Promise Mascot Agency Review (PS5) – Pinky and The Brain

Running a mascot agency is a tough gig. There’s plenty to think about, more-so than I ever imagined before and as such, I have a feeling I’m happy to be a few degrees of separation away from the reality of its demands. Still, playing my part in bringing joy to anthropomorphic thumbs whilst providing them a living wage is what video games is all about, and Promise Mascot Agency provides me with this opportunity. After throwing over 70 hours into Assassin’s Creed recently, this was the exact antithesis I needed. PMA is ridiculous, hilarious and brilliantly written. You’ve gotta be ready for it though. If you can’t get on board with its at times farcical themes and bizarre narrative, you’re best to move on. PMA is for the purists. 

To kick off then, it all, er, kicks off when a business deal gone wrong leaves your protagonist Michizane Sugwara taking the fall and escaping with his life to a ‘dead town’ to rebuild his life. His enemies think him dead so he’s free to cling on to the final business his family have their claws in in the hope of repaying back the money he lost. He’s a Yakuza under his own witness protection act, about to restart the family business of mascot agency. When I tell you this narrative is unlike anything you’ve played before…

And yet, the only link Promise Mascot Agency has to any kind of Yakuza-like experience is the protagonist, voiced by Kiryu, Takaya Kuroda. That’s a fun little setup for this character, though Kiryu and Michizane couldn’t be further apart in terms of personality, it was funny for me to think throughout that Kiryu had fallen on hard times and had to pimp mascots to stay afloat.

And yet, there’s no combat in Promise Mascot Agency. You are purely the heart and soul of your company, ensuring that it’s running efficiently enough and the mascots are safe and sound throughout their given jobs. You’ll be driving around the ‘dead town’ securing contracts, loans, assets, staff and other mascots that have fallen on hard times since the original closure of the company. Think Pokemon but you’re sending them to parties and actually paying them instead of forcing them to fight for your entertainment. Pokemon really is horrifying when you say it like that, isn’t it? 

Still, your mascots don’t come for free and your promised bonuses will get them on your side. It may be additional bonuses in their paycheque or an ezra day off, you’ve got to ensure you can get the mascots interested enough to even join up with you at all, and it’s hysterically fun to do so. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could choose our bonuses from work before it even begins?

And then the gameplay cycle really begins, and the grin on your face grows ever wider. Each in-game day you’ll get a notification that a job is available, and you’ll be sending out your suitable mascots to each one. You’ll decide the job, the cut they take and if they’re the right mascot for this particular job.

The mascots will then disappear for a little bit and you won’t hear from them unless something goes a little wrong (which is fairly common early on), in which case you’ll be called to send someone to the venue to remedy the situation. You do this by playing ‘Hero Cards’, representations of people or mascots you’ve spoken to along the way who have agreed to step in should a mascot need your help. It’s here you can almost have a level of combat, and the brilliantly designed fights between a great big tofu and a door they can’t get through presents hero cards that may will get him through the door with great success, allowing them to carry on doing whatever it is mascots do at these things and make you that all important Yen you need to keep everything moving in the solid direction. 

Whilst the jobs continue you’re free to explore Kaso-machi and upgrade your vehicle with plenty of additional needs. You’ve also been tasked with cleaning up the city a bit and bringing it back to life since the news of your reopening has sparked a renewed interest in bringing the town back from its knees. You’ll be clearing rubbish, recovering lost items (with cash and reputation rewards) and tearing it around the city collecting all manner of items to keep your business afloat (and yourself). The Janitor – as your character is more widely known – is aware the more good he does the more the local businesses will want to work with him, so it’s a two way street that benefits you exploring this manageable area for all that you can find.

From a technical standpoint, Promise Mascot Agency is full to the brim of goodness. I originally played the demo on PC but this review had me sitting on my PS5 to check out, both of which ran beautifully. The town of Kaso-machi is a heightened, stylised version of a small Japanese town but there’s plenty to admire. The atmosphere of a town that once thrived and just about holding on for dear life is palpable. There’s a reason why outsiders call it a ‘dead town’ and make no mistake, when you arrive there’s not much life happening. The Janitor has his work cut out if he’s going to bring the town back from the brink indeed, thankfully it’s ridiculously fun to do so.

The visual style of a classic Japaense kids TV show and all the madcap slapdash cuts that entails works wonders, as does the humour in the dialogue and character descriptions, The soundtrack also slaps, with a few absolute belters you’ll find yourself humming along to.

If it reminded me of anything in terms of presentation it would probably be Shenmue. Though being set in the 80’s, it felt modern and lived in and Kaso-machi has the exact same feel, if only that it’s been kept this way rather than the look of the town being intentional. The more characters you meet the more the story of Kaso-machi begins to unravel, and you’ll feel a willingness to want to help them, even if you’re mostly helping by destroying garbage and sending the mascots to dance for them. Every little helps, right?  

I’m a little late to my review because well, I lost my internet connection for a week and I couldn’t play the darn game because of ‘license’ authorisation, but primarily it’s because once I was able to play Promise Mascot Agency, I wanted to see everything. This is one of ‘those’ games, like Night in the Woods, like Firewatch that kind of come out of nowhere to skyrocket to the top of your game of the year lists, and I hope I don’t forget about it when that time comes around. Promise Mascot Agency is joyful, electric, hilarious and just the kick in the ass the industry needs right now. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Promise Mascot Agency is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X and PS5 (review platform).

Developer: Kaizen Game Works
Publisher: Kaizen Game Works

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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