Promise Me You Will Grow This Community! | Promise Mascot Agency Review
A yakuza and a severed finger against a corrupt government.
Also, here’s a video version!
The key was provided for this review.
Before I go any further, I will not spoil key parts of the story, but I will talk about the premise of the story and how the game starts.
Promise Mascot Agency
Developer/publisher: Kaizen Game Works
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Promise Mascot Agency is, for lack of better terms, pretty wacky, pretty bizarre, and pretty great. You’re an exiled yakuza that walks around with a broom and nicknamed “The Janitor,” you have giant finger as your partner, which you can also shoot out of your truck like a missile, you run a love hotel turned into a mascot agency, which is an agency that uses mascots to entertain people, and mascots are actual beings, not mascots as we know in our reality, as they have their own emotions, dreams, and abilities.
The premise as a whole is kind of out there, but a closer look at the story, the more you talk to the cast of characters, the more you realize that it’s surprisingly grounded, touching, and heartbreaking.
Crime, Community, and Promise
You’re Michi, Shimazu family’s top lieutenant during a time when anti-Yakuza laws were strangling the crime families, pushing many to take unexpected actions. An important deal is agreed upon between the Nakamura Alliance, and the Hara Federation, which would unite them, and protect the Shimazu Family from the Fujiwara Syndicate, as the Shimazu Family is a subsidiary of the Nakamura Alliance.
But during this deal involving 12 billion yen, where you, and Tokihira, who is your oath brother, were suppose to conduct in secrete to ensure the that transaction happens safely, the Fujiwara Syndicate intervened, even before the deal was executed, catching you and Tokihira off guard.
The ambush leaves you both bloodied and, worse, without the money, leaving a target on the family. As you were the one in charge, you’re blamed for the failed transaction, and the only way to be forgiven is through death. The crime families are furious after all. But the Shimazu family values are strong, and so they fake your death, and you’re taken to Kaso-Machi.
Didn’t expect the premise to be a crime drama, did ya?
Kaso-Machi, The Town of The Dead.
Kaso-Machi is a cursed town, as it is said that any yakuza who lives there will inevitably parish. What may sound like a haven protected from crime is only really protected from the yakuza, as the ex-mining town is run by a selfish mayor, halting the town’s progression because of his greed.
This is where you meet Pinky, who I personally call Pinky Star, a half marshmallow fairy and half severed finger mascot, who is “running” a love hotel, but together, you two will turn it into the most lucrative mascot agency to send money back to you matriarch, protecting your family from knives and guns that lurk around them, and kickstarting the town’s economy.
This cursed town is home to an eccentric and colorful cast that I honestly can’t say I dislike any of them. The owner of the train station that takes care of stray cats, the drift mechanic with a love for horror, the business dealer with an overbearing wife (Hey, at least she truly loves him), the fiery, passionate, and aggressive Shiori, and much, much more. Not to mention the mascots! There are 20 of them, and a bit of that later.
Everyone is so great, I mean, besides that Mayor Maeda.
Soap Box Time.
He’s a detestable person. The reason why Kaso-Machi is in the decrypt state that is in is because he wasted the Kyushu Rejuvenation Fund, a fund given to him by the government to help his struggling town, and just like many corrupted government officials, he pockets it himself, and any deal and opportunity is given to foreigners because that way, they both pocket the money. The more you play the game, the more you see how the mayor, on purpose, ruined the town.
What a scummy guy,
Soap Box Time Over
And as eccentric as the cast may be, as scummy as the mayor is, it almost felt like everything was oddly grounded and coherent. Is the game a crime drama with magical mascots, each with their unique characteristic and abilities, that has you missile-ing your fairy severed finger partner in crime? Yeah, it does. Some dramatic stuff does happen, a good amount of it with humor, but always with a balance, and always creating intrigue. There is a mystery afoot, but I won’t say too much of that.
But it was heartbreaking what many of the townspeople go through, especially considering that these are all the things that have actually happened; they just so happen to put funny-looking mascots and characters into these, sadly, common occurrences.
The Epicenter of Mascot Entertainment
Promise Mascot Agency is an open-world game with tons to collect, with resource management and card battling mechanics. A mix you wouldn’t expect but would definitely enjoy.
Kaso-Machi is yours to explore, and not only is it used to collect items that the locals either lost or wanted, find secrets, clean shrines, which each give their buffs, and many easy and fun reason to build a to-do list, but it’s also used to showcase the town’s ruination.
As you drive around to clean the places by obliterating the trash lying around, which nets you money and fans, or to make it do your next destination, Pinky Star will tell you facts about the area or buildings and you’ll grow an understanding of the status of each place, and their people’s needs and wants. Exploration is definitely rewarding gameplay and lore-wise.
The resource management may sound scary at first, and it did sound scary to me, but it’s actually quite simple. You’re expanding your mascot agency, the Promise Mascot Agency, but you also have to send money back to your matriarch to ensure no one gets stabbed.
You’ll do this by exploring the island to help the locals start their businesses, opening up gigs for your mascots to attend, and with the money you make, not only will you send it back to your matriarch, you will also invest in the town, which will then open up more gigs and help the local economy as well.
The power of community.
Of course, you’ll also have to recruit mascots by giving them an offer they can’t refuse, giving you employees better suited for said gigs, as every mascot can do a gig, but not every mascot is apt for each one of them.
Lastly, the card battling system is very easy. Through your ventures and exploration of Kaso-Machi, you will meet people and convince them to become a Mascot Support Hero (You just have to ask them nicely), purchase the support cards, or unlock them through various means.
When your mascot goes to an event, there’s a chance that something will go wrong, and if you decide to help them out of it, which will net you more money and not ruin the mascot’s mood, it turns into a card fight.
Each event has its obstacle type, and each hero has their own strength and weakness pertaining to the different obstacle types. Imagine there are five elements, each card with all five elements, but they will be stronger in some elements, and weaker in others; that will dictate how much damage they will deal to the obstacle in the way of your mascot.
Each card has its cost, some can give you more actions, others can let you draw more cards, and you can always mulligan if you don’t like your starting hand. I personally only lost two or three times, and I rarely play card games like I used to. It was very simple, fun and rewarding, as each event has a very silly encounter you’ll help your mascot overcome.
Not only are you rewarded with money and a happy employee, but your employee feels satisfaction, and if done enough times, you’ll unlock life satisfaction conversations, allowing you to get to know the mascots’ wants in life, and help them achieve them, and in turn, they will work better.
Who knew that paying attention to your employee benefits the employer, too?
My personal favorite is To-Fu, which, as you can probably guess, it’s a piece of Tofu with arms and legs. He suffers from anxiety and the blues, but even if he’s doing well, he just can’t stop crying! It’s all about self-esteem and mental health awareness with this guy, and it’s great.
Was It Everything It Promised?
There’s so much I want to talk about the story, the development of characters, and so many other things that I just can’t do in a spoiler-free review. But what I can do is say that the twelve hours I put into this game, mind you, I was driving around collecting a bunch of stuff, solving people’s problems, etc., it was not only fun, but endearing.
Each character is likeable, except the major, having even Pinky STAR, who I initially felt distaste for, grow on me. The drama had me wondering what would happen next, and the need to grow the agency pushed me to collect the items around Kaso-Machi, get to know the locals and help them, and employ all the mascots to not only achieve my goal, but to help them achieve their goal, too.
What are you waiting for? You have an agency to run, a town to restore, and a family to protect!
Highly Recommended
What do you think of the game? Let me know down below!
Great review! "...pretty wacky, pretty bizarre, and pretty great" That perfectly sums up the game. It was a an experience that I loved. My review is also coming soon, but this one wraps things up perfectly.
This looks and sounds bizarre in all the best ways. Poor sad tofu...