promise mascot agency

“It feels both familiar and unique in equal measures with the blend of Ubisoft style check box activities mixed with yakuza mystery and mascot deck building battles.”

I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with more quote on quote “vibes” than Promise Mascot Agency. Developed by Kaizen game works (Previously of Paradise killer fame) It captures the energy of a sleepy seaside town perfectly and its just a world that’s so well realised and fun to explore. It feels both familiar and unique in equal measures with the blend of Ubisoft style check box activities mixed with yakuza mystery and mascot deck building battles.

You play as a disgraced Yakuza member banished to a cursed island, left to see out your days rebuilding a once forgotten mascot agency. Your goal is to earn enough money to keep the other yakuza bosses at bay and in turn bring the island back to its former glories. Its a fairly surface level story but there is enough intrigue to see it through to the end and there are some fun characters that you meet with along the way. The highlight of which is obviously your mascot sidekick Pinky who steals the show with entertaining dialogue and short temper.

The entirety of the exploration is spent inside of your pickup truck, only coming out during cutscenes. While initially a distraction I quickly came to appreciate it, as removing yourself from the vehicle would only serve to distract from the gameplay. The upgrades you can get are really fun such as speed boosting and grinding on rails (Tony hawk style) down the twisting hills of Kaso-Machi. The controls feel very arcade like and watching yourself pinball around after launching off a cliff face never gets old. To say that some of the mechanics are underbaked would be fair but I feel like given the scope of the game its perfectly serviceable. And in my 18 or so hours of playtime I was never bored of roaming the island, cleaning it up and looking for secrets.

It is however with the mascot battles where the game can faulter slightly. While at the beginning they are a good way to break up the vehicle gameplay I quickly found that after I had enough money I wouldn’t be as quick to select them and sometimes I would ignore them completely. You see the cards themselves are very random and cannot always guarantee victory which is not in itself a problem however it does make it trivial towards the end of the game and often even feels like a grind. I do feel like this could have been an intentional decision but ultimately it wears fast and could have been better implemented.

Overall this has been another hit from Kaizen and I had an amazing time with it. It’s not perfect by any means but its so different from anything else I’ve played this year that I cant help but appreciate it. Their games are so refreshing and I cannot wait to see what they come up with next.

4/5