Wax Heads – Rocking Retail Recommendations at Repeater Records!

“Records blurt out trapped moments of rapture, fear, love, anguish, despair, excitement, and insanity. When an album plays, it is a ghost wailing, imprisoned in the moment, rattling its chains.” – Ian F. Svenonius

Overview

Wax Heads is a (mostly) point-and-click game that sees players working in a struggling record shop and recommending music for a host of unique customers. Created by Patattie Games (interview available HERE), it has a strong music focus that is apparent in all aspects of the game, from the vibrant styling to the punk drama of the narrative.

“Punk rock should mean freedom, liking and accepting anything that you like. Playing whatever you want. As sloppy as you want. As long as it’s good and it has passion.” – Kurt Cobain

Narrative

Wax Heads takes place mostly within Repeater Records, with a few select scenes taking place at local bar, The Apple Bed. The player has just started a new job at the record shop, owned by Morgan MacIntyre, former star of the popular 80s band Becoming Violet. After leaving the band, she was on bad terms with two ex-bandmates, including her sister, and chose to stay out of the limelight and open her record shop. The story centres around the financial difficulties of the business and characters from Morgan’s past who are trying to buy it.

The game is mostly lighthearted, but there is some mild drama and emotional moments. The prominent themes are capitalism, punk, the music industry, and family feuds, with the game focusing on the various relationships and how the store staff come together and work hard to try to save the shop. A lot of the narrative is delivered via dialogue, with some exposition through written texts such as music publications.

Gameplay

Wax Heads boasts casual but very engaging gameplay that blends seamlessly with its narrative. The main objective is to recommend/sell records to customers by listening to the (sometimes obscure) requests and selecting the correct record from the shop displays. This particular aspect of the game could be somewhat likened to titles such as Papers, Please. The game progresses day by day and is divided into chapters that give the game a nice pace. Repeater Records has some key products, but there are stock changes with each chapter, meaning there are always new records for players to familiarise themselves with.

It is a very eclectic mix of customers that visit the shop, including a gamer guy, a dad and his hyperactive children, a pair of ageing metalheads, a stoner rocker, and Gordy (if you know, you know!). The requests are equally varied and can range from things such as “pounding bass”, “girl power and rap”, or such and such reviewer said this about the record. This results in a varying level of challenge that helps keep the gameplay engaging without becoming overwhelming or frustrating. In response to the player’s suggestion, the customer will give a rating of rad, OK, meh, or sad. Better ratings will award more points that can be spent on records for the jukebox and cosmetic items to decorate the shop, such as artwork, figurines, and a selection of Tamagotchi-type virtual pets.

“So now we’re here and we are not dead, and Mom, what’s more punk rock than living despite all that which has tried to make you not?” – Neil Hilborn

The player possesses a phone that contains a whole array of features, some of which are very useful, such as the dialogue tracker, an inventory of all Repeater Records’ stock, a victory book that lists all the characters already encountered, and an employee performance section. Other phone features are aimed more at fun and narrative progression, including Phogram (social media), suffering juekbox where players can select and queue up their favourite songs, and Walking the Cow, a digital music publication.

Wax Heads also offers up a selection of mini games that are very enjoyable and provide a nice bit of variety and break up the main gameplay a little. These include designing posters, looking after the light and sound for a gig, choosing lyrics, jigsaw-style order packing, and work outside of work, recommending drinks for people at the bar. There is also a much more substantial, not-so-mini-game called Diggy Doggo, a retro, pixel art, dungeon crawler accessible from an arcade machine in the shop.

Styling

Wax Heads uses a colourful hand-drawn cartoon art style with a vibrant palette and bold lines. The playful visuals work well with the casual gameplay and give a fun and inviting feel to the environments and characters. The animations are simple but slick, with the NPCs’ facial expressions really bringing the different personalities to life.

The soundtrack was, unsurprisingly, one of the main highlights of the game. It consists of a variety of unique tracks spanning a range of genres, but with a definite punk leaning. There is a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic music, and the ability to choose which tracks play while at work from an expanding Jukebox collection adds to the enjoyment. A few live gigs also take place throughout the game; these are a lot of fun and also help connect the player to the music and overarching themes of the game and its narrative.

“Anybody who says punk isn’t queer doesn’t know what punk is.” – Casey McQuiston

Summary

Wax Heads is a fantastic game that will take around 6-8 hours to complete. It boasts casual but highly satisfying gameplay and an engaging narrative that will have players feeling invested in both the record shop and the wide range of characters. It is wonderfully stylised with the visual and audio aspects of the game working perfectly together to convey the punk aesthetic and themes. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Wax Heads. It is clear that a lot of love was poured into its making. It has plenty to offer and will appeal to music fans, casual gamers, story-lovers, and a whole lot of people in between! I wholeheartedly recommend this game, and I can’t wait to see what the devs do next! I also recommend Morning View by Incubus, Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt, and Jake by Lunar C.

Giveaway

Courtesy of the developers, Patattie Games, we have one Steam key for Wax Heads to give away. For more details and your chance to win (or just to chat about indie games), simply join our friendly Discord server and check out the announcements!

Looking for more music-themed games? You might also enjoy these reviews:
Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die – Dead Pets: A Punk Rock Slice of Life Sim – One Hand Clapping