Promise Mascot Agency

[doodledude]

I just finished this game over the bank holiday weekend and thought I’d create a thread for it as it deserves some love.

I loved it. It reminded me of a fleshed out mini game from a Yakuza game. Once I started it, it kept its hooks in me and I ended up playing it for hours on end which it quite unusual for me these days.

I platinumed it on PS5, but it’s on all modern formats. There’s also a demo available in case it peaks your interest.

I’m hoping there’ll be a physical version released with an art book and other goodies as I’d definitely like a physical memento of this game.

Check it out

[Golgo]

Thanks doodledude for initiating this. I've been playing the Switch version since it came out, got about 20 hours clocked and not far off finishing I reckon. I concur that it's a great, special and unusual game.

For those not aware of what it's about, it's made by Kaizen Game Works who did Paradise Killer (one of the co-leads used to hang around these forums a lot, but I haven't seen them in a while), with collaboration from prominent ex-employees of Tango Gameworks (now Unseen) giving it some authentic Japanese cultural knowledge and flair: https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/vide...n-a-dying-town.

Without spoiler: this game is basically an open world business management game involving a disgraced yakuza in a cursed town. He needs to atone for his previous massive error by making money for his yakuza family in order that they are not swallowed up in a yakuza war. So he's sent to manage a mascot agency. The really distinctive and original idea in this set up is that the mascots, in this world, are not people in costumes but they are sentient species of their own. They're real, in other words. So you have to recruit these mascots and at the same time build up the businesses and tourism popularity of the decrepit town you are sent to, in order that they have the money and reason to hire mascots from your agency.

So you drive around town in your little pick-up van with the mascot Pinky in the back solving this (the vehicle handling is absolutely superb, by the way, especially as you upgrade it ever more outrageously). The management game systems are brilliantly integrated and before long you are managing your mascots' contracts, jobs, bonuses, as well as their job satisfaction and life issues, while working in the town with NPCs to develop their businesses, with the council to upgrade locations, etc. Everything folds in brilliantly - the design and interaction of these systems is superb. Ultimately it's a very positive and uplifting game about downtrodden people and mascots trying to improve their town which, despite everything, they care about deeply. You spend a lot of time fixing things and solving personal problems, and all of them are cleverly written and relatable.

Against all this, there is a larger story developing in which you seek to uncover why the town is in such a terrible state and the involvement of your yakuza family in the town's curse and the history of corruption.

Characters are really great. Pinky is the best videogame character for me now and has even supplemented Fawful as my #1. She is a loveably caring and unhinged severed finger with BDSM urges (the game is very adult in it's tone, so don't be deceived by the cuteness and tempted to offer this to your kids).

The script and voice acting (Japanese only) is vivid and hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lqBZmVP5-M

The main guy is Kazuma Kiryu ffs! Music is superb, a mix of pop, lounge jazz, nostalgic enka, detuned traditional koto music and god only knows what else. Everything offers a brilliant recreation of a rundown Japanese coastal town, with a totally loving focus on the more sleazy end (grimy love hotels, hentai DVD stores, etc.).

A couple of things I'm not blown away with are these:

1. The Hero Card game battles that you engage with when your mascots run into trouble at an event. Sadly there is nothing to these at all. I expect that the devs probably wanted to keep the story moving (?) so I wasn't expecting to get drawn into Slay the Spire levels of card complexity, but these encounters are genuinely trivial. I've lost only 2 encounters in 20 hours of play, and that's only because I was clicking through without looking at the cards. Also, the scrapes your mascots get into are funny at first but soon start to repeat.
2. The merchandising: it's a pain to get your merch out and to the shops, even when you've got the knack for it (and even though the game makes a joke about how daft and tedious this is, it remains daft and tedious). Also, by the time it unlocked as an option I was making more money than I could spend through agency jobs so I ended up just neglecting it. It's kind of fun and kooky but not really worth the bother for the money it generates.

Ultimately the game is a lot of managerial open world busywork at it's heart; but it's held together by a brilliant story and script, superb characterisation and voice acting, and a lovingly vivid recreation of a haunted and rundown Japanese town. It's also a weirdly beautiful place and landscape as the light changes over the 24 hour cycle, just calming to drive, sail and fly around. If the setting and story doesn't connect with you, however, you may just see the busywork and be put off.

Personally I really love being in this gameworld, which is why I'm on 20 hours when it's easily 'completable' in far fewer (there are several intriguing new mascots I recruited who I want to help to the end of their sub-quest line and this is also extending things for me). Needless to say I'm delighted to see that they are making official plushies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlSTzrPWhi0. There are at least 5 that I would fancy: the main one Pinky, plus the cute one

->Open Spoiler<-

Neko Roll

and the more weird and disturbing ones

->Open Spoiler<-

Karoushi and Motsunn and Tamageta.

Doubt if they'd make them all, though.

[doodledude]

I didn’t know Kazuma Kiryu voice was the main character voice!
I know Shuhei Yoshida AKA Shu from PlayStation is a guest voice.
Some of the mascots are very near the knuckle, but that doesn’t bother me. The cat that worked in a love hotel comes to mind

[Golgo]

True, some are quite rude indeed. Funny, though. I especially liked the interaction between Pinky and Mama-San, in particular the

->Open Spoiler<-

upgrading of Pinky's final Hero Card with the extreme bondage theme.

[Golgo]

Finished this now. Really enjoyed it although the story became less interesting

->Open Spoiler<-

as it wore on and the supernatural elements were explained away

- that may be just my personal preference, though. Note on performance: it's pretty choppy on the Switch (3D cutscenes and when moving about the world) with some pop-in as well, but the art style more than makes up for that. The environmental art (esp. signage) and 2D character art are gorgeous. The menu input lag is a bit of a drag. Half a second or more input lag by the time I finished - I can't be sure but I think it gradually got worse as I had increasingly more mascots and merch to manage. But that's a mild inconvenience on what is a unique, original and really fun game. It would make for a superb anime.