Promise Mascot Agency

If you’re coming from Kaizen Game Works’ previous title, this game is very different. Kaizen’s DNA is still all over it, and you can see a throughline of tones and vibes, but it’s not the same game at all, nor is it a sequel. I don’t think that judging PMA as a follow-up to PK is entirely correct. In ways where PK is chill, PMA is manic. In ways PK is focused, PMA gives a wealth of variety. Where PK has you play as a double-jumping investigator, PMA has you navigate as a truck–a glorious, physics-y, jumping, gliding, shooting, trash-collecting truck. PMA is even wilder and weirder than its predecessor, with more heart. The main game has you driving around the small Japanese town of Kaso-Machi, recruiting mascots, sending them on jobs, and paying bills. There is also an involved story about the town’s residents, political corruption, and the Yakuza. At heart, though, this game is about business management. Unlike Paradise Killer, this game has a fail-state. If you don’t manage your money well, you could get a game over. There is a satisfying amount of mascots to recruit, business/town/truck upgrades to unlock, and town to explore. There is also a UFO-catcher style crane game. I did just about everything in the game over the course of 11 hours. I do have one criticism, and that’s the amount of spoken dialogue. It’s too much! I counted 47 text boxes after bringing one of may vegetables to a character for a side-quest. That’s pressing the A button 47 times for a minor interaction that gives you some character insight, but does not advance the plot. Unlike in Paradise Killer, understanding the characters is not a central mechanic, and there will be no decisions you have to make based on the information in the conversation. These characters are (mostly) charming, but man do they gab! I ending up mashing past a lot of the side-character dialogue, which could have been a touch more concise. But mostly, I have praise for this game. It is very rare for me to replay a game. It’s even rarer for me to replay a game within six months. That pretty much never happens. Except with Promise Mascot Agency.

I had fun

声優陣豪華すぎだろｗｗ

Promise Mascot Agency bills itself as an Open World Mascot Management Crime Drama, and that... pretty much is it exactly. Disgraced after a transfer of ¥12B goes bad, legendary yakuza enforcer "The Janitor" is sent to a remote island where all male yakuza are cursed to die horribly, with orders to redeem himself by reopening and managing the family's mascot agency. With severed pinky finger mascot Pinky⭐, the daughter of his mentor Don⭐Kii (also a severed pinky, but without the mascot magic and cuteness of his daughter), Michi must recruit mascots, rebuild the town, and get to the bottom of both the island's curse and the truth behind the events that led him here in the first place. Gameplay has three main components and one minor one. - Management sim - mascots you hire must be sent out on jobs in order to build the company and finance your operations - Visual Novel - Meet and talk with the colorful array of characters that populate the island, building personal and professional relationships to help in your quest - Combat - Mascots run into problems that must be overcome. As you go through the other aspects of the game, you collect "Mascot Support Hero" cards, which you use to overcome these obstacles. Each card costs energy (you start with 2 points, though some more powerful cards may increase that) and will do a certain amount of damage to the obstacle. You have 60 seconds to select the cards you need to overcome the obstacle. If you fail, your reward for that job is lessened. - Collect-a-thon - There are a number of side-quests in the game. Most contacts have five things for you to do, usually finding specific items on the map for them. In addition to that, there are roadblocks to clear, trash to clean up, and a political campaign to supplant, with hundreds of collectables to pick up. The main rewards for these quests are more Mascot Support Heroes, or an increase in rank for the ones you have. Everything comes back to Mascot jobs and supporting them, even the final boss battle. Can The Janitor clean up the town of Kaso-Machi, save his family from the consequences of their past, and build Promise Mascot Agency into the #1 mascot agency in Japan? If you like management sims, visual novels, and colorful characters, you can find out for yourself!

I think this might be the best game ever made. Not even kidding. Send this one out to the aliens, humanity has peaked.

[h2][i]Well, that was a weird summer...[/i] Yes. Yes it was.[/h2] Stuck in a rut, one Sunday afternoon exactly a week ago saw me delving the net for something new. Fresh. I'd landed on a question that I've not considered in all this time. What about Indie? They're the risk takers of the industry, creating something unique, a surprise that I'll never have stumbled upon. And after finding an article, I found 2 prime candidates. One of which: Promise Mascot Agency. After reading the weird and wacky synopsis, I thought I'd found something special. Let's unpack the business. [h3]Story ~ Yakuza caught between duty and history[/h3] Taking control of "The Janitor" Michi, an esteemed lieutenant of the Shimazu family in the Nakamura clan, your tasked with an important mission. The rival clan encroaches on your territory and Nakamura beseeches the Tokyo Nara clan for an alliance. Sent on a secret exchange of 12b yen that gets sabotaged, the alliance fails to blossom. Returning a vast fortune lighter, your family head has no choice but to claim your life... But do they? Instead, you're sent to a town on a lucrative business venture your family has kept a secret. A Mascot Agency! Sent to clean up and bolster this venture to fuel the deal that went south, work hard to build the agency into a legitimate nationally recognised brand! ...did I mention the town curses male Yakuza men? Best of luck...! This game starts out with a simple premise but has several twists and turns (mostly turns) to this dilapidated town you find yourself in. There's a history here, that as you go along, turns it from repaying a balance and mistake owed, to a mystery to stop something far graver from taking place. You will be strung along for a while and at least I found it a little hard to keep up or be interested. However, a good recap sequence before the final act, it's a tale that comes together very well. It's nothing earth-shattering but for a management game, I enjoyed and appreciated it as you work with the victims of the world that endured this tale. [h3]Gameplay ~ Business managed on the road![/h3] The story is told in the form of a Visual Novel with the VA Japanese only so be prepared to do a lot of reading. Grumble if you may, I felt the VA was perfect and some of the wacky antics that go on just wouldn't hit in English. When you aren't reading, you're taking your trusty truck through the streets Kaso-Machi. Interacting with it's residents, tame and wacky both whilst finding all sorts of collectibles in the world and participating in active events. You'll meet a range of characters from a mean tots crude metal supermarket clerk to BDSM proprietress of a bar. For real... Driving and becoming KM's most favored covert Yakuza, you'll need to manage your business! Mascots are basically non-humanoid citizens, they co-exist and co-fornicate with humans... :sips: Returning to above board..! These mascots are the life-blood of your business. Recruited to attend and promote businesses. You'll need to find, discuss contract obligations, arrange jobs and become a caring boss when they get in trouble. The aforementioned trouble see's you helping out your Mascots in a deck battler. You'll find "Hero Mascot" cards throughout your journey that vary in grade like trading cards. The higher the grade, the better the stats. Whilst you won't have to build a deck for those that prefer simpler systems, you'll need to pick your hand to play out of 2 exchanges to beat out the competition. So it's a driving game with management systems, a card battler, side objectives that range in quest activities like time trials, collectible hunting and gacha claw machine. It's a very varied game with none of the systems being overly too complicated to understand. [h3]Characters ~ Wonderfully weird and wacky[/h3] The stand out for PMA is easily its characters. You'll be able to explore a greater deal of the Mascot's personalities through work happiness reviews, find out their dreams and goals and help them get there besides working their obligated round-the-clock job. You'll help a slab of To-Fu overcome their insecurities, a... questionably white splattered cat chase their AV dreams and a Ghost like? Mascot bring exposure to... Graveyards.. Okay. The big personality of the game is your business partner, Pinkie ☆! For real, this chaotic thumb (yes, thumb) is an electric wild gun that will have you laughing and taking the edge off the scenario. Wishing death on the Crusty Old Geezer, eager to commit murder, go on tangents openly of insults and generally put stoic Michi in his place, Pinkie becomes such a contrast and perfect company to explore the game with. And her little yell when you crash into obstacles.. Gosh I belly laughed several times with the strange physics of driving, anticipating a crash just for Pinkie to go "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!". It's brilliant. I'm so glad she's practically never not with us. Such a highlight of the game and never got overwhelmed with her uncontrolled twisted nature. There's many more characters with family-related and residents of the town, none of them miss. They're all great and voice-acted brilliantly. [h3]Criticism ~ Mystery Exposition[/h3] My only criticism is the story does drone on a little too much with the mystery but that may partially be my fault being distracted on Agency side of the game whilst story took shotgun, binging it all when I got round to it did wear me out a little that my attention span wasn't all there for it. I didn't allow for balance. Thankfully, when it comes to the final act, the recap helped me re-engage with the story and did a great job of it making it cohesive for the 80% or so I was tuned in. Lastly, I experienced strange input problems with my Dualsense controller. Not sure why but sometimes actions weren't picked up by the game and I had to reconfirm presses several times. Particuarly the X button for confirm and even the right trigger to accelerate. Sometimes it just wouldn't actuate in-game. All wired to boot. I swapped to a Xbox style Gamesir controller and the input problem disappeared. Can't think it's my hardware but something I noticed. A nit-pick to be sure. Surprised it supported the impulse triggers too which was a surprise, nice job, even if my experience was faulty. [h3]Conclusion ~ Solid Wacky Indie[/h3] At the core, Promise Mascot Agency is a cosy simple management game with a crazy Japanese story at its heart. You won't be challenged, the systems aren't intricate and you won't be stressed out, lest you make poor decisions or crank the difficulty (I opted for Normal). This is a Visual Novel heavy game so strap in for reading with some wild characters, wacky tunes and a chill ~20 hours to roll credits. The driving never over stayed its welcome either with upgrades that made traversal much more fun and outside my criticism in binging, I never felt PMA overstayed its welcome, even to 100%. It's a great time if you want a short and weird game with a collectible littered map to be distracted by.

本編クリア＆全実績解除 昭和任侠な主人公＆かわいらしいマスコットキャラが 下ネタ＆暴言を吐きまくるファンシーな世界観がとても素敵です 雰囲気が合えば一気に最後までプレイできると思います ゲーム内容は日本の田舎を舞台にしたオープンワールド 軽トラで探索しながらマスコットをスカウトして派遣しお金を稼いで 給料に充てつつ事務所の設備投資、町の発展にお金を使ったりと やることが多くて楽しかったです 豪華な声優陣と馴染みのあるインターフェイスでクリアするまでイギリスのゲームと気づきませんでした 時間を忘れるほど熱中して最後までとても面白かった、こういうゲーム好き、いや、大好き