Wax Heads is a narrative-driven puzzle game about finding the perfect records for eccentric customers

Megan Bidmead, 5 May 2026

A customer named Tony Cheapskate sweeps into the record store with a request. 'I DEMAND A VERY GOOD BARGAIN!' he says. Ah, I think. This definitely feels like retail. I find him a discounted record. Genre doesn't matter. It's not about the art, it's about the percentages, the cents saved. He leaves happy, clutching a record I am not entirely sure he will listen to. One customer down, many to go.

I'm a real sucker for a record store setting in video games, but I've yet to find one as lovingly created as Repeater Records, the hub of Wax Heads. Everywhere you turn there is something to look at: records, obviously, but also posters, zines, plants, stickers. It feels lived-in. I get the same deeply comforting feeling here that I get from real record shops run by people who tend to be on the margins: it's loud, and it feels like a lot, but there's a sense of community and safety tucked into the rebellion. Everyone is welcome here. (Except the people on the banned list, but more on those later.)

This is important because you will spend a lot of time wandering around Repeater Records.  You play a new member of staff, and it's your job to recommend the right records for your customers, who probably won't just ask for a specific title. They'll present you with clues instead, and it's your job to figure out what they need.

An older gentleman asking for a jazz record to remind him of his late husband. A frazzled father of rambunctious children requesting something that is 'just for me'. A traveller wanting a record from a local band. You'll need to pick through the options to find the best record for them. Obvious clues include cover art, reviews, and specific artist information. Less obvious clues involve looking at the social media app Phonogram and reading the opinion of critics in music newsletters. It gets way more complicated than giving your customers a bargain.

The main mechanic of Wax Heads is very similar to Strange Antiquities, and it involves the kind of puzzles I really love. It's all about reading comprehension; you need to be able to pick up on the key words people are dropping in their requests. You'll have to keep flicking back and forth between areas of the store, but luckily, it's a fun place to hang out in. And it also has a minimap, which is useful for people with little to no spatial recognition (like me).

To give you an overview of the plot: Repeater Records is run by Morgan Macyntire, a former member of the band Becoming Violet, the sister of megastar solo artist Willow. The band - and the sisters - parted ways less than amicably. Morgan is now running Repeater Records, keeping her connection to the band and her famous sister hidden in shadow. But now Willow, for some reason, wants in on the action. What will happen to the staff? There's a lot going on behind the scenes. You will find a live recording of a choir for a friendly customer, because he is also in a choir and needs a bit of inspo. There's the charming, fun layer of puzzles with genuinely interesting customers, and a larger story of family dynamics and dramas rumbling on in the background.

On top of this, there is the ongoing story of the artists themselves. You'll learn about band break-ups and fledgling solo careers, all to the background noise of a playlist you can flick through. There's a lot going on in Wax Heads, visually and in terms of story, and you can tell every inch of it was made with a lot of love.

In terms of difficulty, you can pick one of two options at the start. Option one means your choices are final; once you hand a record to a customer there's no going back, and there's no guarantee that they'll love it, which will affect your overall stats. Or there's an option to cash in tokens to retry when your customers aren't showing enthusiasm for your choices. If you're a bit unsure, you could pick the latter as a buffer for those inevitable wrong record picks.

It feels authentically warm, a little bit retro without being cliched, and hopeful, somehow, the kind of community hub that I long to have near me in real life. It reminds me of hours spent picking through CDs in my early twenties, listening to whatever indie band was big at the time, losing time in a place that felt both punk and comforting. I could spend a lot of time in Repeater Records, and I look forward to doing so.

As a side note: when you encounter a certain singer who shouldn't be in the store, the correct thing to do is to ask them to leave. But don't do that, because the outcome is really fun if you let them stay for a minute. Enjoy!