Far be it from me to admit to any sort of midlife crisis event, but recently I, a man approaching his mid-40s with grace and superb mental health, have recently been playing some computer games that have reconnected me with my youth immersed in my local and the international punk scene, playing in a band and generally enjoying a life that revolved around music. It’s been really fun, and the games have some great music too. Let’s talk about them.
The opening act in tonight’s lineup is Wax Heads, released in May 2026 by Patattie games. It puts you in the shoes of a newly hired salesperson and general dogsbody at an independent record shop that stocks only vinyl. The game revolves around matching customers up with the perfect record for them. This is derived from their dialogue; they’ll give you some clues or hints, and you need to take it from there. Yeah, I don’t know anyone who buys vinyl like this either, but it’s a fun conceit, and the developers have clearly had fun with it too. There’s always a perfect record, but there are good enough or OK selections too, so you don’t need to beat yourself up if you miss the top spot. There’s also a game mode that lets you retry each customer until you nail it, if you prefer.
Wrapped around that simple gameplay loop – meet customer, find record, present record – is a cast of characters rooted in the shop itself, Repeater Records. There’s an old drama threatening to resurface concerning the store’s owner, the former frontwoman of a platinum-successful 80s pop group. There are subplots concerning the other shop’s workers, like Hank, an old punk who just wants to keep making music and running Repeater but is feeling his age, or Abi, the enthusiastic manager of her friends’ band who maybe needs a bit of a push toward making her own music. The dialogue and art are charming, and as I previously mentioned the songs are great. Every single in-game day unlocks a new song, plus you can unlock more with a cosmetic currency you earn through play. There’s a jukebox where you can play your collection. I’m personally very fond of Davey B, a single from Hank’s band, Da Knees (presumably they’re going).
Wax Heads costs about 15 euro, and takes about 8 hours to play through. I’ve played through it twice (second time was to find the secrets I’d missed, and get a perfect score for every customer).
Taking the middle slot in our show this evening is Dead Pets: A Punk Rock Slice of Life Sim (possibly alternatively known as Dead Pets Unleashed, a much better name), released in February of this year. This is a bit of a weird one in terms of how it made it out to the public. The demo actually shipped in 2022; I’m not sure if this is the same demo I played 4 years after its release before buying the full game. The story of why there was such a big gap is sad, but not entirely so. The game’s original developers, Triple Topping, closed down in 2023. They were a Danish indie company with an explicitly feminist mission, but filed for bankruptcy after 7 years of operation. This is a great shame, and a tiny piece of the collapse of the games industry over the last three years, but at least Dead Pets was eventually released by Akapura Games, who I believe acquired Triple Topping from bankruptcy.
Anyway, enough business and sadness. Here’s a more fun fact for you: half of the duo behind Wax Heads also worked on Dead Pets! Which is why a couple of characters from Dead Pets make appearances in Wax Heads, and why Da Knees appears as a playable track in the Dead Pets jukebox.
The game itself is set in a weird fusion of modern urban life <> within the realm of hell, and most of the characters are demons – but also very much human in the lives and fears and drives. I don’t know why it is this way, but I’m fine with it: it lets the game’s visual identity be more playful, and the distance from reality it involves probably also offers the game more narrative latitude. Anyhow, that’s why everyone has horns and the guitarist looks like that.
You play the role of Gordy, bassist and dynamo for the eponymous punk band. At the outset of the game Gordy has a bit of an epiphany that drives her to start taking the band more seriously, and Make It Happen. Unfortunately Gordy is also broke and a bit of a mess. Aren’t we all. Gameplay, then, involves visiting locations around the city and talking with various characters. Periodically there are minigames, from a sort of Burger Dash-ish take on Gordy’s day job to a rhythm action game where you play the band’s aggressive, punchy punk songs.
It’s not all fun and games and Dead Pets is prepared to deal with some real shit. This isn’t laid on too heavily and it speaks to a tragically, contemptibly common phenomenon. All this while, well, trying to keep a band together when they too are dealing with their own problems. The game’s writing does a great job of handling these heavier themes whilst generally being fun, funny and playful. A mild spoiler: in one scene Gordy tries a dating app, seeking a sugar daddy to fund her lifestyle while the bands gets it together. Upon meeting an older gentleman at an upmarket restaurant, a nervous Gordy drinks too much, gets a little too wild, then borrows her date’s credit card and orders a crate of bees to his house.
I really like Dead Pets, which is why I’m sorry to say it is quite buggy. This may be because I’ve mostly played it on Linux (SteamOS). The worst issues I’ve seen have been the main menu failing to load/render twice, a couple of animations failing to trigger when they should leaving my game soft-locked, and the aforementioned Da Knees song in the jukebox only working as a playable rhythm action track if you, uh, don’t press any buttons. I can’t begrudge the game this too much as it was lucky to see the light of day, honestly. It hasn’t stopped me continuing to play.
Dead Pets can be had for about 14 euro. See the band at the merch table after their set.
And now for tonight’s headliners… Rockbeasts! The game isn’t out yet, but a demo dropped recently and contains three full episodes. I previously played the first at Gamescom 2025 and really liked it. The additional episodes don’t disappoint. The game is wonderfully animated and voice acted, and again the music is excellent. It certainly feels like Rockbeasts has more money behind it than Wax Heads or Dead Pets. In a way, that fits narratively, since Wax Heads is about a struggling independent record shop, and Dead Pets about a confrontational politicised punk band, whilst Rockbeasts is about a rock band whose epic destiny the player shapes.
Rockbeasts is more explicitly a band management game, and the core gameplay sees you making best use of each day’s four time slots to keep the band healthy, hyped, in a good mood, and in the black financially. You need to prepare for shows by deciding which special abilities or skills to use in the slots available for each song. Good performances earn more money and XP, which lets you further enhance the band. And Rockbeasts has a sort of paragon system, except here you’re essentially choosing between the band pursuing fame and wealth, or critical acclaim and originality.
Rockbeast’s songs are strong, at least from what I’ve seen so far (I believe the demo contains 6 songs, of which you can use 3 in any given playthrough). And the voice acting is great, too. There are some big names here. Iggy Pop features as Iggy Pup, a radio DJ. Oh, I have not mentioned that all the characters are animals, hence the title; this will be a hit among furries for sure. The actors portraying your band members are all great and there’s a wonderful dynamic between these four characters. Each of them has a different relationship with another, and they are all very distinct people: Vern, the singer, is abrasive, direct and confrontational; Keith, the drummer, is life-worn and inarticulate; Carlton, the bassist, is a little soft, a nice guy peacemaker; Paz, the guitarist, had a difficult upbringing and can’t help but rise to Vern’s bait. The conversations between them are great, and the game can be very funny.
Rockbeasts releases in early 2027 (I hope). I’m really looking forward to it. Until then, I recommend Wax Heads and Dead Pets wholeheartedly. Support your local music scene! Support independent game makers! Keep it real, and fuck selling out!
