If you’ve played Kaizen Game Works’ wonderfully weird cosmic-horror-tinged vapourware deduction adventure Paradise Killer, you’ll know the studio isn’t afraid to mix things up, and its newly announced Promise Mascot Agency looks to be an equally wild, genre-bending ride.
Kaizen Game Works describes Promise Mascot Agency as the “world’s first (and best) open-world mascot management crime drama”, and it charts the adventures of a disgraced yakuza lieutenant – Michizane “Michi” Sugawara – after he’s exiled to a cursed town and forced to turn a bankrupt mascot agency into a profitable business.
And things only get weirder from there. As Michi, players must explore the town of Kaso-Machi in their run-down truck, making friends, striking deals, and recruiting mascots (here “living creatures that have coexisted with mankind since the dawn of history”) by satisfying their dreams and demands – whether that be a rice ball or something rather less benign.
Promise Mascot Agency – Announcement Trailer Watch on YouTube
And once mascots are on the books, they can be trained and sent out into the world, where they’ll bring in cash and renown for every successfully completed job. “Of course, jobs don’t always go to plan,” Kaizen Game Works notes. “Whether it’s a narrow doorway, kitchens catching on fire, or dreadful nightmare spirits, danger lurks around every corner.” Luckily, by tactically playing Hero Cards, representing characters from around town, players can help mascots “overcome any challenge and win hearts, minds and a healthy paycheque.”