I first played Kaizen Game Works' debut, Paradise Killer, in early 2025, five years after its release. It quickly became one of my favorite games of the past 15 years. The murder mystery premise combined with strong aesthetics, memorable characters, and simple-yet-satisfying first-person platforming added up to a fantastic experience.
Promise Mascot Agency carves out its own unique identity while iterating on Paradise Killer's design philosophy. Both games can be difficult to describe, so as someone who never writes game reviews, I'll just lean on the crutch of comparing one in terms of the other.
Paradise Killer's surreal vaporwave aesthetic is replaced with a Shōwa-era theme in Promise Mascot Agency.
Instead of first person platforming, the player explores the open world by driving (and frequently crashing) a truck around an island village with intentionally clumsy physics.
Where Paradise Killer deals with immortal aliens and ancient gods, Promise Mascot Agency takes place in an alternate-reality Japan where mascots are sapient beings that live and work alongside humans.
The gameplay loop that co-exists with the open-world exploration is a business management sim, in place of Paradise Killer's murder mystery.
What was most striking to me about Promise Mascot Agency's gameplay is how much it leans into the open-world collectathon and checklist-driven gameplay. The island is chock-full of things to do and collect, and more collectables appear as you meet new characters and progress. The collectables automatically appear as dots on the map, so as someone who loves "picking stuff up" in games, a lot of my time was spent dutifully driving around from dot to dot, cashing in side quests, then periodically switching over to the management sim tasks.
The management sim is pretty straightforward and forgiving once all the systems are tutorialized. There is a small amount of time pressure where you have to periodically send money home to your Yakuza matriarch, but it's easy to stay on top of on the default difficulty. Other than that mechanic, there is no real threat to the business failing due to your management decisions. Vibes and number-go-up are the goal here, not efficiency.
The overall result is a drastically different experience from Paradise Killer. Once you get a handle on the management sim, it becomes just as much of a "mindless" [complimentary] activity as driving around looking for collectibles and other challenges. The game wants you to simply bask in its quirky world and large cast of characters, and provides ample opportunity for you to do so.
Where Promise Mascot Agency falters for me is how the gameplay, story, and aesthetic come together. Paradise Killer's detective gameplay felt like a perfect balance to the exploration: I run around and collect items, which produce new leads when talking to the characters, which then nudges me to a different location to run around in and collect things. In Promise Mascot Agency, collecting things unlocks more things to do in the management sim. When you've finished all your current tasks in the management sim, you resume exploring and collecting, until more management tasks come up.
The core problem I had is that the management sim pulled too many of the same levers in my brain as the open-world collectathon. Instead of one aspect feeling like a nice change of pace from the other, I just wanted to go-go-go and complete the next task. As a result, I was highly engaged in the game, but only because I was compulsively jumping from one task treadmill to the next.
As the game progressed and I settled into these loops, I began to care about the story less and less. The main plot has very few choices to make, and plot beats are based around milestones reached in the management sim. The plot mostly takes a backseat to meeting and talking to the various characters, of which there are many. And the game's presentation, like the hilarious TV broadcast when a mascot needs help on a job, loses its charm in the repetitiveness of the management sim gameplay.
Unfortunately, I just didn't vibe with any of the characters as strongly as I did the likes of Lady Love Dies, Crimson Acid, and Dr. Doom Jazz. But, the gameplay also didn't help me vibe with them: understanding the characters of Paradise Killer goes hand-in-hand with its murder investigation. Meanwhile, in Promise Mascot Agency, I can mash "A" through a scene with one of my mascot employees with reckless abandon, because all that really matters is that the mascot is happier, the community is improving, and the numbers are going up.
I think that Kaizen Game Works generally nailed what they were going for, and I hope that comparing Promise Mascot Agency with Paradise Killer doesn't come across as unfair. I deeply respect when game designers, or any creatives, make bold choices and try new ideas, and I'm glad that Promise Mascot Agency does not feel like a retread of Paradise Killer. The result just didn't resonate for me this time. I'm still looking forward to what they do next.