When I first arrive in Kaso - Machi , it feels like I ’ve step into a ghost town . The Nipponese island at the gist ofPromise Mascot Agency , the modish game fromParadise Killerstudio Kaizen Game Works , is awash in a brown fog . It ’s eerily quiet , with no eubstance walk through its streets . I take over it ’s fully abandon , but that ’s not the case . It ’s simply been run into impoverishment by a mayor who could n’t care less about the well - being of his constituent . For the next 15 hours , I make it my personal delegation to right that amiss , bringing life back to a home choke by political rottenness . It ’s a journey that underscore the grandness of community of interests , a force that ’s more hefty than any Martin Luther King Jr. .
Also , my good ally are a block of tofu that ca n’t stop cry and a porn - addict cat . This , to me , is what video games are all about .
Promise Mascot Agencyfuses weighty sociopolitical comment with playful fatuousness to bear an open - world game that ’s at once insightful and so off - the - runway that it ’ll vocalize like you ’re make it up when you attempt to describe it to friend . It ’s a playable anime , a stat - operose concern simulator , a plug-in collecting plot , andForza Horizonall in one .
Does that hodgepodge of ideas in full function ? Can its indie spirit overpower the monotony inherent in the exposed - populace literary genre ? Man , just shut up and get in the truck . We ’ve got to install telephone dial - up internet in the sex hotel .
Running a business
Taking some clear cues from theLike a Dragon series , Promise Mascot Agencytells a dense tale of Yakuza in - combat and political deception amid video game silliness . After a kinship group has its money stolen by rivals , Michi , a feared cleansing agent for the performance wide known as “ The Janitor , ” is sent to Kaso - Machi to recoup the money by taking over one of the clan ’s fronts , a mascot agency . It ’s a end sentence for Michi , as the town come out a curse on men that slowly kills them . Before I can end up swear out that condemnable intrigue , I ’m dropped off at an empty sex hotel being run by Pinky , a sentient finger , who seems really make water off all the sentence .
If that verbal description already has you doing a double take , then buckle up , ding dong . We ’re just getting started .
Promise Mascot Agencyis an anime odyssey that makes as secure and loud of an impression as it can in its first act . I soon find out that my objective is to recruit dress up mascots around town and lend them out to local business in penury . A unexampled moldable model workshop just opened ? sound like a good gig for my light-green surfer pal . An adult video store is play a promotional material ? I ’ve got the consummate pervert for the job . It all flow through a flowing line of work management menu that has me assign mascot to gigs free-base on their personality , motivation cadence , and toughness . The better they do , and the more challenging a job they finish , the more cash I rake in to kick upstairs the Ithiel Town and my agency .
soft enough , right ? Wrong , bucko . The elated fatuity comes from just how seriously Kaizen Game Works takes a zany assumption . Every fourth dimension I enter a new mascot , I have to negociate a declaration with them that determines how much of a cut they get on job , whether or not they ’re eligible for a bonus , and if they can have holiday time that makes them inaccessible after every few jobs . I ’m constantly balance my own income with an unpredictable cast of toon egos who wo n’t work for gratis . I can take to exploit them , of course , but that ’s going to do a number on their motivation stat . It ’s a business enterprise management sim turned anime satire .
Oh , and it ’s also adeck - building gamewhere I need to kill modest door and cloud of bees with backing heroes I roll up . I almost forgot that part , huh ? Sometimes my mascots utterly beef it on the job and have their focus jump by obstacles , from angry spirits to fluid towers of boxes that they knock over with their cock-a-hoop cat butts . When that happens , I have one moment to take down that obstacle ’s health bar by represent from a hand of collectible hero cards that have their own monetary value and price stats . It ’s a fairly thin card secret plan lure that never really scales up enough to feel strategical , but it makes for a completely ridiculous visual that impart to the comedic sensational overload of the project .
it always keep players guessing as to what ’s coming next .
expect , I forgot to mention one other thing . I need to use those funds to bring more amenities to my sexual activity hotel base of operations and build up businesses in township , institute in more gig opportunities and keeping my employees hydrated . Oh , and another thing : I need to complete societal links with my mascot to learn more about them . Crap , there ’s the claw car too . Right , so , every mascot has merch I can gather , which then goes into giant claw simple machine games around town , and I have to angle them out and sell them to other locations to make extra income . That ’s about everyth – Subcontractors ! Sorry , that slipped my creative thinker ! I can finally hire subcontractor mascots and put them in Job outside of townspeople to get a uniform passive income . Also , there ’s a superhero who have intercourse rubber and keeps putting stop sign everywhere . Hey , where are you going ! ?
Promise Mascot Agency ’s strength come in from the way it always keeps players guessing as to what ’s coming next . It layer on Modern gameplay systems , more eccentric mascot , and political intrigue as it goes . The wackier it gets , the more serious it becomes too . By the end , I was no longer a umbrageous yakuza fellow member doing the desolate minimum to keep the money flow . I deep cared about my staff and was sheer them bigger checks to honour their efforts . It all flow back towards the story ’s ultimate dissertation about biotic community . A radical of riffraff misfit can do more to take care of their Ithiel Town than the stooping politicians running it into the ground , so long as they all band together for a common trade good .
Also , organized crime is nerveless . I think that ’s the other takeaway .
Open-world work
conceive it or not , that still does n’t fully describePromise Mascot Agency ’s whole deal . It ’s not so dissimilar toParadise Killerin that it ’s a narrative escapade with an expanded scope . When I ’m not managing my business enterprise or pump money into town restoration , I ’m having conversations with the townies and my mascot crowd . That ’s where I get to dig deeper into Kaso - Machi and its turbulent history . It ’s very much similar to a Like a Dragon game in how it spin wry local political science into something engrossing – though it ’s also similar to Like a Dragon in that it all progress to a long - winded conclusion that ’s labored on exhibition . Between all that , my Canis familiaris pal tells me all about his porno ambition . That power to jounce between dense local politics and nut humor so effortlessly relieve oneself it feel likeThe WiremeetsSmiling Friends . I ’d debate that it even makes this year’sLike a Dragon : Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiseem ho-hum by comparison .
On top of everything I ’ve already outline , it ’s an open - man plot that feels most like to Forza Horizon ( or maybeThe Simpsons : impinge on and Run ) in figure . I promise that I am not make clobber up at this point . I get why you are believably mistrustful of that .
While jobs bring out in computer menu as a mean solar day marches on , Michi and Pinky travel around Kaso - Machi in a pick - up truck . There ’s a host of collectible to discover , let in novel sub cards that can aid me in workplace accidents , and NPCs to play who each have a quest for me to fill in . For instance , the mayor ’s freeze off right - hired hand world really loves pop music music and wants me to track down rare idol merch from monger machines . It amounts to a mountain of fetch pursuit and firing Pinky out of a cannon to blow up depiction of the city manager straw around township . ( Man , I hate that old dork . )
Out of all ofPromise Mascot Agency ’s various parts , that routine is its most routine estimate — and perhaps its most functional , too . Modernopen - world gamesare piece of work , Isle of Man . They give players an enormous checklist of things to do , rubble to pile up , and people to encounter . Something likeAssassin ’s Creed Shadowscan be as exhausting as it is fun as unlock every tower turns into a thing that you feel like you have to do , rather than desire to . Promise Mascot Agencydeals with that tenseness at once , because everything you ’re doing really is a job . I ’m cleaning up bag of trash to keep the town straighten out as a mop up percentage . I ’m smooth dozens of shrines . I mean , I ’m literally The Janitor for Christ ’s rice beer ! It ai n’t glamorous work , but someone has to care enough about this town to do it !
Even if it ’s a thematically sound pairing for an undecided - world format , Promise Mascot Agency still has all of the same weak points of the plot that inspired it . It contains a checklist of earth activities that become repetitious after a while . The townspeople becomes less fun to explore the more the map markers disappear . It ’s the only area where the gameplay feels at odds with the story , as Kaso - Machi is supposed to sense more racy as Michi rejuvenate it . Instead , it ’s a footling emptier each day .
Head down to your local city manager ’s government agency and pink that sucker the hell out .
Even as that happens , there ’s just so much helter-skelter energy overflowing throughoutPromise Mascot Agencythat assist fill in the tornado . It ’s a positively cockamamy risky venture from start to finish power by jazzy tune , hysterical penning , and unleaded gasoline . Though what ’s so singular about Kaizen Game Works is its ability to manufacture the most bizarre world it can think of and deftly acclimatise histrion to its system of logic within a few hours . That strength is what madeParadise Killerso memorable and it carries over here . By the remainder of my adventure , I feel at house in a world that ab initio felt preposterous . I was expeditiously running a business with my buddy . I was enjoying my daily scenic drive through the countryside with my rocket - boosted truck . I was antagonize the mayor on a regular groundwork , because , severely , f * * * that guy .
Somewhere in all that anime silliness is a utopian visual modality ; a universe where misfits can overcome anything and live well in a house that they handle for together . It does n’t have to be a picture game fever pipe dream . Band together with your biotic community and discover the joy of mutual aid today . And after you do that , head down to your local city manager ’s federal agency and knock that mark the infernal region out .
Promise Mascot Agencywas tested on microcomputer andSteam Deck OLED .
