
WWW.VG247.COM
Promise Mascot Agency review: Lots of CEOs do heck-all work, but Im not one of those
Pinky SwearPromise Mascot Agency review: Lots of CEOs do heck-all work, but Im not one of thoseCome to Kaso-Machi for the Yakuza intrigue, stay for the gang of weirdo workers in costumes youve actually got to treat pretty decently.Image credit: VG247 Review by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on April 7, 2025 It probably wont surprise you to hear this.When it comes to Promise Mascot Agency - a game about a psychotic finger mascot and a guy with a broom trying to unravel the Yakuza secrets within a cursed and run-down town, inhabited by a duck voiced by former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida - the weirdness is the thing.I had a feeling it would be after I played the first couple of hours of the game that developer Kaizen Game Works put out as a demo prior to release. Having now driven through the entire thing in a kei truck that sprouted wings towards the end, I can tell you unequivocally that its the case. The weirdness is the thing, and if youre going to fall in love with this indie mascot management game, its the part thatll seduce you, like youre an evil vending machine thats just started spitting junk everywhere because a moss ball with legs forgot that appliances dont respond well to violence.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. There are some points when PMA pretends to be normal. The setup of its story (aside from revolving around a crew featuring a grizzled finger mascot whos permanently smoking a cigar) is very serious and surprisingly lore-heavy. Protagonist Michi Sugawara - dubbed The Janitor because hes good at cleaning s**t up - is a key cog in the Shimazu Family, and is tasked alongside his oath brother Tokihira with delivering a bunch of cash to another Yakuza syndicate as part of a deal to secure underworld peace forever between three of Japans biggest crim collaborations.Naturally, because we cant have nice things, it goes wrong. Instead of killing him to help save her own hide, Michis boss Matriarch Shimazu instead sneakily ships him off in a box to try and earn back the money via a secret business the family controls that no one knows about. Thats the defunct mascot agency in the rural town of Kaso-Machi, which is re-named Promise Mascot Agency when Michi re-opens it alongside the aforementioned non-cigar smoking psycho finger - Pinky.From here, youre in the mascot management business, and your job is to build up the agency by establishing a crop of mascot talent, chatting to people who know of locations and businesses in town that might want to hire them for events, and making sure those jobs get done. Different mascots will suit different jobs better due to their traits - an event at a restaurant is a good place to send a food-themed mascot like a matcha roll thats also a cat, while an event at the cemetery is the ideal place to send a mascot shaped like a funeral urn. However, if you just need the money, so long as theyve got enough stamina, you can send em anywhere. It's a bit like refurbishing your local high street, except with more Yakuza. Unless you live in Grimsby, in which case the usual amount of Yakuza. | Image credit: Kaizen Game WorksOnce theyre away, stuff might go wrong, at which point youll get an alert to respond to via the games initially intimidating, but actually pretty simple, mascot job menu. Youve usually got at least a few in-game hours to respond, and when you do youll be whisked off to the livestream of the event where, after a quick intro that sees a mascot host that vaguely reminded me of Michael McIntyre (read: slightly annoying hack) say stuff like Ichigo Love has absolutely ****** it. Youre drafted in to save the mascot by deploying mascot hero cards to deplete the issue/hostile entitys health bar. If you succeed, youll get the full rewards for the job and, if you fail, youll simply get the base rate.So runs the basic cycle of the management side, but as you explore Kaso-Machi and grow the agency, plenty of additional layers are added into the mix to boost the complexity and keep you on your toes to a pretty frenetic degree assuming youre trying to maximise your earnings. Thats certainly something the game gives you impetus to do right out of the gate, as on top of paying your own bills on a regular basis, you have to visit ATMs and send cash to Matriarch Shimazu in order to help her stay one step ahead of the Yakuza knives of Damocles that are hanging over her head following the botched job.The result, especially as youre getting your feet under you, is that your business-running comes with a pretty strong sense of urgency. Youre spending money to grow and keep your boss alive just as quickly as you earn it, and I even ended up ever so slightly in the red at one point. At that stage, the management side of the game maybe feels a bit atmospherically out of step with the other side of Promise Mascot Agency - exploring the sleepy, stylishly run-down town of Kaso-Machi and its generally pretty mountainous surroundings in Michi and Pinkys kei truck. Naturally, it's also your job to unseat the Tory in charge. | Image credit: Kaizen Game WorksIts through exploring that you not only cross off objectives in the main story; Michi and Pinkys unravelling of the mystery that surrounds Kaso-Machis legendary Yakuza-killing curse and its comically corrupt mayors misuse of a government granted rejuvenation fund. Youll also discover a range of different items and tick off tasks to aid you in running the agency. There are townspeople to recruit as mascot hero cards you can then upgrade by completing their radiant quests, which usually involve running around the town collecting five or six of a specific item, stuff to pick up (like new types of mascot merch) and, most importantl, more mascots to add to your weirdo workforce.In order to convince a mascot to join you, youll need to negotiate with them. As I progressed I found that actually offering a good package out of the gate seemed to pay dividends; low-balling them doesn't quite cut it. Welcome to the real world, kids.Every mascot has stats like popularity, motivation, and stamina. While you will naturally boost these just by sending a mascot out on more jobs, making them happier from the beginning means you start that journey further along the road. Plus, I found that offering perks like holiday days actually fits pretty well into the ideal cadence of the game, with mascots taking a 24 hour break that actually boosts their stamina recharge, rather than just being left on the sidelines until theyve recovered.Heres the thing, though. Above all else, youll want to treat your band of employees well, just because of their weird and wonderful personalities. Theres a lovely amount of unique variety in terms of the mascot cast Kaizen and their collaborators have put together, with each one having a three-part life satisfaction journey they go on as you increase your bond with them. All of these are tailored to each mascots diverse personality, but they all roughly revolve around you helping the mascot to achieve a goal thatll improve its life. Of course you do, cat salaryman. | Image credit: Kaizen Game WorksFor example, my favorite mascot, Karoushi - a terrifying black cowl with a face that lives in a haunted tunnel - serves as a metaphor for burnout, and only speaks in grandiose allegorical passages that belong in an Italo Calvino novel. Their story was about overcoming the trauma of working too hard and helping some locals unionise.In keeping with the games theme of keeping promises to help folks achieve their dreams, most of the townspeople you meet also have arcs like this through their town quests. Kaso-Machis an interesting place to explore, with a cool mix of run-down rural vibes and slightly cartoonish spookiness in the form of places like the haunted tunnel which literally treats you to a black and white filter accompanied by creepy noises every time you drive through it.As with the mascots, you can tell pretty much every area and person has had plenty of thought and care put into shaping them and their backstory. Plus, Kaizens done a good job of ensuring the town changes visually as you renovate different neglected areas of it to establish new mascot events spots - with the passive income generated by that being the games best high-cost, high-yield money earner for the agency.One minor hangup is that the games map indicates where you can find every useful item and person in the world by default. This makes sense in terms of the major characters/landmarks, but it does take some sting out of the exploration knowing that, for example, if you trek out to one of the islands surrounding Kaso-Machi, youll find exactly one item. You still have the fun of uncovering what exactly that item is, but the element of mysterys diluted a bit. You can upgrade your old truck so it can take to the skies and the sea, in true Top Gear challenge fashion. | Image credit: Kaizen Game WorksAnother aspect I didnt quite vibe with mechanically was the mini-game by which you deliver mascot merch to different shops around town - another of the games big money-earners. Basically, once you find a merch item out in the world, it gets added to giant arcade claw machines around the map as toys, which you then have to pick up using the painfully slow claw in order to get shipments to distribute.Its a cool concept that fits the games theming perfectly in theory, but in practice, it was the element of gameplay I found by far the most monotonous. Meanwhile, subcontracting mascots in other cities - the third member of PMAs 'here come the big bucks' trio - is a lot more stripped back. You buy access to locations, find the business cards of mascots to man them, and boom, a decent chunk of passive income.There is a point some way through the game where you suddenly seem to go from having lots to do, but also have a constant need for that money, to having lots to do, but much more money than you have stuff to spend it on. By that point, the main storys kicking into high gear, so its nice to not have to worry about grinding as much.As for that main story, how much youll enjoy it comes down to what I mentioned at the start. It helps to be into Yakuza tales that aren't afraid to get a bit silly, but the weirdness is the thing that will likely decide where PMA lands on the ok to great game spectrum for you. For some, the array of genuinely funny and touching moments that surround everything from minor interactions to major plot beats will make this proper cult classic material. For others, the in-your-face wackiness might not mesh with their sense of humour, leaving their verdict in the realm of just fine.Promise Mascot Agencys a good time. Uniquely charming enough that it doesnt fall into the trap of being as dry as Michis ideal Saturday night, but with enough rough edges that itd need to work on itself a bit before it could run for mayor of whichever cursed town all of the truly great games inhabit.Promise Mascot Agency launches on April 10 for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S. This review was written using a PC code provided by the developer.
0 Comments
0 Shares
11 Views