Promise Mascot Agency is the newest game from Kaizen Game Works, the developer behind Paradise Killer. At its core, Promise Mascot Agency is a management sim where you run a mascot agency, sending mascots to different events around town.
But that doesn’t fully capture just how heartfelt and strange it is, and it certainly understates some of the more fascinating parts of Promise Mascot Agency, like the PS2-era collectathon and deep visual novel elements. Not only is it bizarre and wholly unique, it’s also a ton of fun and a must-play game.
The Premise of Promise Mascot Agency
The setup for Promise Mascot Agency requires a brief explanation. You play as Michi, also known as The Janitor, a yakuza cleaner who has been sent to restart a mascot agency after a deal went bad. He works with Pinky, an energetic mascot that is a severed pinky finger, who is hot-headed and hates the mayor of Kaso-Machi, the city the game takes place in.
Perhaps the most important piece of information you need is that the mascots are people. Not in the sense that they are people in suits, but that in this universe, mascots are living creatures that look like that.
Promise Mascot Agency is available on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
A Management Sim That Cares About Your Employees
When playing other management sim-style games, the method for dealing with employees is almost always the same. You try to pay them whatever the absolute minimum is without them getting upset or quitting. While that is perhaps accurate to how business people operate, it does take some of the humanity out of it.
In Promise Mascot Agency, your mascots are all characters with hopes and dreams, and in order to get the best out of them (or for them to work for you at all), you have to make a strong offer. That can mean a higher percentage of mascot appearance fees, paid time off, or annual reviews with raises. This system encourages different considerations outside just your finances, which more accurately reflects the small business mentality of Promise Mascot Agency.
A Delightful Cast of Freaks and Goobers
One of the best parts of Promise Mascot Agency are the mascots you can recruit. Since you are based in a dying town and starting the agency from scratch, your options for mascots are limited. This means recruiting a tofu mascot who can never stop crying, a vampire shaved ice mascot, and a cat obsessed with adult video.
This band of misfits not only rise to the occasion of great mascots, but they also become your family if you’re willing to put in the work, elevating the story too. It also means that when you do the card battler to assist them at mascot appearances, you also get to see these oddballs promoting local businesses, which is such a delight.
PS2-Style Collectathon in a 3D Town
When you aren’t actively managing your business, you are collecting items around town, or searching for new mascots and quests. There are tons to collect or destroy, with signs for the mayor to break down or shrines to clean. You can find mascot merchandise, upgrades for your truck that you use to explore the open world, or just collectibles to offer different members of the town.
Every item you collect awards money and some type of passive bonus, like extra fans for completing a mascot appearance. Exploring the world in your boost-enabled truck that is fully invincible is a ton of fun and satisfying. There isn’t so much to collect that it becomes annoying or overwhelming.
A Funny and Heartfelt Visual Novel
Promise Mascot Agency is a visual novel as well as a management sim and collectathon, with a strong narrative. As Michi, you need to send money back to the yakuza family, while uncovering the mayor’s corruption in town.
As you revitalize the mascot agency, you can also use funds to revitalize the town, further enraging the mayor and unraveling the mysterious curse in Kaso-Machi that supposedly kills yakuza who stay in the town.
At its core, the story is about family, small businesses, and revitalizing towns destroyed by bureaucrats, and it successfully weaves those themes together is a bizarre but heart-warming narrative.
Even if Promise Mascot Agency isn’t your usual type of game, I urge you to give it a try. I played it on my Xbox and had a wonderful time and I bet you will too.
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