Some small towns, like Promise Mascot Agency’s Kaso-Machi, are defined by their absences. Even when you give directions, the gaps remain. “Turn left at the rusted old sheds. Keep going past the crumbling train depot.” Mapping out the ownership of the floundering local gas station almost needs a flowchart.
When you’re young in a small town, your presence is crucial. You’ll hear it at church, at school meetings, at high school football games. You’re their hope for the future. Hope that one day you’ll settle down here and decide to fill one of those gaps.
And as I grew up, that pressure weighed heavily on me. I couldn’t quite fit into the traditional mold of hometown pride, but I wanted it more than anything. Promise Mascot Agency was the last place I expected that old longing to flare up. But there it was, a familiar mixture of love and shame curling in my gut. The game’s characters love their town, even when it’s still figuring out how to love them back.
Kaizen Game Works has learned so much from their first title–the singular, defiantly open-ended Paradise Killer–and that confidence shines through. But the biggest surprise is Promise Mascot Agency’s format: a linear story with mechanics-heavy mascot management.
This new focus doesn’t smooth over the studio’s weirder tendencies; if anything, a solid foundation makes Promise Mascot Agency’s oddball characters, heightened stylistic choices, and hyper-processed JPEG inventory items flourish.
On the Outside of Heaven
Promise Mascot Agency starts off with a disastrous mistake. Protagonist Michi— infamously known by his yakuza title “The Janitor”—is in a bad way. A botched merger with another yakuza clan costs him a pinky finger and a one-way ticket to Kaso-Machi, a town that absolutely detests former yakuza lieutenants like him.
To add to Michi’s problems, the town has a long-standing curse that specifically kills yakuza. It’ll take a dilapidated love hotel, an eccentric mascot population, and a straight-up economic miracle to keep him and his chosen family alive.
Mascots are fully sentient people with dreams and a need for purpose, drawn in by Kaso-Machi’s unsettling gravitational field. Even if, yes, some of them are shaped like a severed finger. I quickly grew to love Pinky, Michi’s first and best friend in Kaso-Machi. She’s deeply protective of her hometown and the people in it, even if she ping-pongs from impulse to violent impulse at lightspeed.
Despite Michi’s bloodthirsty reputation, he quickly takes to mascot agency work and the newly recruited employees. And as he starts to adapt to this new life, the Janitor’s insecurities begin to show. Who is Michi outside of the yakuza? To his distress, he doesn’t know.
By Hook Or By Crook
Unsurprisingly, mascots are hesitant to join Michi’s agency, but he can win them over by playing to his strengths: asking sincere questions and listening. Once a mascot is interested, you’ll need to negotiate their signing benefits. Time off, better pay, and one-time bonuses can tip the scales in your favor.
Each mascot has a happiness meter and their own characteristics that you need to keep a close eye on. If you put a mascot on an event that pairs well with their strengths, you’ll get a little extra cash once it’s done.
Mascot events are almost entirely opt-in. You can take on as many or as few events as you want, and even repeat them after enough time passes. When your chosen mascot runs into a setback, you’ll have to chain together cards in your deck to overcome it. Small doors, playful dogs, a step that is too high: mascot life is dangerous.
The mascots and support characters Michi meets are added to his event deck. Michi upgrades most of these cards through bonding with people in town. Others can be bought from shops and scattered vending machines. Your event cards are a reflection of Michi’s relationship with Kaso-Machi. Noticing and listening, not the usual power fantasy actions, make getting through mascot events easier.
Each card has an energy cost and a ranking. Cards can damage the current mascot event obstacle, trigger more card draws, or chain together other cards of the same type. Deplete the obstacle’s health bar, and you successfully run the event and net a nice pay bump. Failure doesn’t always mean total catastrophe, but mascot and agency compensation is significantly less. An optional in-game timer counts down each event, but it never felt too constricting.
Night Still Comes
Despite being ex-yakuza, Michi still has to bend morals to run a successful business and help out those from his old family. His early blunder puts a target on his former matriarch’s back. Money will keep rivals clans from striking for a while. Deposit cash at an ATM, and the point of the knife will tilt away from the Matriarch’s face, lowering the danger meter just a fraction.
But his old boss’ well-being isn’t the only issue Michi has to worry about. Promise Mascot Agency has to pay rent and utility bills every night to stay afloat, keeping yet another plate spinning. Bribery, threats, and other means are all on the table.
In small towns, change takes time. Power fantasy or not, Promise Mascot Agency’s story goes at a self-guided pace. My disastrous first attempt ended with my bank account deep in the red from managing collectible upgrades, bonding events, and advancing the plot whenever I could. I hadn’t built up a strong enough roster to clear events consistently, and I had only a scattered understanding of Kaso-Machi’s layout.
“Maybe start over?” my husband suggested gently. I sighed, and then reset my save file.
On my second trip into town, I slowed down. Driving over craggy hillsides, peering at the boarded up underground tunnels. Michi’s mascot agreements tightened up. I sent my core roster of three mascots out on their first set of jobs until I knew what to expect.
The plot’s urgency was a welcome nudge, but it didn’t need to overshadow its own cast. Kaso-Machi is not just a detour on the way to the main story, it’s a place you can settle for a while. And after enough driving, talking, and upgrading, it felt a little like home.
Verdict: Promise Mascot Agency says this is for love
Promise Mascot Agency improves on Paradise Killer in every way. Kaizen Game Works smartly foregrounds their strengths, prioritizing characterization and style over needlessly deep gameplay.
There’s an entire suite of accessibility options in the menu, including an acceleration toggle I used judiciously. Color grading, font choices, and more ornate textures make Kaso-Machi feel truly lived in, from the still peaks to the crumbling ruins. There are so many mysteries I can’t list here.
Deep collaboration with team members and voice actors from Japan make good on Kaso-Machi’s history, from the deep unrest in the young and the lingering regret of the old. Some mourn what the town could be, others think of a Kaso-Machi that no longer exists. I’m trapped in between them. My own small town has tripled in size since I left. It will always be my hometown, but maybe not my home. And after Michi’s journey, I feel at peace with that.
Masterpiece
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Lively characters and sharp critique of institutional corruption. | A mix of morbid and campy that won’t be for everyone. |
| A bizarre premise that only makes the serious moments hit harder. | Occasional pre-release bugs that have since been patched. |
| A main character that grows into himself. | I miss Kaso-Machi already. |
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