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Wax Heads

The Summer of Demos - Day Seventeen

Wax Heads

It’s your first day working at local record shop Repeater Records and no-one will tell you what they’re looking for. Developed by Rocio Tome and Murray Somerwolff, Wax Heads is a game about listening.

The majority of the demo is spent considering the hints customers give to what they’re looking for, ranging from overt to esoteric, but there’s plenty of actual listening too, with six in-world tracks you can put on the shop speakers while playing that go a long way to establish the cosy local shop atmosphere.

Speaking of the in-world tracks, there’s a wealth of bands and album covers to sift through in the demo alone, each with their own stormy histories and passionate fans. Sometimes you can puzzle out what they want based on the logos on their outfits or from the names they drop. There’s also the guy who just wants a good deal. The characters are fairly shallow in the demo but I imagine repeat customers will have more depth to them with subsequent requests.

The text formatting was strange at times, with sentences split across multiple boxes like in Game Boy games despite the space available. You can check the Dialogue Tracker on your phone at any time to read customers’ complete sentences and refresh yourself on their hints when picking something out for them. Before accepting the request, you can also ask them to repeat it. Getting the right recommendation gives you 3 points, whilst something close or completely off gives 1 or 0. Did not receive 2 points despite my best attempts in the demo, nor was it clear what these points even go toward.

Outside of the main loop, there are minigames coming in the full game, with Tome’s game jam game Diggy Doggo Daylight Dungeon available to play on an arcade machine in the demo but I won’t go into that game much as it could be its own release (and was, on Itch). At one point, you design a promotional flyer for a coworker by dragging images onto it.

Owned by Morgan Macintyre, the fallen lead singer of hit 80s band Becoming Violet, Repeater Records was always going to have history. As the new guy, you’re coming in with interpersonal drama and gossip well underway. With the shop foreclosing in 20 days, you’ll have to work fast to get to know everyone and make enough sales to keep it open.

In a word : indie.

I’d like to see you do a better job.

Wax Heads is an upcoming puzzle narrative game developed and published by Patattie Games for PC via Steam. All images copyright of Patattie Games unless otherwise stated.

This article is part of the Summer of Demos series, where I’ll be releasing a Demo Diving preview article each day in July. If you liked this article, be sure to share it with a friend or enemy. If you back me on Patreon, you get access to articles one day before they release anywhere else. If we reach £25/month before the end of July, I’ll extend the Summer of Demos into August.

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