One of the best, most unique, and most hilarious games I've played all year! Promise Mascot Agency is a unique combination of management sim and open world exploration that also brings together the dark world of the yakuza with the silly and whimsical world of Japanese mascots. First of all, the worldbuilding in this game is insane. Mascots are their own species, NOT people walking around in costume suits, so you'll get answers to questions you never wanted to know about these mascots. You'd think framing a somewhat serious yakuza storyline around this would go together like toothpaste and orange juice, but it works surprisingly well. The game will treat the hopes, fears, and desires of the mascot characters as seriously as it does with the humans, and it just works. Secondly, the gameplay itself. While there is a bit of a learning curve at the beginning of the game, such as knowing what perks to give your workers, when to progress the story, or what purchases are the smartest in t...

Promise Mascot Agency is a great game. The devs describe it as "Open World Mascot Management Crime Drama", and that's exactly what you get. I enjoyed Paradise Killer due to its weird storytelling and incredible vibes, but the minute to minute gameplay was kind of limited and sterile. PMA solves that problem by expanding into a variety of interconnected systems that mesh together and constantly give you things to do in tandem with exploring the town and pushing the story forward. There's enough there to keep you engaged but none of it's so involved that it becomes a hassle to manage or handle - it's quick to send mascots out on jobs, the 'mascot battles' are quick to resolve, and the game's sensible about how it combats collectible and map icon bloat. I enjoyed the story, the character writing is consistently great (the Michi/Pinky dynamic works extremely well), the aesthetic feels unique, and none of it overstays its welcome. The game commits to the bit and its sincerity is really e...

The most fun I've had with a game in ages. Very well balanced between 'long enough to fully enjoy' and 'short enough to not cause me to burn out and wander off to a different game in act 2'. The music slaps, the writing is fun, and even the zany characters are balanced out to not feel like they're overplaying the trope(Pinky my murderous beloved). Also, loved the casual queer content & realistic discussions about how the curse would effect trans or nb yazkua♥.

This really ticks all the boxes for me. I like management sims and I'm a bit of a completionist so giving me a bunch of stuff to collect is definitely getting me going. The art is fun, the writing is great, and I'm invested in the story. It's mostly driving around plus some mini games but it's compelling enough that I've have a hard time putting it down. I heard about this on the Besties podcast and I'm so glad I'm finally giving it a go.

Coming in as a huge fan of Paradise Killer, the uniqueness of this game was a little surprising! However it ended up with the same good vibes, charm and depth that I’ve come to expect from Kaizen Game works. While I’m not a huge driving game person, I loved driving the truck around Kaso Machi and looking, collecting, talking. Pinky and Mizu were a great pair and provided lots of entertaining banter. I had a fantastic time 100%ing this game. Would highly recommend you pick up Promise Mascot Agency!

A wonderfully weird exploration-based game w/ the occasional card-deck minigame. Pros: * Great world design. * Great music. * Very unique characters, each with their own personality and quirks. * Collectables are (mostly) not hard to find, due to being on the map & mini-map. (hard when they're on top of a building) * Nice progression of unlocks - both for plot elements and for the truck. Cons: * Pickup truck drives like an extremely bouncy rubber cinderblock - hit [u]anything[/u] at high velocity, and you get thrown somewhere weird. * UI for the card-based minigame is a bit glitchy - cards sometimes stick to the mouse, gotta waggle rapidly to unstick it. This wouldn't be an issue, but the minigame is [i]timed[/i]. (only non-optional timed thing in the game) Luckily, you can save before you start an instance of the minigame. Meh: * IMO, the races suck unclean heinie - luckily, they're not mandatory for anything. * When you unlock [spoiler]flying[/spoiler] the truck, remember that i...

I love games like this so much. Small scope, but extremely detailed. You can tell this was made by a small team who all understood the vision

Yakuza management minigame + driving sim + old school collectathon. Oozes with style, extremely chill vibes. Characters are all unique and believable, story is a rollercoaster going from crime drama to mascot goof ups to small town mystery in a blink of an eye. Somehow it manages to stay coherent and doesn't overstay its welcome. 10/10 would spend 20 hours looking for hidden trash again

A batshit insane game that makes the absurd commonplace. Even describing the genre is a bit of a tall task as it's an Open World Exploration Management Business Sim Visual Novel Yakuza Crime Drama. I really enjoyed Paradise Killer from Kaizen Game Works too! But this was even better. I loved the characters and the gags. The exploration was a rewarding to do even if it was a bit janky sometimes. The story unfolded in a satisfying way. There's a crane game, a card game mechanic, multiple characters to do quests for, it's basically a big ol Yakuza substory on steroids. Even Kiryu's voice actor is the main Yakuza character in a roster of voices that will be familiar to anime and jrpg fans. The music is also great and I've been listening to some traks after finishing the game. I don't think I can really describe this one, I may like it more than the average player, it was just a gem for me.

If you vibe with what the game throws at you, it's absolutely amazing. Great soundtrack, fun interactions with the mascots and other characters, and always something for you to do. None of the individual systems are super deep, but their interconnectivity sill makes them fun.