Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series X | S, PS5, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Open-World Driving Sim Mascot Management Crime Drama

If you’d prefer to see me wrestle with the madness of this game in real-time, complete with questionable life choices and flying mascot trucks, watch the full review on Loot or Leave It—our video series where I poke at weird games with a stick and decide if they’re worth your time.

Welcome to Kaso-Machi, Where Mascots Throw Hands

In the grand catalogue of gaming oddities, Promise Mascot Agency is perched somewhere between “what were they thinking?” and “why do I love this?”. It’s a mascot management sim meets open-world crime drama, set in a town where disgraced yakuza go to be forgotten—and instead find themselves managing a sentient tofu’s career.

Yes. Really.

You play as Michi, a former mobster exiled to a cursed town, now tasked with reviving his family’s failed mascot business. And by mascots, I don’t mean teenagers in sweaty suits—these are actual entities with hopes, dreams, and in some cases, the ability to suplex a ghost.

Again: yes. Really.

Drive, Recruit, Repeat

The gameplay has you managing gigs, recruiting bizarre mascots, and navigating an open-world town—all from the cockpit of your trusty kei-truck, which, in a move straight out of Fast & Furiously Unhinged, can drive on water and take flight.

What starts off as a quirky management game quickly escalates into a fever dream of card battles, workplace drama, and side quests involving haunted vending machines. It’s got systems, sure—but none of them really bite. There’s barely any punishment for failure, and half the time you’re coasting through the chaos, not sweating over strategy.

Management Sim Lite

If you’re a hardcore sim enthusiast hoping to micro-manage your mascot empire into financial domination… best lower your expectations. Promise Mascot Agency is incredibly forgiving—so much so that I was waiting for consequences that never came. Mascots don’t suffer burnout. Botched jobs don’t tank your progress. At worst, you miss a bonus. At best, you fight a swarm of bees.

It’s not that the systems are broken—they’re just built for chill. Which, depending on your mood, might be a blessing or a bore.

Style Over Sanity

Where Promise Mascot Agency shines is its sheer commitment to being absolutely bonkers. The visual novel-style dialogue? Charming. The mascot designs? Delightfully grotesque. The open world? Crammed with things to do, though you’ll need a bloodhound’s nose to find half of them.

And then there are the NPCs—pink silhouettes that flicker out of existence if you so much as brush past them. It’s unsettling, but weirdly fitting for a game that feels like a lucid dream brought on by one too many convenience store energy drinks.

Embrace the Madness

Promise Mascot Agency is messy, mind-melting, and mechanically shallow—but it’s also charming, creative, and unlike anything else you’ve played this year. It’s not a masterclass in design, but it is a masterclass in commitment to chaos.

If you’re after a serious management sim, look elsewhere. But if the idea of babysitting a violent lemon mascot while flying a haunted kei-truck across rural Japan sounds like your cup of sake, this might just be your new obsession.

And again—seriously—watch the Loot or Leave It video for the full breakdown. I suffer so you don’t have to.

Pros

• Hilariously bizarre world and story.
• Mascots with personality and punch.
• Traversal is fun once the truck learns to fly.
• Forgiving mechanics make it approachable.
• Absurdity is genuinely entertaining.

Cons

• Barebones challenge—too forgiving at times.
• Open-world objectives can feel scattered.
• Visual clutter and jank during traversal.
• Soundtrack compliments the vibe but can get repetitive quickly.

Final Score: 70/100

Review code provided by publisher.