This Game With Rocket Trucks, Yakuza, And Sentient Mascots Is 2025’s Most Radically Kind And Empathetic Game

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During my time with the Promise Mascot Agency, I was the designated driver. I drove Pinky wherever she needed to go, and I was responsible for transporting all the mascots who worked there. Whether it was taking Kofun to a graveyard or, reluctantly, giving Trororo a ride to an adult store, I handled all the transportation – by car, plane, or even boat – ensuring everyone reached their destination.

Promise Mascot Agency is a game packed with everyday tasks and errands. While exploring the island of Kaso-Machi – visiting run-down towns and farms – I met a lot of people who needed help. There was the English teacher working extra hours for free, the mechanic fascinated by the occult but always busy, and many others. I found myself doing all sorts of things, from sweeping shrines to offering support to a struggling barkeep, a farmer who used to be a streamer, and disillusioned young people. I was always ready to lend a hand.

Promise Mascot Agency is a surprisingly complex game. You play as a former yakuza – voiced by the same actor who played Kiryu in the Yakuza series – who drives around collecting items and upgrading his abilities. A core part of the game involves sending out quirky, living mascots (imagine a giant, weeping tofu block!) on jobs. You manage these jobs through a simple system using cards – you play support cards to help your mascot succeed when they encounter problems. But beneath the collecting and card games, Promise Mascot Agency is a deeply moving exploration of compassion and understanding. It doesn’t rely on flashy graphics or exciting action sequences to tell its story. Instead, it’s honest and heartfelt, and that’s what makes it special. It’s an unglamorous game, but its sincerity is one of the things that makes it one of the best games of 2025.

Okay, so I just arrived in Kaso-Machi and I’m now in charge of this mascot agency. Basically, the town used to be a big tourist spot, but it’s really fallen on hard times. Most people have left because the island’s economy is struggling. It’s mostly just those who are too proud to leave, or can’t, who are still hanging on. The whole place needs a boost, and that’s where I come in – I’m Michi, and let’s just say I messed up a job with the yakuza and this is my… new opportunity. My job is to send out mascots to the few businesses that are still open, get people excited about them, and then use the money I earn to invest in more mascots and other things around Kaso-Machi. Hopefully, I can help turn things around!

Things are improving gradually, but consistently. Soon, areas that were once failing start to show promise. An old festival returns, and that positive energy spreads across the island. The train station in town – looked after by a friendly man and his cat – is saved from being closed down. You even manage to reopen an arcade a short distance from the town center. As Kaso-Machi’s culture and facilities are brought back to life, the island—once believed to be cursed—begins to thrive, and the people show their gratitude by supporting you, the one who started it all.

Promise Mascot Agency features a typical upgrade system, but it’s presented in a way that feels special. Unlike most games where upgrades directly benefit the player, the power-ups Michi and Pinky receive are used to improve their services. For instance, upgrading your truck with a turbo boost doesn’t help you win races – there aren’t any in the game, though time trials were added later. Instead, it helps you and any passengers reach destinations faster and complete tasks around the island more efficiently. This applies to all upgrades, including those for the boat and eventually, flying.

Spoilers for Promise Mascot Agency follow.

About halfway through Promise Mascot Agency, you get a cannon that seems like it might lead to vehicle-based battles. However, it’s actually used to launch Pinky, the game’s quirky and somewhat unsettling companion, at trash heaps – you’re tasked with cleaning up the garbage in Kaso-machi. You can also shoot her at campaign posters for the dishonest mayor, who Pinky surprisingly ends up running against! Aside from those specific uses, the cannon is pretty silly – it mostly just sends Pinky flying straight up into the air for no real purpose.

There’s a surprising charm in how ordinary Promise Mascot Agency actually is. Like the Yakuza games, it’s filled with quirky characters going on strange adventures that ultimately feel very human – sometimes heartwarming, sometimes just plain boring. That realistic approach to life really resonated with me, and I was delighted to find it hidden within this game. I enjoyed how simple the characters’ goals were, and I found myself strangely captivated by the repetitive tasks I was given, all in service of improving life in Kaso-Machi. It’s about building a community strong enough to fight corruption, heal from a difficult past, and create a better future together.

Everything you’ve worked for throughout the game – cleaning up the town, removing old signs, and revitalizing businesses in Kaso-Machi – culminates in an exciting final showdown. Simply put, the future of your agency – which has helped mascots, boosted the island’s economy, and uncovered local corruption – is at risk. The only way to save it is to win a national competition, but you soon realize it’s unfairly stacked against you.

Michi suffers a significant defeat, but when he’s at his lowest, he finds strength by mentally revisiting everyone he’s assisted – and that includes all the people you helped as the player. He sees faces of every character we’ve supported, from shopkeepers and troubled teens to even those who previously wronged us, like the yakuza. It’s like a whole community rallied around him, offering encouragement and reminding him he wasn’t facing this alone.

The final part of the game feels like a series of increasingly easy challenges, thanks to a system where your allies’ abilities combine into a few incredibly powerful cards that instantly defeat enemies. As I finished the game, relying on the strong team I’d spent over 20 hours developing, it struck me that the most powerful element was simply the support of my friends. It was surprising to find such a heartwarming sense of community in a game as strange as this – one where you drive around a giant, living (and dangerous!) thumb.

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2025-12-30 17:10