Promise Mascot Agency is a game where you can entice a big, sobbing tofu guy with employee benefits, and I think that's beautiful

Yesterday, Paradise Killer developer Kaizen Game Works released a nine-minute gameplay deep dive video for its next game, Promise Mascot Agency. It's a gameplay overview that gets both more inscrutable and more compelling with each passing minute, and for a surreal management game following in the footsteps of Paradise Killer's metaphysical murder mystery, I'd hope for nothing less.

As disgraced Yakuza lieutenant Michizane "Michi" Sugawara, players will embark on what the video calls "a journey into the underworld of Japan, with a twist," which is a hell of a way to describe being exiled to a cursed town to manage the crime family's last business after losing its fortunes in a mysterious betrayal. That business happens to be a failing mascot agency, in a world where mascots are "living creatures that were born from the earth at the dawn of time," according to Kaizen.

Mascot agency management seems to involve a lot of flying through the air in a rocket-propelled, winged Kei truck. Like I said: inscrutable. But watching Michi drive around town to recruit mascots like a fish with its torso filleted open or a perpetually-weeping tofu block, I'm content to leave scrutability at the door.

The absurdity on display here extends beyond Promise Mascot Agency's premise and into its mechanics. To successfully recruit a mascot to the agency, you apparently have to entice them by manually choosing which job perks to offer, like additional profit share percentages or regular bonuses. Once recruited, mascots can be sent out to work jobs, with their performance determined by their individual specialties.

Unfortunately, mascots will sometimes encounter "incidents" that disrupt their job duties, risking the agency's profits and reputation. During a job, our sobbing tofu friend mentioned above was unfortunate enough to cross paths with a normal-sized door, "the bane of every mascot's existence," and got stuck. Luckily, Michi can enlist the aid of "Mascot Support Heroes," townsfolk who can give mascots "the power they need to overcome challenges." In the video, this took the form of a card battle, where befriended characters were played to deal damage to the door and release the wedged mascot.

"Townsfolk" might conjure the image of like, a normal guy for you, so let me correct that: Townfolk in this case might mean a railway employee with an accompanying cat wearing a matching uniform, or "Captain Signs," a local hero covered in traffic signs who sells items.

Eventually, Michi can supplement his efforts to repay his staggering Yakuza debts by subcontracting recruited mascots to work in other towns, or even operating crane games stuffed with mascot merchandise. Along the way, Michi can explore the town for truck upgrades, alongside opportunities to "smash the old order" and "uncover a conspiracy that could destroy the underworld of Japan."

Overall, the vibe here lands somewhere between Yakuza and Deadly Premonition—a statement I hope will serve as an activation phrase for at least a dozen weirdos. I have fully no idea how Promise Mascot Agency will fit all these pieces together, but I'm thrilled to find out when it releases in 2025.