Mixtape Highlights Annapurna Interactive’s Upcoming Indie Game Titles
Among the most buzzed-about publishers at Summer Game Fest 2025 was Annapurna Interactive, which brought a whole variety of games developed by their indie partners to the show. This year, Annapurna Interactive offered more details about its cozy slice-of-life title Mixtape, developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur; unveiled its heist game Snap & Grab; developed by […]
The post Mixtape Highlights Annapurna Interactive’s Upcoming Indie Game Titles appeared first on Den of Geek.
Among the most buzzed-about publishers at Summer Game Fest 2025 was Annapurna Interactive, which brought a whole variety of games developed by their indie partners to the show. This year, Annapurna Interactive offered more details about its cozy slice-of-life title Mixtape, developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur; unveiled its heist game Snap & Grab; developed by No Goblin, and provided a hands-on demo of its mech-action game Bounty Star; developed by DINOGOD. Den of Geek talked to some of the developers for Bounty Star and Mixtape and played an early build of Bounty Star.
In the case of DINOGOD’s sun-baked mech game, Bounty Star very much feels like a futuristic Western, as its title would suggest. The game has players control Clem, a mech pilot with a traumatic past, who lives on a remote ranch in an arid environment reminiscent of the American Southwest, taking on mercenaries jobs to get by as she tries to reconcile with incidents from her life. In addition to the mech-based combat missions, there is a base-building element to the game as Clem uses her bounties to not only upgrade and customize her mech but improve her ranch.
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“I was driving through Monument Valley on the border between Arizona and Utah, realizing that it was beautiful and why wasn’t there a game set there,” recalls DINOGOD creative director and game designer Ben Ruiz about the origins of Bounty Star. “In between that drive, I was thinking of what kind of game I could put inside of here and that’s when it started to form. I love mechs and Westerns already. It was just the kind of thing that gelled really organically and quickly. A month later, I got a narrative and design document down.”
Bounty Star has all the usual hallmarks of the mech combat genre, from an array of customizations and upgrades for the machines and contract-based mission that has Clem blast through waves of unique enemy types. But it was important for Ruiz and the rest of the development team to make their game more character-driven, really honing in on Clem’s personal growth and empowerment, which is particularly noticeable in the base-building moments between combat missions as players get a chance to breathe and get to know Clem. For Ruiz, he similarly looked to real-world inspiration for creating the character and this more intimate scope than the genre is usually known for.
“I’ve known a lot of real badass tough ladies, so it’s an homage to them,” Ruiz elaborates about the inspirations and narrative drive behind the game. “That’s where the base gameplay in Bounty Star comes from, which is what it actually looks like if you’re living that life, especially out in the desert where it’s a lot harder than it would be in a city environment.”
A neo-Western that takes advantage of its southwestern-inspired setting and archetypes, Bounty Star is poised to go deeper than other mech action titles. And based on the hands-on demo we got to play of the game, the combat feels smooth and intuitive while Clem’s base and its growth reflects her arc, something that additionally sets Bounty Star from its contemporaries.
Ever since it was announced at Summer Game Fest 2024, Mixtape has been garnering a lot of buzz among the indie titles linked to the event, and the hype has only grown one year later. An early build demo available at the event offered players a better idea of what to expect from the game, from its atmospheric soundtrack including classics from The Smashing Pumpkins and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Set in the last magical moments of high school, the game has three friends embark on an adventure of youthful reckless abandon in their lush town, a slice-of-life focus that the development team loved diving into.
“It’s so enjoyable to work on because you can go into each little vignette so fresh,” declares Beethoven & Dinosaur technical director Roman Maksymyschyn. “I’m not just making a man swing a sword for 40 hours. Every time we get to make something new, you go in with fresh eyes and feel inspired to make something new and cool.”
Development partially drew from the team’s own life experiences to create this memorable, pop music-infused night on the town – complete with downhill skateboarding, evading the police, and generally enjoying the freewheeling potential of youth in its twilight moments. More than just gorgeously rendered visually and matched with engaging and immersive gameplay, these emotional moments are beautifully punctuated by the game’s soundtrack. This detail was something that Beethoven & Dinosaur were keen to deliver on with Mixtape early on in its development.
“A big part of that is that everyone on the team just really loves music, so it very much is a music-first kind of game,” Maksymyschyn says. “Even the soundtrack was largely constructed first and the story and game were built around that. Being able to use all the artistic notes, for technical people who are also interested in music, it had to really be in sync. We were able to execute something quite unique.”
A celebration of youth while evoking an era infused with nostalgia and mood while staying fresh for modern audiences, Mixtape is poised to become one of the most eagerly anticipated indie releases of the year. And based on the comments for the developers and what more we’ve seen, we can’t wait to dive into those teenage glory days when anything seemed possible.
Developed by DINOGOD and published by Annapurna Interactive, Bounty Star has a TBD release date but is slated for launch on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive, Mixtape is set for a 2025 release on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
The post Mixtape Highlights Annapurna Interactive’s Upcoming Indie Game Titles appeared first on Den of Geek.
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