixtape for the month. I will play Mixtape on GP this month, Forza, and Motorslice. Plus there is another drop coming.

The total value of games I have played on GP so far this year is $224. And most of those are smaller games rather than the big expensive additions like KCD2 and Death Stranding. And there are like another 10 games I still have not had time to get to but am very excited for.

Game Pass is a way better deal for core gamers than buying games.

18
awp69
Thu 7th May 2026

94 on OpenCritic so far!! Highest rated game of the year!

19
Skinny-Pete
Thu 7th May 2026

@RBRTMNZ I don't understand people hating on other people for gaming how they want there's much more to life the subscription isn't free or even cheap anymore thank god for the heroes buying games daily out there saving the industry selfless gent's

20
ZeD
Thu 7th May 2026

@SigmaTheDJ the website I saw the time on must not have factored in BST.
I have just played for 30 mins and it is a fun game

21
somnambulance
Thu 7th May 2026

@Shinato2024 Exactly, you need to play what Microsoft has on its schedule for it to make sense and play those games a lot. If you are buying other games and balancing that, you could be paying for letting the sub sit.

@Skinny-Pete Personally, I would feel the same whether Xbox or PlayStation announced it. As a Portal owner, I’ve got my own frustration with Sony gatekeeping Portal streaming behind Premium’s paywall. Makes the Portal feel like a brick when I’m not subbed to PS+. Sony’s not exactly very consumer friendly with their policies either and I hope that they receive criticism for their weak line-up this year and questionable policies just as Xbox did years prior.

@GeeEssEff Microsoft got rich for a reason and it’s not from total honesty! Microsoft’s loved their sub services before it was cool. They didn’t make the Netflix of gaming with Gamepass, they made the next iteration of Encarta or Word with it! 😂

@RBRTMNZ y’see I’m a core gamer too. I’ve already completed a little over a dozen games this year. I like choosing my own games rather than Microsoft picking for me and I typically get games Day 1. I don’t believe any games I’ve played so far this year have been on Gamepass though. Mixtape’s probably the first game this year that’s gotten me interested and I saw the game was cheaper than subbing and figured I’d skip. I can wait to play Forza til things stack a bit more. Since the price increase, the quality and profile of releases has been smaller to me, which is a weird way to push a value proposition to me. The tail end of 2024 into the first half of 2025 was super solid for Gamepass, for instance.

22
RBRTMNZ
Thu 7th May 2026

@somnambulance Wow your tastes must be much more narrow than my own. There have been 15 games released on GP or coming out this month that I want to play. 8 of them I would have purchased if GP didn't exist.

23
somnambulance
Fri 8th May 2026

@RBRTMNZ Maybe, maybe not. I suppose my focus is tightening now, but that’s just economics. I used to spend double or triple what I do now on games, but, y’know… groceries and stuff nowadays.

Gamepass has a habit of bringing older games to the service. You name dropped KCD2 and Death Stranding, for instance. I finished Death Stranding in January 2020. KCD2, I took bite into the hype wave it had after launch and bought it a week after launch last year. I play a little bit of everything. I’ve just already played a lot. My “backlog” is basically retro games that I’m working through and I mostly focus on new releases. When Xbox’s first party games are cooking, that’s usually when I’m subbed to Gamepass.

This month… I might buy four games, not gonna lie. Yoshi, Bubsy, Mina the Hollower are all a lock, and Mixtape’s genuinely sort of teasing me.

24
Old_Man_Harper
Fri, 9:24pm

What a terrific game, it really made me smile 🙂

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