I’ve shared an onsen with a giant egg, chased down fox spirits, been straddled by a pink box (not that kind), stumbled upon a profane ritual, and spoken with angry gods on an otherworldly shore. None of that is compulsory in Promise Mascot Agency, but if you’re going to play this quirky little game, you better play it right. Besides, the main content is just as strange.
Legendary yakuza Michi is exiled to the rundown town of Kaso-Machi to run a mascot agency from within a grubby love hotel to help get his crime family out of debt after a deal gone bad. The town is devoid of life, with few residents, failing businesses, oh, and a curse that eventually kills any yakuza on the island. Fortunately, you have the help of Pinky, a giant, severed finger with a lot of anger issues.
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Welcome To Promise Mascot Agency
Mascots are living, breathing creatures commonplace in the world of Promise Mascot Agency. The first employee to join your ranks is a weepy-looking block of tofu who stole my heart with its derpy face. And that’s just the beginning of a wacky but utterly loveable roster of mascots. If I could buy the fictional mascot merch that appears in-game, I would. I stan for the mascots.
These mascots don’t work for free; you have to negotiate pay rates and other benefits. Even once you hire them, you must keep them happy so they earn you the big bucks. There’s always a risk they’ll get into trouble while on a job, but you can give them a helping hand by completing a card minigame.
The more mascots you hire and job opportunities you unlock, the more your agency grows. Before you know it, you hire subcontractor mascots for distant locations to earn extra passive income, upgrade your agency and the town, and play with giant UFO catcher machines to flog your mascot merch all over the island.
But it’s not just about building a business, nor about rebuilding Kaso-Machi. At the heart of Promise Mascot Agency is a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a fuzzy costume. While you set out to figure out who betrayed your yakuza family, you’ll end up uncovering much, much more, ultimately realising your old yakuza ways and new life in Kaso-Machi have been indelibly linked together for years, before you even arrived on the scene.
Money, Money, Money
The business management sim gameplay is only half the game. The rest of the time, you truck around Kaso-Machi with Pinky in tow, chasing down collectibles, completing quests, finding new mascots and job opportunities, cleaning up the island, and stumbling across random little events.
But I underestimated the sim gameplay. I didn’t have any sense of urgency, so I wasn’t as efficient as I should have been with my mascot business. Before I knew it, Shimazu, the matriarch of my old yakuza fam, was quickly running out of cash, and once the money was gone, it was game over.
With cash running out, it was time to get serious. Once I had the smallest of money buffers, I was more strategic when spending it, investing in things that would yield more of an income more quickly to help improve my coffers. But my near-death experience made me appreciate the game all the more. By the time I’d fine-tuned my businesses to the point where I could splash the cash without a care, it felt earned.
Captivated By Kaso-Machi
Promise Mascot Agency’s world features a range of charming and eccentric characters, like Mama-san, the gimp suit-wearing owner of Bar Itai, or ex-yakuza mascot-turned-priest Kannushi-kun. You’ll get to know the townspeople and your mascots as you help and work with them, learning more about the history of the island and its mysteries.
Kaso-Machi has shadowy cutouts to represent the civilians, strange black and pink spiritual creatures that lurk in the mountains, and ghostly paper dolls that float on the breeze. As you upgrade the town and re-open businesses, the island begins to flourish. New signage and details appear, more crowds of people gather in the streets, and the mascots you meet start to appear all over the island.
You only ever explore the world while in the truck, as Michi and co. only exit the vehicle for cutscenes, but you upgrade your truck to use as a boat, a glider, and even add a Pinky launcher so you can fire her at distant targets. You have to embrace that the driving is a little janky, it’s part of the charm. The truck is a ragdoll, all too easy to lose control of. Too much speed and you’ll crash into other vehicles and fences, or spiral down a mountainside in a death roll until you hit the ocean below.
It’s Mike Miller!
Some aspects of the gameplay can get a little repetitive, but for the most part there is a solution. By the time I was tired of driving from one side of the island to the other, fast travel unlocked. The card minigame was fun at first, but when you have six or so mascots all needing help in a row when you just want to continue whatever quest you’re in the middle of, it becomes a chore. Fortunately, purchasing and equipping mascot help items lessens the chance of encountering problems, and using these drastically reduced how often I needed to help.
You can also remove the mascot help timer in the settings to give yourself more wiggle room.
I love UFO machines, but I need a break from them after playing this. I was so desperate for the earnings from the claw machines that I played nonstop to get as much merch as possible to sell that I’m now seeing glowing mascot figures in my sleep. Had I business simmed smarter from the get-go, it wouldn’t have been as bad.
Eventually, you flesh out your subcontractor mascots enough that between those and your normal mascots—even with a healthy share cut for your funky little friends—you’ll be sitting pretty with earnings without breaking a sweat on the crane games. I doubt I’ll be the only one to fall foul of not being able to plan wisely. You don’t arrive at Kaso-Machi as a shrewd businessman, but it’ll certainly turn you into one.
My only real gripe was pop up messages. If you hadn’t sent money home or a mascot on a job in a while, a little scene will pop up where Pinky reminds you. Helpful, and avoidable really. However, the Grand Prix results will force their way onto your screen regardless of whether you chose to send a mascot or not. I swear, these tended to happen when I was deep in collectible clean up mode, carefully trying to steer my glider through the air to land atop a small circular tower for a Hero Card, only to be interrupted by Mike Miller.
A Promise Fulfilled
I’m enamoured by Promise Mascot Agency’s style, from the vintage camera filter, the mix of 2D and 3D graphics, the cutscenes, to the comic book-style panels. I love the world, the characters, and I especially love Pinky, my new idol. There are so many funny jokes and references, including cameos to Kaizen Game Works’ previous title Paradise Killer, and real-world references, such as the Ultra Yam Games store being a nod to the popular Super Potato secondhand video game store in Akihabara, Tokyo.
I have fallen head over heels, or rather bumper over wheels, for the world of Promise Mascot Agency. Though some elements might get a little repetitive, the narrative, gameplay, and unique charm have made it one of my favourite games so far this year. I have been left wanting more, but not because it didn’t deliver enough. The whole adventure was so moreishly enjoyable and the world so intriguing that I just want even more of such a good thing.
Played on PC.
RPG
Simulation
Management
- Released
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April 10, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Kaizen Game Works
- Publisher(s)
-
Kaizen Game Works
- A captivating world with fascinating characters and lore that are easy to fall in love with.
- A fantastic blend of business sim meets open-world quest gameplay.
- The whole game oozes charm, whimsy, and channels everything absolutely bonkers.
- Some gameplay elements can become repetitive.
- The janky driving/gliding has charm, but won?t be for everyone.
- Time pressure on the business side can conflict with side questing.