Promise Mascot Agency review: Lots of CEOs do heck-all work, but I’m not one of those

It in all probability received’t shock you to listen to this.

In terms of Promise Mascot Agency – a recreation a couple of psychotic finger mascot and a man with a brush making an attempt to unravel the Yakuza secrets and techniques inside a cursed and run-down city, inhabited by a duck voiced by former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida – the weirdness is the factor.

I had a sense it will be after I played the first couple of hours of the sport that developer Kaizen Sport Works put out as a demo previous to launch. Having now pushed by means of all the factor in a kei truck that sprouted wings in direction of the top, I can let you know unequivocally that it’s the case. The weirdness is the factor, and if you happen to’re going to fall in love with this indie mascot administration recreation, it’s the half that’ll seduce you, such as you’re an evil merchandising machine that’s simply began spitting junk all over the place as a result of a moss ball with legs forgot that home equipment don’t reply nicely to violence.

There are some factors when PMA pretends to be regular. The setup of its story (apart from revolving round a crew that includes a grizzled finger mascot who’s completely smoking a cigar) could be very severe and surprisingly lore-heavy. Protagonist Michi Sugawara – dubbed The Janitor as a result of he’s good at cleansing s**t up – is a key cog within the Shimazu Household, and is tasked alongside his oath brother Tokihira with delivering a bunch of money to a different Yakuza syndicate as a part of a deal to safe underworld peace ceaselessly between three of Japan’s greatest crim collaborations.

Naturally, as a result of we are able to’t have good issues, it goes improper. As a substitute of killing him to assist save her personal conceal, Michi’s boss Matriarch Shimazu as a substitute sneakily ships him off in a field to attempt to earn again the cash through a secret enterprise the household controls that nobody is aware of about. That’s the defunct mascot company within the rural city of Kaso-Machi, which is re-named Promise Mascot Company when Michi re-opens it alongside the aforementioned non-cigar smoking psycho finger – Pinky.

From right here, you’re within the mascot administration enterprise, and your job is to construct up the company by establishing a crop of mascot expertise, chatting to individuals who know of areas and companies on the town which may need to rent them for occasions, and ensuring these jobs get accomplished. Totally different mascots will swimsuit completely different jobs higher on account of their traits – an occasion at a restaurant is an efficient place to ship a food-themed mascot like a matcha roll that’s additionally a cat, whereas an occasion on the cemetery is the perfect place to ship a mascot formed like a funeral urn. Nevertheless, if you happen to simply want the cash, as long as they’ve bought sufficient stamina, you possibly can ship ‘em wherever.

As soon as they’re away, stuff may go improper, at which level you’ll get an alert to answer through the sport’s initially intimidating, however really fairly easy, mascot job menu. You’ve often bought at the very least a number of in-game hours to reply, and once you do you’ll be whisked off to the livestream of the occasion the place, after a fast intro that sees a mascot host that vaguely jogged my memory of Michael McIntyre (learn: barely annoying hack) say stuff like “Ichigo Love has completely ****** it”. You’re drafted in to avoid wasting the mascot by deploying ‘mascot hero playing cards’ to deplete the difficulty/hostile entity’s well being bar. When you succeed, you’ll get the complete rewards for the job and, if you happen to fail, you’ll merely get the bottom charge.

So runs the essential cycle of the administration aspect, however as you discover Kaso-Machi and develop the company, loads of further layers are added into the combo to spice up the complexity and maintain you in your toes to a fairly frenetic diploma assuming you’re making an attempt to maximise your earnings. That’s actually one thing the sport provides you impetus to do proper out of the gate, as on prime of paying your personal payments frequently, it’s a must to go to ATMs and ship money to Matriarch Shimazu in an effort to assist her keep one step forward of the Yakuza knives of Damocles which can be hanging over her head following the botched job.

The outcome, particularly as you’re getting your ft below you, is that your business-running comes with a fairly sturdy sense of urgency. You’re spending cash to develop and maintain your boss alive simply as rapidly as you earn it, and I even ended up ever so barely within the crimson at one level. At that stage, the administration aspect of the sport possibly feels a bit atmospherically out of step with the opposite aspect of Promise Mascot Company – exploring the sleepy, stylishly run-down city of Kaso-Machi and its usually fairly mountainous environment in Michi and Pinky’s kei truck.

It’s by means of exploring that you simply not solely cross off targets in the principle story; Michi and Pinky’s unravelling of the thriller that surrounds Kaso-Machi’s legendary Yakuza-killing curse and its comically corrupt mayor’s misuse of a authorities granted rejuvenation fund. You’ll additionally uncover a variety of various objects and tick off duties to assist you in operating the company. There are townspeople to recruit as mascot hero playing cards you possibly can then improve by finishing their radiant quests, which often contain operating across the city amassing 5 – 6 of a particular merchandise, stuff to select up (like new kinds of mascot merch) and, most importantl, extra mascots so as to add to your weirdo workforce.

With a view to persuade a mascot to hitch you, you’ll want to barter with them. As I progressed I discovered that really providing a great package deal out of the gate appeared to pay dividends; low-balling them would not fairly reduce it. Welcome to the true world, children.

Each mascot has stats like reputation, motivation, and stamina. Whereas you’ll naturally increase these simply by sending a mascot out on extra jobs, making them happier from the start means you begin that journey additional alongside the street. Plus, I discovered that providing perks like vacation days really matches fairly nicely into the perfect cadence of the sport, with mascots taking a 24 hour break that really boosts their stamina recharge, quite than simply being left on the sidelines till they’ve recovered.

Right here’s the factor, although. Above all else, you’ll need to deal with your band of workers nicely, simply due to their bizarre personalities. There’s a beautiful quantity of distinctive selection when it comes to the mascot forged Kaizen and their collaborators have put collectively, with every one having a three-part life satisfaction journey they go on as you improve your bond with them. All of those are tailor-made to every mascot’s numerous character, however all of them roughly revolve round you serving to the mascot to realize a purpose that’ll enhance its life.

For instance, my favourite mascot, Karoushi – a terrifying black cowl with a face that lives in a haunted tunnel – serves as a metaphor for burnout, and solely speaks in grandiose allegorical passages that belong in an Italo Calvino novel. Their story was about overcoming the trauma of working too onerous and serving to some locals unionise.

In step with the sport’s theme of maintaining guarantees to assist of us obtain their desires, many of the townspeople you meet even have arcs like this by means of their city quests. Kaso-Machi’s an fascinating place to discover, with a cool mixture of run-down rural vibes and barely cartoonish spookiness within the type of locations just like the haunted tunnel which accurately treats you to a black and white filter accompanied by creepy noises each time you drive by means of it.

As with the mascots, you possibly can inform just about each space and individual has had plenty of thought and care put into shaping them and their backstory. Plus, Kaizen’s accomplished a great job of guaranteeing the city adjustments visually as you renovate completely different uncared for areas of it to ascertain new mascot occasions spots – with the passive revenue generated by that being the sport’s finest high-cost, high-yield cash earner for the company.

One minor hangup is that the sport’s map signifies the place you could find each helpful merchandise and individual on the earth by default. This is sensible when it comes to the key characters/landmarks, but it surely does take some sting out of the exploration realizing that, for instance, if you happen to trek out to one of many islands surrounding Kaso-Machi, you’ll discover precisely one merchandise. You continue to have the enjoyable of uncovering what precisely that merchandise is, however the ingredient of thriller’s diluted a bit.

One other facet I didn’t fairly vibe with mechanically was the mini-game by which you ship mascot merch to completely different outlets round city – one other of the sport’s huge money-earners. Principally, when you discover a merch merchandise out on the earth, it will get added to massive arcade claw machines across the map as toys, which you then have to select up utilizing the painfully gradual claw in an effort to get shipments to distribute.

It’s a cool idea that matches the sport’s theming completely in concept, however in observe, it was the ingredient of gameplay I discovered by far essentially the most monotonous. In the meantime, subcontracting mascots in different cities – the third member of PMA’s ‘right here come the large bucks’ trio – is much more stripped again. You purchase entry to areas, discover the enterprise playing cards of mascots to man them, and increase, a good chunk of passive revenue.

There’s a level a way by means of the sport the place you all of the sudden appear to go from having tons to do, but additionally have a relentless want for that cash, to having tons to do, however rather more cash than you might have stuff to spend it on. By that time, the principle story’s kicking into excessive gear, so it’s good to not have to fret about grinding as a lot.

As for that important story, how a lot you’ll get pleasure from it comes all the way down to what I discussed in the beginning. It helps to be into Yakuza tales that are not afraid to get a bit foolish, however the weirdness is the factor that can doubtless determine the place PMA lands on the alright to nice recreation spectrum for you. For some, the array of genuinely humorous and touching moments that encompass every thing from minor interactions to main plot beats will make this correct cult traditional materials. For others, the in-your-face wackiness may not mesh with their sense of humour, leaving their verdict within the realm of simply positive.

Promise Mascot Company’s a great time. Uniquely charming sufficient that it doesn’t fall into the entice of being as dry as Michi’s best Saturday night time, however with sufficient tough edges that it’d must work on itself a bit earlier than it may run for mayor of whichever cursed city the entire actually nice video games inhabit.

Promise Mascot Company launches on April 10 for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Swap, Microsoft Home windows, Xbox Collection X and Collection S. This evaluation was written utilizing a PC code offered by the developer.