Wax Heads Review

Wax Heads describes itself as a “cozy-punk narrative sim” all about working in a record store that’s going out of style. Developed by Patattie Games (a two-person team) and published by Curve Games, I’ve been feeling up to a game that focuses on music, and I’ve been really digging the cosiness of running stores lately, so this could be right up my alley… and I just got six achievements before I even downloaded the game, so this will be fun!

You work at Repeater Records, where you can find the latest and greatest hits from whatever artist you want… at least, from a couple of decades ago. It’s 2026, and the store has fallen on hard times, but everyone is doing their best to keep the place afloat. However, with the music industry changing every day, and the past having a tendency to come up in unpleasant ways, will your efforts as the newest employee be enough to save Repeater Records? And why did the famous band Becoming Violet break up?

I really liked the narrative that the game has. It's a tale about community, how one deals with the past and the future, what it means to create, and (most importantly) music. It tackles issues regarding things like gentrification and the usage of AI to subvert art, and I think it’s really interesting (and it makes clear which person you should hate). You’ll meet a vast array of characters every day, each with their own little lives and backstories you can learn just from short conversations with them.

It also emphasises diversity in the cast as you’ll be running into at least 97 people during your time with the game, customers and coworkers alike, and they’re all memorable in some way, even if you need to occasionally deal with a real weirdo. However, despite constantly giving you choices to make, the story is largely unaffected by your actions. You’re more part of the audience than a performer, but it’s still a pretty heartwarming story overall.

That being said, for a game centred around music, it better have a killer soundtrack, right? Well, it delivers and then some. There are tons of tracks throughout the game played by the many in-universe artists and musicians that play throughout the game, ranging from rap and indie rock to electronica and dubstep. They were all great to some degree, even if I personally didn’t vibe with the genre, so there will be something for you to listen to on repeat.

The artstyle is seriously great too, especially when it comes to all the cover art for the various albums you’re selling. It’s all vibrant and quirky, looking like it came straight out of a comic book. Actually, I just realised that it reminds me of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s art from Scott Pilgrim, which happens to be one of my favourite stories.

But enough about that, let’s get the store open! However, running the place day-to-day isn’t about setting prices and stocking the shelves. Rather, it's a mystery game where you’ll be using all the information you have on hand to solve musical woes. Every customer wants a specific record, but they will never tell you what it is outright, and it’s your job to figure it out. You’ll need to check the contents of the record, the reviews it got, the clothing of the customer, social media to see what others are thinking, that sort of thing. If a notification pops up on your phone, it could be the clue you need to find what sound they’re looking for.

I honestly found it pretty fun solving these small puzzles where context is everything and clues can be rather obscure. They’ll make you feel smart as you remember details you may have incidentally read or find something you completely overlooked. The biggest obstacle that comes to getting the right album is actually navigating the store, which can be a little confusing at first, but like any job, you’ll soon memorise where everything is. Here’s a hint: each room is separated by genre and/or artist.

Now, there are two modes affecting gameplay: The Customer is Always Right and No Refunds. The former will make customers voice their concerns if they don’t get what they want, giving you a chance to rectify your mistake (with a small penalty), while the latter makes all sales final. If you give them a completely wrong record, that’s not your problem anymore, but they may leave in a huff and a “Bad” ranking. It actually kind of stings to screw up, and it only made me want to do better.

Still, all this work has to be going towards something, right? Well, no matter how good or bad you do, the story marches on, but getting requests wrong will cost you Cosmetic Points. At the start of the day, you can buy decorations, interactable items, and even new music to play on the Suffering Jukebox (either in the staff room or through the app). That’s not the most encouraging thing when it comes to trying to solve great musical mysteries, but it is nice to add a little more life to the store.

It’s not all about sleuthing, though, as you are given some neat little puzzles and mini-games to help break up the monotony. You can pack up orders neatly, solve an actual jigsaw puzzle, manage the electronics while a band plays in the background, that sort of thing. They’re fun to do, and when you get the chance to listen to an in-game band play their hearts out, it’s always a treat… even when I’m desperately trying to make sure the lights don’t turn off mid-performance.

With that being said, it all doesn’t matter if Wax Heads itself can’t be played without something breaking, and while I ran into no framerate issues, I have gotten more than a few glitches. When I was purchasing new music, sometimes they wouldn’t show that they were bought. Not only that, when I wanted to back out… Well, I couldn’t. I either softlocked myself or I had to buy it. Though, thinking back on it, I could’ve just reloaded my save. Dammit, that’s so much CP down the drain! Still, I didn’t let this affect my feelings towards the game, considering these issues can be patched out upon release. But if it isn’t, I’m gonna be a little mad.

Wax Heads is a great musical journey all about sticking together, making real art, and that friendship is punk rock. It’s for anyone who likes investigation and constantly looking for something new to listen to, don't skip this sleeper hit!