Promise Mascot Agency is the second game from the Kaizen Game Works studio, the mind behind the indie hit Paradise Killer. With Promise Mascot Agency, we are driving far away from the world of detectives to run a business with quirky Mascots.
Prior to the game’s demo, I had little to no details about the game’s development. I went into the game with a blindfold, not knowing what to expect. I had no clue about the setting, gameplay, management, or anything; I was only aware of the Mascot on the title. However, I can confidently say now that playing the first few hours of the Promise Mascot Agency demo has made me believe the game will deliver what it can deliver.
The game is about management, you are managing a failed business with the help of mascots. On the side, you have access to a beautifully crafted open world, where you can drive around, find collectibles, and gain fans for your business. But the central premise revolves around running a business smoothly. Giving jobs to failed mascots, managing their stats so they perform well in their job, upgrading your business, and lastly, more importantly, making money.
The path of Redemption
After running away from Yakuza, our main protagonist seeks shelter in a Mascot agency with no mascots working. The first objective was to talk to the Mayor to get the license back for the Mascot business. So I hopped on the truck and set our destination to the Mayor’s place. This is when I was introduced to the open world section of the game.
If you have the 90s filter on, the game looks and feels cozy. I highly recommend leaving the filter on, it made the game world feel more immersive, as if the whole world was stuck in a VHS tape. And the game did put on great music in the background to make the whole ride to the Mayor’s house a trip.
I went off the beaten path to explore the world, to participate in activities. Nearly all the open world activities revolve around money and fame, so anything engaging that happens in the open world is not just done for completion. A goal or incentive was kept in mind while designing the open world activities.
Once you get to the Mayor’s place, here, the game peels off another layer, dialogue options. We can decide who we want to be in the game; you can either channel your old Yakuza persona to every dialogue choice for being brash and intimidating, or you can put the life behind you and turn another leaf. I decided to be friendly in my dialogue exchange with the Mayor. And he was kind enough to give us the permit to start our business.
Mascot with Personality
Once you get to the Mascot Management System, the real meat of the game gets cooked. The game does a fantastic job of bringing the management mechanics with ease. Basically, the game is about hiring mascots and running them through jobs around the city. One of the highlights of the game is the Mascot types. So far, I have unlocked four of them, and all of them are distinct from one another. The dialogue between their strengths and weaknesses is different. Making them feel part of a big family-run business.
Mascot’s strengths and weaknesses will play out in how they handle a specific job. If you want to get the bonus for completing a job, you must send the right mascot for the task. The dialogue and the personality often gave me everything I needed to know about them. The game does give an option to hire or reject them. The mascots I’ve interacted with within the game world all gave me reasons to hire them.
Helping The Business Anyway You Can
Each mascot is a worker for your business, so they must be compensated for their time, more than just a salary handout. It isn’t cut and dry as I thought initially, employees’ happiness does factor in a lot, in running a successful job completion. There are times I had to intervene to keep the job running as smoothly as possible. A job completion will bring in money and fame for our Mascot business.
Employees’ happiness comes from different aspects of the bonus. They need their time to work on their life, and bonuses and incentives make them happy. After I hired my first mascot, I sent him to work. When it gets stuck in the doorway, you can’t go to the function and help the mascot, since you are a former yakuza member. So you must handle it by livestream and help your mascot by playing a minigame.
Playing Cards to Take Care of Trouble
The game introduces a card game to help your mascot in times of distress. Which happens often, as it is easy for mascots to end up in sticky situations while promoting an event. The mini card game helps eradicate the problem of getting a bonus for the job.
Here I got to witness another game layer, collecting cards, making the deck strong enough to handle any business pressure from the job. You can upgrade the cards by getting two of the same variant. If you are familiar with the upgrade system of Fallout New Vegas, the card system will feel familiar.
Each job took me 6 to 7 hours to complete. Cleaning shrines, destroying mayor’s signs, all gave my mascot business new fans. After running a few jobs and doing open-world activities, I finally leveled up my business. Which again will lead to more fame and money-making per hour. The incentive behind every little game mechanic is the major highlight of the game.
Final Thoughts
What Works
- Old school visual filter
- Open-world activities with their rewards
- Business Management with a deep system.
- Handling mascots’ emotions, paychecks, and more.
- Strong Characters
What Didn’t
- Not every dialogue is voice-acted
- Indestructible objects on the road can get annoying.
- Can’t get out of the vehicle in the open world.
If you want to take a deep dive back into the old Japan from the beloved 90s with a twist. Then this game will fill in the gap. The game did hit all the chords for me, as it laid out the world beautifully and introduced the mechanics with ease without creating any confusion. The character interaction, the banter, was strong and life-like. The facial animation might not be up to the standard, but the voice acting lifted all the work on its shoulders.
