Tomás Neumann Aspee

A spy’s job, at least superficially, is very similar to a detective’s. In Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, you play as Hershel Wilk, an operant with the cryptonym “CASCADE”, sent by the Operant Bureau (a.k.a. The Opera) to a new assignment after fatally screwing up the last one. You spend your first couple of days exploring the island city-state of Portofiro, talking to people, and asking many questions.

One thing Wax Heads, the new cozy-punk narrative sim from Patattie Games, does great from the get-go is to instill a sense of routine. Each day, you arrive at Repeater Records, have a little chat with your coworkers while you get ready to open the store, and then you attend to each customer, fetching the records they are looking for.

There has been a lot of discourse around the game, especially around its shallowness in its treatment of nostalgia and music choices. I'm Gen Z. I had only heard three or four songs in Stacey’s playlist, which I actually appreciated. The songs that were popular in the late ‘90s already carry a lot of cultural baggage, so the weird choices let me form unique emotional connections to each scene.