Goodbye, We Are Mixtape
How one game soared where two soured
Now that the dust has settled…
“Welcome” to “modern” “video games”
In conducting my extended research of these games (nah just kidding I used AI) I asked Google Gemini what it thought of these games, and it called these entries “vibe games.” I tried to look up what that meant, as in whether it meant “vibe coding” or whatever. Then it occurred to me that, much like my own attempts at co-mingling with the greats of gaming, the whole term is completely out of pocket — but nonetheless funny.
Above you, there are three releases I’ve played in the past four years: 2022’s We Are OFK, 2023’s Goodbye Volcano High, and 2026’s Mixtape. Some would say they’re games, others would qualify them as linear “interactive experiences”, and a few might go even more anal and say one is a game, two are not, etc. For purposes of the article and the almighty SEO/algo, I’ll just say they’re games even if you want to fight me over it.
In each release, they deliberately betray traditional gameplay loops like fail states, instead focusing on the character development and storytelling.
And each of these three titles was designed to capture the specific zeitgeist of “the youth”, that is to say facing profound anxieties of growing up in a crazy world, and how/when music comes into play.
A rundown on our three games and their music connections
We Are OFK tells an origin story of the band OFK in five chapters. Tonally, it was like “Making the Band” without Diddy (except it had a female Diddy who was 10x more safe horny).
Goodbye Volcano High tells the story of Fang, who, along with their high-school friends Trish and Reed, form the band Worm Drama. Their goal is to rock out one last performance before the asteroid comes and causes the mass extinction event.
Mixtape, unlike the other two games, has no literal musical band that the protagonist is part of. Instead, Stacey Rockford (music supervisor extraordinaire and turboautist), as well as her friends Slater (and to a lesser extent Cassandra) act as tonal supports for the licensed soundtrack.
How each game got its start
From the cradle to the grave, these games went through a life’s journey just like a person. Let’s take a look at each.
We Are OFK
We Are OFK made its debut at The Game Awards 2020, as the all-digital show’s opener. Covid was rampant, and much of society was locked inside. To bridge the divide — a 90 second song all about the joys of being chronically online was necessary.
The game itself is a five-part interactive experience telling an origin story for virtual indie pop band OFK. Inside, we get the vignettes of band members Itsumi Saito; Luca Le Fae; Jey Zhang; and Carter. A cat (Debug) is fine too.
The game’s aesthetic bathes in warm, pastel colors, giving off this stylized vision of young adult life in Southern California.
The game is a hyper-focused exploration of modern adulting struggles, like navigating social dynamics, trying to turn a hobby into a career while still keeping your day job, and how to tactfully respond to an incoming text in the most clever way possible.
How We Are OFK was funded
We Are OFK was funded by Kowloon Nights — an investment fund founded by Alexis Garavaryan (Kepler Interactive). Their website now links to Kepler Interactive’s inbound form. While Kowloon is reported to have provided the financing, all signs point to the OFK team doing promotion of their game on their own.
We Are OFK’s gameplay
Choosing dialogue options is the primary form of player interaction for virtually each chapter, and of these three vibe games, We Are OFK has the least interactivity of them. However, you do get to control your actions a bit more freely at the end of each of the five episodes, as your reward for sitting through each chapter is a playable music video from the band’s EP.
We Are OFK’s cast
Compared to Mixtape and Goodbye Volcano High, the lead cast is the oldest of the three games, with Jey Zhang probably being the eldest band member. But, I’d still say they’re young adults.
- Itsumi Saito is the keyboardist and social media manager for the band. A bubbly personality, and the person we see the most of.
- Luca Le Fae is the vocalist of the band. Some Steam reviews have argued it’s Teddy Dief’s self-insert because they are voiced by the creator.
- Jey Zhang is the producer of the band and also provides the recording studio where the band makes their music.
- Carter does the VFX for the band and is the most introverted.
We Are OFK’s problems
Mechanically, We Are OFK is the most passive game of the three. The primary gameplay loop consists almost entirely of reading text messages and selecting dialogue options. Much like Goodbye Volcano High, however, the dialogue options presented to the player also do not dictate branching narrative outcomes either. Rather, they govern how a character expresses themselves in a given moment. For instance, when Itsumi is being harassed at a bar, the player chooses Jey’s specific flavor of sending-off the dudebro, but the outcome of the scene remains fixed.
In my own review of the game, I mention that it didn’t really meaningfully address paying rent in smelly LA. No did it deal with dealing with creative burnout — besides Luca (the band’s main vocalist) basically giving up and becoming a barista.
Playing Devil’s Advocate (What We Are OFK Did Right)
I haven’t even gotten to talk about the other two games, but if we are to look at playcount, We Are OFK is the indie-est of the three games here, with the most niche playercount and fewest amount of reviews.
One aspect that makes We Are OFK better than Goodbye Volcano High is, despite also being “woke” as shit, the developer team never really paid into the negativity with negativity of their own. They just kept it moving until the game came out, and I appreciate this.
What makes We Are OFK better than Mixtape is that you are the band, and with each chapter, you see the process that made each song possible firsthand.
Now, let’s move onto part 2 of this trifecta: Goodbye Volcano High.
Goodbye Volcano High
Goodbye Volcano High made its debut during Sony’s “State of Play” showcase back in 2020. Sandwiched between massive, hardware-pushing AAA blockbusters, the game stood out as a distinctly different kind of offering.
The game is a cinematic narrative adventure telling the story of Fang, a non-binary pterodactyl who sings lead and plays guitar for their basement rock band, Worm Drama. Inside, we get vignettes navigating complex, shifting friendships as an asteroid barrels towards the planet, threatening all but certain extinction.
How Goodbye Volcano High was funded
KO-OP applied for, and received, a substantial amount of funding from the Canadian government to make Goodbye Volcano High. One such grant they applied for was the Innovation & Experimentation Program from the Canada Media Fund, of which they were awarded $1,224,632 CAD. KO-OP also received some money from Sony’s PlayStation Pub Fund, which provides an advance on development costs in exchange for being PlayStation exclusive in its console port.
Goodbye Volcano High’s gameplay
Much like in We Are OFK, selecting dialogue options is a primary form of player interaction, though Goodbye Volcano High attempts to blend in slightly more formalized mechanics. Players make timed and untimed choices to influence interpersonal relationships, and occasionally participate in D&D sessions that mimic playing a tabletop RPG.
During Worm Drama’s musical performances, Goodbye Volcano High transitions into a rhythm-matching interface. However, the player is heavily insulated against failure. Missing notes won’t result in a “game over” screen or end the performance early; in fact, you can miss every note and the cutscene will be identical.
Goodbye Volcano High’s cast
There are three major characters that make up Worm Drama, along with a litany of supporting characters. But I’ll just give you the band members to make it easier.
- Fang is the lead singer and guitarist of Worm Drama, and nonbinary.
- Trish is Worm Drama’s bassist, and one of Fang’s closest friends. Although she’s vibrant, she also clashes with Fang.
- Reed is the velociraptor drummer, often serving as the laid-back connective tissue for the band.
Goodbye Volcano High’s problems
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Goodbye Volcano High suffered from developmental rescoping. It was supposed to be a dino dating simulator, imagine that! But it also had quite a unique predicament: users of 4chan made a full-fledged parody of it (Snoot Game, a Ren’py visual novel) a full two years before the game came out. This led to a culture clash for the ages, the results of which hurt KO-OP’s reputation.
At its core, the culture clash arose from how Snoot Game addressed Fang’s nonbinary identity. While the parody took great care to address emotional trauma, the act of othering, and demonstrating character growth… it also was riddled with chanspeak that doesn’t translate well to normies, and the best endings of Snoot Game have Fang’s nonbinary identity all but vanish.
Because KO-OP (or the guy who does messaging for them) does not want that kind of energy in their feed, they basically set up a magnetic force field where anyone who mentions Snoot Game immediately gets vaporized. Even yours truly; I am banned from their Discord for mentioning Snoot Game was the reason I was there.
Playing Devil’s Advocate (What Goodbye Volcano High Did Right)
If we are looking purely at artistic presentation, Goodbye Volcano High’s animation is arguably the most expressive and fluid out of the three games on this list.
What makes Goodbye Volcano High stand out against We Are OFK is its willingness to tackle genuinely apocalyptic stakes; it isn’t just about gig economy struggles, it’s about finding meaning when the future is literally canceled.
And compared to Mixtape’s heavy reliance on licensed hits and past nostalgia, Goodbye Volcano High committed to an original, melancholic indie rock soundtrack that authentically matches the doom-laden tone of its own universe.
Mixtape
Showcasing first at Xbox Game Showcase back in 2024, Mixtape struck many as a chill guy type game. PC Gamer pegged it as a Life Is Strange-like, which is kind of hilarious in retrospect, though I shouldn’t be talking shit because I said the same thing last summer.
Thankfully, they’re not doing the same thing. Mixtape is a cinematic experience, and unlike Life Is Strange, you aren’t making tough decisions that fellow characters will surely remember. Instead, you live through the gleamy eyes of nostalgia, and join protagonist Stacey Rockford, Slater, and Cassandra on their final night together before Stacey flies out to New York to live out her dreams as a music supervisor.
How Mixtape Was Funded
Mixtape benefited from a mix of public and private funding. On the government grant level, Beethoven & Dinosaur was a beneficiary of VicScreen, the creative development agency of Victoria, Australia. From that, they secured at least $254,199 AUD in funding, though only fiscal years 2023 through 2025 are available, so it could be even more than that.
On the publisher side, Annapurna Interactive helped with both funding and infrastructure. In particular, Annapurna helped with clearing the music licenses, ensuring the third-party songs wouldn’t result in the game being delisted, and also hired Tara Bruno PR to promote the game.
Mixtape’s gameplay
Unlike the linear storytelling with OFK and GVH, Mixtape makes great strides in packing “the past” into its present. Because the protagonist Stacey Rockford lives and dies by the music, the gameplay is a rapid-fire litany of minigames that cleverly leverage the soundtrack to entertain the player. Each song has a special purpose in the game’s plot.
Mixtape’s cast
The game focuses on a tight-knit trio of friends, with the narrative explicitly framed through the subjective lens of its protagonist.
- Stacey Rockford: The wise-cracking, fourth-wall-breaking, unreliable narrator. She acts as the group’s music supervisor extraordinaire and the emotional anchor for the crew.
- Slater: Both a metalhead and a pothead, Slater puts the M in the MFF tag.
- Cassandra: The third member of the trio, a good girl gone bad, and one with an overbearing parent.
Mixtape’s problems
The PR company contracted to work on Mixtape, Tara Bruno, did such an amazing job packing in appearances at industry events such as Day of the Devs, Tribeca Games Gallery and Play Days that they somehow forgot to showcase the demo to the general public online, too. That is to say — most couldn’t actually play it until it came out. You had to be in person to try it.
This led to a hilarious outcome: instant 9s and 10s from well-recognized mainstream outlets like IGN (which gave it a 10), Insider Gaming (which also gave it a 10), and Push Square (which gave it a 9). I myself gave it a 4.5/5, and my friends never looked at me the same again.
There was also the question of whether Mixtape “bought” favoritism among influencers due to the giftbox Annapurna (its publisher) commissioned. While these things are incredibly common in the AAA space, the optics hit differently when it comes from an indie publisher going all-out for its game’s rollout. Pirat_Nation, in particular, was quick to call Mixtape an “industry plant game”.
Playing Devil’s Advocate (What Mixtape Did Right)
What sets Mixtape apart from We Are OFK and Goodbye Volcano High is that it balanced non-interactivity by throwing in some occasional gameplay, you know, as a treat.
In the process of making this game, Beethoven and Dinosaur carefully calculated each licensed song that featured throughout the story. And this was good planning on their part—as the developers stated they got every song they wanted.
It didn’t ask players to invest emotional capital over a virtual band, nor did it go to war with a fanbase emerging from interest (be it invited or uninvited). Instead, they announced their title, fucked off from the internet for nearly two years, and came back with it all done and ready to rock.
Some commonalities
All three games feature young adults (or teenagers, in the case of Goodbye Volcano High). All three games revolve around music and appreciation for the medium. All three games are priced at a middle-tier MSRP of $29.99 or less. All three games are not “true Scotsman” indie-as-in-self-funded (they all got external funding, and two of the three were assisted by government funding). All three games got some level of backlash before release. All three pushed on and made it to release day.
So hold on, what makes Mixtape more successful than the other two games?
Oh shit, you’re right. I buried the lede and I apologize for that. Let me get specific to make it up to you.
I am measuring Mixtape’s success primarily in terms of metrics, in which it has been estimated to have sold more copies (Gamalytic), scored higher with both critics and users (Metacritic), and achieved greater eminence in the public discourse.
It achieved this success through a mix of strategic choices and also by taking some risks, so let’s take a look how.
Lower stakes let Mixtape wildly over-deliver on its payoff
We Are OFK and Goodbye Volcano High set extremely high stakes in their story. The former requires each band member to get along with each other well enough to make OFK work out as a band. The latter hinges on Worm Drama giving the performance of their lives before the asteroid comes.
The stakes in Mixtape are way lower, which ironically, makes them hit much harder. Sure, Stacey Rockford is being 100% self-centered by ditching her friends’ Cali road trip plans to stalk some music producer in New York. But if this final night out falls apart, the world doesn’t end; the sun comes up, the friends drift apart, and life goes on.
So when the night out happens, and is recounted in such a hyperbolic way, this successful (albeit pre-destined) outcome feels way more celebratory.
When faced with A vs B, minigames are better than dialogue options
Of course, each of these titles struggle with long-form interactivity. We Are OFK gave cleverly worded text messages with minigames at the end of each chapter, and Goodbye Volcano High gave dialogue choices, rhythm sections, and moments of interactivity that could best be described as fleeting. Mixtape recognized that players still need a hit of dopamine between the narrative beats, and kept their length largely consistent between each section. By packing the story with minigames tied directly to the beats of the licensed tracks, it actually gave the player something tactile to do. It remembered that throwing the player a mechanical bone goes a long way in keeping their storytelling from losing momentum.
Logging off, and locking in
As offensive and patronizing as it sounds, perhaps the biggest reason Mixtape “soared while the others soured” is because most people didn’t see too much of it before release. The backlash came afterwards, when people noticed prominent outlets were all giving it universal acclaim shortly after getting their complimentary review copies.
While GVH got locked into a reputation-damaging culture war over its 4chan parody, and OFK took pains to build social media profiles for each member of its virtual band, the Mixtape developers announced their game… and went back to working on it.
When the time came to promote Mixtape, they had their hired PR firm Tara Bruno go to mostly in-person events (e.g., Day of the Devs, Tribeca Games Gallery and SGF Play Days) to showcase the game and peppered the online promos fairly lightly (e.g., SGF 2025, Nintendo Indie World Showcase 3.3.2026) by comparison. That is to say there was no final advertising blitz to speak of, but when it came out, the critical response was fairly immediate.
Final Thoughts
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. I hope you were able to see the similarities between these three games and the differences, too. I almost wasn’t gonna write it because I felt like it would be in bad faith, but I’ve had a connection to all three games and thought it was worth putting in the old two cents.
Feel free to highlight the article or hit me up if you had any questions, and take care.
