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Promise Mascot Agency · Awoken Game Club Podcast

0:03
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Awoken Game Club.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: Awoken Game Club is a monthly video game book club.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: We play indie games that strike our fancy and then debrief,
0:13
SPEAKER_00: debate and celebrate after playing throughout the month.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Awoken Game Club is myself, Ben and my co-host Patrick.
0:20
Follow us on Substack to get notifications,
0:23
see Patrick's art,
0:24
and chat with us.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Our game next month for April or March 2026 is Mouthwashing,
0:33
SPEAKER_00: which is going to be our first horror game.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: Very excited for that.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Each and every Awoken Game Club episode is packed full of spoilers,
0:41
so treat these like any monthly book club where all the
0:43
attendees have had time
0:45
SPEAKER_00: with the book or the game.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: If you're worried about spoilers, this episode is evergreen.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: So come back and listen after you play it.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: And with the housekeeping out of the way, how are you doing, Patrick?
0:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing okay, man.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: I am excited to talk about Promise Mascot Agency.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Very fun game.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: Very visually striking game.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: But how are you doing?
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
1:05
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm excited to hear your take as an artist,
1:08
SPEAKER_00: because you're right,
1:08
SPEAKER_00: there is a style to this game.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's start with the selection.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: So this month was my month to offer three games up to you.
1:18
And of those three games,
1:20
you picked Promise Mascot Agency for the game for us to play.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: What drew you to Promise Mascot Agency?
1:27
SPEAKER_01: You know me so well.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: The art style was very much a big driver.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: I do think I thought it was very charming.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: It was set in this, I think it's a fictional Japanese town.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: The trailers that we screened were screaming very Japanese.
1:46
And I know we'll get into it,
1:47
but from what I understand,
1:49
this is not a...
1:51
a japanese studio nor a japanese team that made this very
1:56
japanese game so i think
1:57
it's very cool that i learned all of that much later than
2:01
playing because you could
2:02
have fooled me with how much japanese drip this game has for
2:07
sure i mean the well
2:08
SPEAKER_00: let's um go into the wikipedia hole a little bit so
2:13
it was developed you're right by kaizen gameworks which kaizen
2:17
is that strictly a
2:18
japanese term for like um so like ben you're an engineer you
2:23
know what the kaizen
2:24
is right oh process improvement process improvement what are
2:28
they like the big
2:30
mechs that fight what are those called those are kaiju man
2:33
that's kaiju oh gosh
2:35
SPEAKER_00: okay okay so never mind
2:37
SPEAKER_00: This is process improvement.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: Not Kaiju Gameworks, Kaizen Gameworks.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay,
2:43
SPEAKER_00: so they are based in the UK,
2:45
SPEAKER_00: and they were founded by Phil and Ollie,
2:47
who are former full-time game developers who quit with their
2:50
savings to make games.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: And their first game came out four years ago,
2:54
SPEAKER_00: maybe five years now,
2:54
SPEAKER_00: and that was Paradise Killer,
2:56
which I do remember making a splash when it did come out as
2:59
like a stylish
3:01
SPEAKER_00: narrative-based kind of mystery game,
3:03
SPEAKER_00: but did not have this kind of Japanese style.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: The one thing I wanted to mention,
3:10
as you talked about how it was like dripping with like Japanese
3:13
culture is the art
3:14
SPEAKER_00: Bible for this book.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And the person who designed the mascots for the title was Ikumi Nakamura,
3:21
SPEAKER_00: who is a,
3:22
SPEAKER_00: I guess,
3:23
SPEAKER_00: did you have you heard of this person?
3:24
SPEAKER_00: Did you look into this?
3:25
SPEAKER_01: I looked into her and her art a little bit.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: Nothing particularly struck me.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: I know she's a very famous artist.
3:35
I think she is credited as a collaborator because I do think
3:39
their main artist is
3:40
SPEAKER_01: this Rachel Noy that I'm also reading.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: But I do think they were very excited.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: I read a small, I think, director interview.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: They were very excited to sign and collaborate with Akumi Nakamura.
3:53
yeah which i think she definitely gave it like some real
3:57
credibility and and i know
4:00
it looks like she did the evil withins which i can kind of see
4:03
um and this game is
4:06
a little bit darker and weirder than as cozy of a game as it is
4:10
it's it's a weird
4:12
cozy game for sure for sure yeah so what were what were your
4:17
first impressions when
4:18
SPEAKER_00: you jumped into the game
4:20
SPEAKER_01: So for me,
4:21
SPEAKER_01: I am a Like a Dragon series Yakuza,
4:25
which I know this has some greater implications considering
4:28
some other things that
4:29
SPEAKER_01: we'll talk about.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: But I am a fan of that game.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, it really reminded me of those.
4:36
I do think when you set yourselves in the foot of a or in the
4:42
feet of a charismatic
4:44
SPEAKER_01: and likable Yakuza,
4:46
SPEAKER_01: you automatically have to go to...
4:49
SPEAKER_01: the greatest Yakuza franchise in games.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: And I was not disappointed.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: I do think it had a lot of the kind of that,
5:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't call it bipolar,
5:01
SPEAKER_01: but it goes from very serious Yakuza,
5:04
you know the opening scene you're chopping your fingers off
5:08
because you you've
5:09
mucked up the deal to there's also this giant finger mascot in
5:14
the background that
5:15
we're not acknowledging is any strange or different so i i do
5:19
think the yakuza and
5:20
like a dragon games also toe that line between like this is
5:24
almost melodramatic but
5:26
SPEAKER_01: also there is this
5:28
SPEAKER_01: unaddressed weirdness in the room that kind of adds to the absurdity,
5:32
SPEAKER_01: which I think this game as a whole accomplishes pretty well.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
5:38
SPEAKER_00: I like the opening as a tone setter,
5:40
SPEAKER_00: like you said,
5:41
SPEAKER_00: that we've got the Yakuza gangster vibe coming in strong,
5:46
SPEAKER_00: but then the weird thumb and fingers hanging out,
5:51
SPEAKER_00: not being acknowledged.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: And then it also did
5:58
explain why you're banished to this rural japanese town that is
6:02
on the up and up or
6:03
on the down and out kind of somewhere in between um so yeah i
6:08
thought it opened
6:08
strong and like showed how stylish the game was and the music i
6:13
mean my third note
6:14
is that the music is full of boppers like just quite a bit of
6:19
just very good music
6:21
SPEAKER_00: like the
6:22
the art and the music is probably my favorite part of this game
6:25
without jumping
6:26
SPEAKER_00: like too far ahead.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, sure.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: No, I, I agree.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, I had to look it up.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: It is a Showa era inspired,
6:35
SPEAKER_01: like the retro vignette style,
6:38
SPEAKER_01: even in the beginning,
6:40
SPEAKER_01: they were like,
6:40
SPEAKER_01: okay,
6:40
SPEAKER_01: are you,
6:41
are you down with this filter that we're going to throw on to
6:44
the entire game?
6:46
SPEAKER_01: And I thought that was very cool.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: And, um,
6:49
SPEAKER_01: I was looking just Wikipedia-ing Showa era.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: The word cozy is thrown in there.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: And I do think it is funny that this game is kind of a cozy game.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: And then you just consider the,
7:02
SPEAKER_01: I guess,
7:02
SPEAKER_01: the implied violence that this guy had as he built the empire.
7:06
And then contrasting that to the relatively no violence that
7:11
you get in the game.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was very interesting, fun, and...
7:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a cozy management game.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: So I guess if we're getting into the mechanics a little bit,
7:21
SPEAKER_01: I was not necessarily,
7:24
SPEAKER_01: because we signed up when you presented this.
7:27
I looked into it,
7:28
and I was like,
7:29
oh,
7:29
there's some management involved,
7:31
clearly.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: And that turned out to be a pretty big mechanic from the outgo,
7:35
SPEAKER_01: where you're like,
7:37
SPEAKER_01: OK,
7:37
SPEAKER_01: you've got to make,
7:39
SPEAKER_01: is it $22 billion?
7:39
SPEAKER_01: Probably billion, right?
7:44
SPEAKER_00: A big number.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: It's a big number, right?
7:47
SPEAKER_00: You have a debt because of the money that you lost.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there were so many mechanics.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: I think, like,
7:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't think either of us knew much about this game going in.
8:00
I had kind of added it to my Steam wishlist based on someone's
8:04
impassioned speech
8:05
SPEAKER_00: for it at a Game Awards at the end of last year.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: And I liked... So one of the things that disappointed me most was that...
8:14
SPEAKER_00: this person was complimentary of the card battle mechanic,
8:21
SPEAKER_00: which like,
8:22
so I didn't make it all the way through the game or even close
8:25
because I will talk
8:27
SPEAKER_00: about it,
8:27
SPEAKER_00: but it was,
8:29
SPEAKER_00: it was so bad.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: The card battle mechanic is so minor.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: So they're,
8:34
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I don't play many cozy games,
8:37
SPEAKER_00: but this game was kind of a sitcom vibe of just good vibes,
8:43
SPEAKER_00: like nose exhale,
8:44
SPEAKER_00: dialogue,
8:46
SPEAKER_00: fun open world exploration,
8:48
SPEAKER_00: but none of the mechanics...
8:51
were stood out as this could be its own game like it all kind
8:57
of needed each other
8:58
the the story and writing was really good but not wouldn't hold
9:04
on it up on its own
9:05
the open world aspect couldn't really be its own game and yeah
9:08
i guess like i i
9:12
I ended up being kind of disappointed by every way of playing
9:16
the game except for
9:18
SPEAKER_00: the open world driving.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: That was the only part that I really liked.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: The visual novel aspect, I'll talk about in a bit.
9:26
And then the driving aspect and the unlocking aspect and the
9:29
management sim and the
9:31
SPEAKER_00: card battling.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: It was cool that I kept being like, oh, there's more layers to this game.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of it just felt surface level to me.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: I think,
9:43
SPEAKER_01: unfortunately,
9:43
SPEAKER_01: that's my gripe with it,
9:45
SPEAKER_01: too,
9:45
SPEAKER_01: is a lot of the meaning with all these mechanics,
9:49
SPEAKER_01: all these different games,
9:51
SPEAKER_01: didn't actually amount to much.
9:53
I did finish the game,
9:54
did get my platinum,
9:56
as I try to do with every game.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: How long did that take you?
9:59
SPEAKER_01: About 14 hours.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: Not terrible.
10:03
I think the Platinum is actually very forgiving for what it
10:05
could have been.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: It could have been a lot worse than what it asked of you to do,
10:08
SPEAKER_01: but I thought it was very reasonable.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: My playtime was three hours.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Very consistently, I kept having nights with free time and being like,
10:19
don't want to play promise mascot agency like after the first
10:22
hour i was quite
10:24
bored and i think what really hurt me was the two games that i
10:28
was playing before
10:29
this were disco elysium and magic the gathering and i was like
10:34
one game that was
10:35
part of why i was excited about this is because when i'm really
10:38
enjoying disco
10:39
elysium which is a very text heavy and story heavy game and i'm
10:42
like i'm ready for
10:43
SPEAKER_00: a game with a lot of visual novel
10:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready for that.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm really enjoying the dialogue.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm really enjoying the writing in Disco Elysium.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: And this game,
10:54
I kind of thought it was going to be a bit more like of the
10:58
dialogue was going to
10:58
SPEAKER_00: be the noir and the drama and the story.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: But most of the dialogue...
11:06
SPEAKER_00: is very quippy and light and good.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: It's really good writing, but when I watch TV, I don't watch sitcoms.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: I watch HBO dramas and comedies.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't really need something to pass the time.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a huge cozy game fan.
11:25
And this game just wanted you to kind of sit with it and enjoy
11:28
the vibes and the art.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, where's the narrative?
11:31
SPEAKER_00: Where's the deep car battling?
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Where is the...
11:34
The one thing I loved was the open world that they created and
11:37
driving around in
11:37
SPEAKER_00: that crazy car.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: I loved that, but everything else I was really bored by.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: I agree,
11:44
SPEAKER_01: and I buy into a lot of the visual novel stuff for these types of games,
11:49
SPEAKER_01: like Persona and Like a Dragon.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, those both eventually suffer from over-dialogue.
11:56
If there's too much dialogue,
11:57
you are smashing the buttons to get through the dialogues.
12:02
And I do want to,
12:05
this will be a good time to call it out,
12:07
I did love the voice acting.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: The voice acting was perfect, I think.
12:12
One,
12:12
you have a fully Japanese voiced roster played by Japanese
12:16
individuals.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: The lead, Michi, is played by the legendary Takaya Kuroda.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: Kuroda?
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me for that.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: But he is the voice actor of Kiryu from Like a Dragon.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: He is the main character.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
12:30
And so that deep voice,
12:31
that Yakuza energy,
12:32
they secured the Yakuza to do it.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: And that's the best part.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: And Pinky's voice actress, so good.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Pinky was so good.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: In the best way.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Man, the developers loved the source material.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know about that,
12:51
that Michi was voiced by the Yakuza actor and the art bible and
12:57
everything.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: This game is authentic.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: It very much delivered on what they were going for.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: It just wasn't for me in the end.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: I know.
13:08
And did you know our boy from a long time ago,
13:12
Shuhei Ishida,
13:13
is also a voice in one of these.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: He plays one of the mascots.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: This game feels like a PS2 game.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: I think intentionally so.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: Definitely,
13:23
SPEAKER_00: because this game,
13:24
the game that this reminded me most of where me and my sister
13:27
played hundreds of
13:29
SPEAKER_00: hours was Simpsons Road Rage and Simpsons Hidden Run.
13:33
It's like an open world that you only live in your car and
13:37
you're just driving.
13:38
It's fun to bop around and knock over bushes and then you run
13:41
into people and have
13:42
SPEAKER_00: dialogue and then you go do another quest.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: And I love those games.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: And this game definitely felt of a similar formula.
13:51
I was actually,
13:52
I have a note here that I personally didn't actually love the
13:55
traversal.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: I thought the hitboxes and there was a lot of unclear collisions.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: It was clunky.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: Whether it be, yeah.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the gates were like,
14:04
SPEAKER_01: okay,
14:04
SPEAKER_01: if you touch even like a fraction of the gate,
14:07
SPEAKER_01: your car is spinning out.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: And then the trees weren't anything.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think for me,
14:15
SPEAKER_01: what saved a lot of it was deep in the end game,
14:19
SPEAKER_01: you get a flying mechanic where you can fly.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: That's which deeply changes how you navigate.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: And then the pinky launcher.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: Did you get that far?
14:28
SPEAKER_01: No.
14:28
So basically,
14:30
there's a mechanic where,
14:31
you know,
14:32
there you could like run over signs and stuff.
14:35
You could eventually get a pinky launcher where you literally
14:38
eat pinky at distances and
14:41
SPEAKER_01: And that made driving around fun.
14:44
Cause you would just be smashing the launcher and you would
14:46
just pinky would make
14:47
SPEAKER_01: the best noises.
14:49
They would be the most like,
14:51
I don't even want to replicate some of the voice acting here.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Not, not for you.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Not right now, but it was just the most cringy like yells.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: And as you're just throwing her across.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: And so for me, that's where a lot of traversal was saved.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
15:09
I think all of that was only also salvageable because the
15:12
minimap had clear
15:13
indications of where you were supposed to pick up items and
15:16
interact with things.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: I do think if it was both unclear and a frustrating driving experience,
15:24
SPEAKER_01: that would have really ruined any attempt for me to platinum the game.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it certainly wasn't.
15:32
forza horizon that's for sure like anytime i got to like a top
15:36
speed i ended up
15:39
stuck in a ditch and like so many times so many times when i
15:42
was playing i was like
15:44
is there a reset button like i think i'm stuck and then somehow
15:47
i would be able to
15:47
SPEAKER_00: get out which i think
15:49
That was part of what I was really impressed by is that they
15:53
somehow got the
15:54
SPEAKER_00: physics to a place where you didn't ever get stuck.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: And I think maybe because I was so bored,
16:00
I really enjoyed the almost puzzle mechanics of trying to jump
16:05
over fences and
16:06
SPEAKER_00: like...
16:08
squeeze through buildings and go off ramps and try and catch
16:11
the ghosts or chase
16:14
down the upgrades and then I also because I only played for
16:18
three-ish hours I
16:21
didn't really wasn't really recursively going through areas so
16:26
everything was new
16:27
SPEAKER_00: and fresh and I did enjoy like picking up trash and hitting signs and
16:36
going into the woods and finding a shrine i think the yeah and
16:42
then i didn't i
16:43
never talked to pinky pinky kept being like having things to
16:46
say i'm like i'm not
16:47
i'm not going to talk to you stop telling me to talk to you i
16:49
love pinky but like
16:51
i'm just driving i don't want to talk to you um but yeah i
16:54
think like the jumping
16:56
SPEAKER_00: and the boosting felt good and i just thought it was
17:00
the silly tone of the game and the silly tone of the driving,
17:04
I found them very complimentary.
17:07
I think one of my ways that I wanted to make it better is I
17:11
think they should have
17:12
SPEAKER_01: leaned into it a little more.
17:13
There are games out there kind of,
17:16
I mean,
17:17
Like a Dragon is like that because it
17:20
SPEAKER_01: like I'd mentioned earlier, very serious.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: And then it jumps into like,
17:24
SPEAKER_01: you're pushing a 40 year old,
17:26
SPEAKER_01: just like Yakuza,
17:27
SPEAKER_01: just like a baby around.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, this is the game.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: This is the entire experience.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Should have had a little bit more like that.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: Or even like Saints Row.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Saints Row, like got into really silliness.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I think,
17:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
17:41
It's hard to tell because this also had maybe what I would
17:45
consider like JRPG sense
17:48
SPEAKER_01: of humor,
17:49
SPEAKER_01: even though this is a Western studio,
17:51
SPEAKER_01: clearly.
17:52
I do think they just nailed it so much where I don't know if
17:55
they could get away
17:56
SPEAKER_01: necessarily with getting a little bit more crass like Saints Row.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:03
yeah it was tougher for me for sure like i couldn't get a flow
18:07
so the two things
18:08
that kept knocking me off my flow were there were there were
18:12
excellent scenes like
18:14
story scenes or really fun side character scenes that were like
18:19
a lot of dialogue
18:20
SPEAKER_00: and i was like this is a lot but it's i'm i'm paying attention this is
18:25
this is compelling and there were quite a few just throwaway
18:29
dialogues where you
18:31
are clicking through like 12 like sentences you're just like
18:36
wait like i thought i
18:37
was just like dropping something off or like like what are we
18:40
talking about like
18:41
SPEAKER_00: why is this so long like it could be funny like
18:47
i have a note here that the whole game loop is designed to give
18:51
you quips that uh
18:53
quippy nose exhale conversations like there's so many there's
18:57
they're not short
18:58
they're never short conversations and they're never long
19:00
conversations they're like
19:01
medium length quippy like a lot of snorting because it's like
19:05
funny dialogue but it
19:08
SPEAKER_00: just doesn't uh
19:10
that if that is your thing this game delivers it in spades and
19:13
i wanted i wanted
19:14
the both other ends of the spectrum i wanted like a one-liner
19:19
banger piece of
19:20
dialogue that would make me laugh and keep going or long really
19:24
cool yes funny but
19:27
also introspective and interesting conversations and i felt
19:30
like i kept getting
19:30
SPEAKER_00: these medium length whether i was ready or not
19:34
conversations where you're like you said just mashing the
19:37
dialogue about yep i i do
19:39
think uh setting up a bit just took too long in the game and i
19:45
do think a lot of
19:45
SPEAKER_01: the mascots as fun as they were and great designs as they were
19:50
SPEAKER_01: Obviously,
19:51
SPEAKER_01: all of them a little one note and all of them have like loyalty and bond
19:55
SPEAKER_01: progression.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: But honestly, I pushed through a lot of those.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: I had to watch a lot of those to like get my platinum trophy.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: None of them are of note.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: None of them are actually significant.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: They...
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
20:07
SPEAKER_01: it does give a lot of,
20:09
SPEAKER_01: and they did reference this in the interview I saw,
20:11
SPEAKER_01: persona kind of progression with relationships is you rank up your bonds,
20:17
SPEAKER_01: you rank up your relationships with them,
20:20
SPEAKER_01: and those unlock passives to help you get more money and get more...
20:26
all of it for the management sim of the game which spoiler
20:30
alert i know this is a
20:31
spoiler cast it doesn't actually matter i don't know if you got
20:35
if you had read
20:35
that you never actually have to pay off the 22 bajillion so
20:40
what where does the
20:41
SPEAKER_01: story go
20:43
SPEAKER_01: So basically you send enough money,
20:45
SPEAKER_01: which I think is about two or $3 million to trigger the,
20:51
SPEAKER_01: like everyone,
20:52
SPEAKER_01: your,
20:52
SPEAKER_01: your boss,
20:54
SPEAKER_01: everyone eventually comes to Maso kimchi or kimchi.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: That's not great.
20:59
Uh,
20:59
the town,
21:00
the town,
21:02
and you get there and the money repayment component just
21:07
disappears.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Which is insane.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: What...
21:14
SPEAKER_00: What else?
21:14
SPEAKER_00: What happens next when they all come?
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Dude,
21:17
SPEAKER_00: there is a crazy plot line with...
21:20
SPEAKER_01: It gets...
21:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to say it's good because I skipped through a lot of it,
21:26
SPEAKER_01: but there's this coal mine.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: I know.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: There's this coal mine.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: There's this who owned the coal mine.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: Apparently,
21:33
it was one person's family who had some sort of relationship
21:36
with another person,
21:38
SPEAKER_01: and that's why they're here.
21:40
it is it is not a great are you learning about the curse no
21:44
well there's no there
21:45
is no curse this is scooby-doo basically it's all manufactured
21:47
i think i saw that
21:49
coming yeah and yeah none of it really hit or landed nor was it
21:55
relevant to mascots
21:58
SPEAKER_01: and and even if it was it's just not yeah
22:04
SPEAKER_00: There's too many, too many ideas, too many mechanics.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: And I think like,
22:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I had more time or if I was trying to kill time in a,
22:19
SPEAKER_00: what I felt like artistic and varied and funny way.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: I think this game is great for that.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: It's just not really what I'm looking for.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:29
The note I have that's related to that is this game is like a
22:32
slightly better
22:33
SPEAKER_01: cookie clicker or clicker game.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Like you are just,
22:37
SPEAKER_01: you are trying to maintain all of these incomes,
22:41
SPEAKER_01: whether it be the obvious management part.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: There's a toy management.
22:46
I don't know if you got that far where you play the crane game
22:50
and you,
22:51
you,
22:52
uh dispatch toys and the disappointing part is all of it
22:58
doesn't mean anything uh
23:00
part of me was like this is what i meant to say when the
23:03
platinum could have been
23:04
SPEAKER_01: harder like you you put a gold trophy in there that says
23:09
contribute the original amount that you were owed like that
23:12
could have been one of
23:13
the hard trophies that I've been like okay time to maximize
23:18
every stream of income
23:19
and like that would be a fun for me as a completionist that
23:23
would be like a fun
23:23
SPEAKER_01: part of the game is like okay
23:25
SPEAKER_01: I need to maximize.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: I need to take on the harder card challenge.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: The card game was so not good and it doesn't get any harder.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Bad.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I ever understood it.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: I was just like, you just add two numbers together and then it's over.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is this?
23:41
SPEAKER_01: So here, here's,
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Did you read or see what the final boss was like?
23:48
SPEAKER_01: No.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: So basically, it's the card game.
23:52
You compete in this mega mascot competition that you play the
23:56
card game multiple times in a row.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: But because they are so...
24:03
SPEAKER_01: whoever is trying to supplant you, they like make the game impossible.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: They're like, this thing has 10,000 health.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Good luck fighting it.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: And it's me who grinded all the cards.
24:15
I like,
24:16
I don't actually know the number,
24:17
but I carved off like several hundred.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Like I was like dishing out damage.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: I was redrawing and I was like,
24:25
SPEAKER_01: okay,
24:25
SPEAKER_01: clearly I'm supposed to lose this,
24:27
SPEAKER_01: but like maybe it would be fun to try to beat it.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Basically, they they make you do this.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: They force you to lose intentionally three times in a row.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: And then you unlock the power of friendship.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: And each card is now worth like 10,000 or 10 million.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: And then you do it again three times in a row.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: Like basically all of your autonomy,
24:51
all of your hard work and all of your reason to do anything is
24:56
done through what is
24:57
SPEAKER_01: a barely interactive cutscene.
25:00
and i was like what why did i grind all of this like give me
25:03
something actually
25:04
hard and the other note i'm going off right now i'm sorry hell
25:07
yeah like lean lean
25:11
into the pinky launcher let me fight uh another mascot agency
25:15
with the pinky
25:16
launcher or any of these other weird mini games like the crane
25:18
game and let me
25:20
SPEAKER_01: actually do it instead of
25:23
SPEAKER_01: not even letting me play the card game right, like with my hard work.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: You gave me Exodia in round one and you asked me, wasn't that awesome?
25:32
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, no, it wasn't.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: They totally ran out of steam on a few of their...
25:38
It's like we talked a lot about in our ball pit episode how
25:41
they have these
25:42
SPEAKER_00: different design verticals,
25:43
SPEAKER_00: whether they be the balls,
25:44
SPEAKER_00: the characters,
25:45
SPEAKER_00: the maps.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: And as the game progresses,
25:49
they struggle to keep up with each other in terms of new ideas
25:52
and new mechanics.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, the card game...
25:57
never left go like it never got they like they put it in the
26:01
game and then they put
26:02
all of their effort into everything else and then at the very
26:05
end they were like oh
26:07
gosh we're we're we got nothing yeah it's funny that you're
26:11
talking about grinding
26:11
too because the this game got a major update in august 2025
26:14
which is after we
26:15
SPEAKER_00: played it
26:16
the update is called prepare to grind uh which featured time
26:19
trials new difficulty
26:20
modes and a grinding ability upgrade for the player's truck or
26:24
i guess maybe that's
26:25
how you can grind on post it's grinding it's grinding on rails
26:28
that's a nice pun
26:29
SPEAKER_00: yeah so but still like this game i guess too like
26:34
I think that maybe what is subverting my expectations a little
26:38
bit is that it's
26:39
SPEAKER_00: rare that indie games do this,
26:41
SPEAKER_00: right?
26:41
SPEAKER_00: If an indie game tries to create,
26:44
SPEAKER_00: like if you think about a short hike,
26:47
SPEAKER_00: which has one mechanic about climbing and gliding,
26:51
SPEAKER_00: that
26:54
um propels you through like a very charming game but to make
26:57
the world feel bigger
26:58
to keep the player excited they add like mini games there's the
27:02
volleyball mini
27:03
game and i know you've played this if you haven't played this
27:06
um you should check
27:07
SPEAKER_00: it out short hike's amazing there's the volleyball mini game there is um
27:13
SPEAKER_00: a little bit of dialogue, and then there might be a fishing minigame.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Is there a fishing minigame?
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Probably.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Just micro-experiences.
27:21
Yeah,
27:22
and that's cute,
27:23
and that's charming,
27:24
but they're not core parts of the game.
27:27
SPEAKER_00: When you think about a huge open world like The Witcher,
27:31
SPEAKER_00: which has a whole Gwent card game in it,
27:34
SPEAKER_00: or Cyberpunk or something that has amazing...
27:40
and dialogue and story on top of all of the like combat I feel
27:44
like those games justify their
27:50
ambition a little bit more whereas indie games they tend to
27:54
focus on really doing
27:57
one thing really well because that's all they have the budget
28:00
to do or all the
28:00
interest in doing like an amazing visual novel an amazing card
28:04
game an amazing
28:05
horror game or hack and slash whatever it is so i i think i
28:10
like i respect and i i
28:12
SPEAKER_00: think this is the game that they wanted to make but it just isn't um
28:18
SPEAKER_00: it's just, it wasn't for me.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: It's a, it's a very big pool that is a little shallow.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: The,
28:27
SPEAKER_00: some positive notes,
28:28
SPEAKER_00: the,
28:29
SPEAKER_00: I have some notes I have,
28:30
SPEAKER_00: the mama son,
28:31
SPEAKER_00: the dominatrix bartender cracked me up.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: I thought that that was hilarious.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed picking up nail polishes for pinky.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Like I was like, that's, see, that's, that's one that like,
28:44
SPEAKER_00: I enjoy collecting it because I get to show it off.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: I get to see how it looks on the back of the car.
28:49
It satisfied my collector instinct in a way that the cards did
28:54
not because the
28:55
SPEAKER_00: cards kept demanding that I engage with this larger,
28:58
SPEAKER_00: annoying minigame.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: And it was...
29:02
yeah i just found that to be a very charming small thing in the
29:06
game um and then
29:09
yeah i thought that the i like just driving through water like
29:14
i was like yeah i
29:15
like i was like what's gonna happen if i just go through this
29:17
water and stuff like
29:18
that but that's that's pretty much those are the things that i
29:21
wrote down that were
29:22
SPEAKER_00: that were positive yeah
29:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I had mentioned, I thought the voice acting was very good.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: Pinky and Beachy, they are fun characters.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: I did like all of the mascot, most of the mascot designs.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: I thought they were very cute.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do think with...
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Like you were mentioning earlier,
29:43
SPEAKER_01: with as many mechanics as they had,
29:45
SPEAKER_01: I do imagine,
29:46
SPEAKER_01: like you said,
29:47
SPEAKER_01: it is an indie team,
29:50
SPEAKER_01: and they were trying to do what...
29:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to butcher the developer of Yakuza slash Like a Dragon.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: They tried to do what they did.
29:58
SPEAKER_01: And because those games also have the most random minigames.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: There will be a small racing car game, and a delivery game, and a...
30:10
like a Mahjong game,
30:11
a card game,
30:12
like they have literally 50 mini games in the,
30:17
SPEAKER_01: like a dragon.
30:18
SPEAKER_01: And it's like,
30:19
SPEAKER_01: none of these are important to the story at all,
30:22
SPEAKER_01: but it's like,
30:23
SPEAKER_01: Hey,
30:23
SPEAKER_01: these are cool things that you can engage with for some reason.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: And we kind of baked like an end game.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: What like challenging component with it.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: I do think that's what they were trying to do.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: Maybe with a little bit of what they were after.
30:37
Ultimately they don't mean anything kind of like,
30:40
like a dragon,
30:41
but I just wish,
30:43
SPEAKER_01: I just wish,
30:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't know,
30:45
SPEAKER_01: like you had mentioned with the minigame,
30:49
SPEAKER_01: I wish they added up to something,
30:51
SPEAKER_01: or you had to engage with them,
30:53
SPEAKER_01: like for me,
30:54
SPEAKER_01: for a greater objective of repaying everything,
30:57
SPEAKER_01: or even if it's just for fun.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: Or just, like,
31:01
have more story than just the very beginning and the very end
31:05
like yeah was there
31:06
any other story in between i mean there's lore and world
31:11
building but is there like
31:13
dynamic events that that changed the story no that's cruel for
31:19
me to quickly say
31:20
SPEAKER_01: that that way so i will say the one thing with the story at the end is
31:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you knew or saw it coming,
31:28
SPEAKER_01: but your best friend,
31:29
SPEAKER_01: your oath-sworn brother from the beginning,
31:31
SPEAKER_01: he was the bad guy the whole time.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: The suave-looking one.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: The handsome-looking one.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: The one who got shot.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: The one who got shot.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:42
And I will say the game at the end...
31:44
What did you choose,
31:45
by the way,
31:46
at the beginning of...
31:47
what did i choose is it either like save him or what was it
31:52
like you had this
31:53
choice to either throw him under the bus or like say it's your
31:56
fault or just in the
31:59
stand in the heist could you have like saved the money or saved
32:02
him kind of thing
32:04
yeah i think i chose to save him i did that was my i wonder
32:08
what would happen if
32:08
SPEAKER_00: you chose the other thing
32:10
SPEAKER_00: The answer is probably not anything.
32:13
But I will say at the epilogue,
32:16
it does have a similar actual final choice.
32:20
You have three options to what you want to do with Toki,
32:23
your Orthswim brother.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: You can free him.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: You can forgive him.
32:31
Or you can what's called take him to the kill room,
32:35
which is you presumably like execute him.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: And I do think that was always interesting.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how you roleplay these games,
32:45
SPEAKER_01: but I in my head,
32:47
SPEAKER_01: the story with Michi is I didn't play him like violent or mean or mean,
32:53
SPEAKER_01: even though like he has this reputation of being an enforcer.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: I think the time spent in this fictional city working with mascots didn't
33:02
SPEAKER_01: necessarily play with being an unforgiving merciless killer.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: He seemed like a softie.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a little bit of a softie.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
33:13
SPEAKER_00: I think,
33:14
SPEAKER_00: like,
33:14
SPEAKER_00: this game definitely has an audience,
33:17
SPEAKER_00: because it's at 97% on Steam,
33:20
SPEAKER_00: overwhelmingly positive,
33:22
SPEAKER_00: with quite a bit of reviews,
33:23
SPEAKER_00: so I do think,
33:25
SPEAKER_00: like,
33:25
SPEAKER_00: for the right people,
33:26
SPEAKER_00: this game is nothing like it,
33:29
SPEAKER_00: and they're absolutely their cup of tea.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: One of the reviews says,
33:32
SPEAKER_00: a weird game in the best way,
33:34
SPEAKER_00: this could never be created by a corporate design committee.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: I agree with that, like,
33:41
I think that's something that is special about indie games is
33:44
they're not made for
33:46
the masses and you can actually feel like the choices weren't
33:52
focus tested and they
33:53
got to be weird and risky and yeah I do appreciate that about
33:59
this game a great
34:00
SPEAKER_00: deal yeah that's all I have for Promise Mascot Agency
34:09
SPEAKER_00: I think that's all I had too.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: I think I... Thank you for finishing it and platinum me.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: We needed some of that cred on this recap.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I wanted to give it a fair shake.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: And also,
34:23
SPEAKER_01: you know,
34:24
SPEAKER_01: after a while,
34:25
SPEAKER_01: and again,
34:25
SPEAKER_01: after I get my feet wet in the game,
34:27
SPEAKER_01: I always look up,
34:27
SPEAKER_01: okay,
34:28
SPEAKER_01: guys,
34:28
SPEAKER_01: am I trying to platinum it?
34:30
SPEAKER_01: Like talking to myself.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: And I look it up and I see it's like a 15 hour platinum.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh yeah, this is happening.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't care how long it's going to take.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to do it.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: Some sunk cost.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm well adjusted, I promise.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was cool, I think.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: I think it has made me,
34:48
SPEAKER_00: just like last month's luprints,
34:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm like,
34:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm good on puzzlers for a bit.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely good on visual novels for a minute.
34:57
I'm looking forward to mouthwashing,
34:59
which is going to just be something totally different.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: Very cool, man.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
35:07
Well,
35:07
thank you,
35:08
as always,
35:09
Patrick,
35:09
for being my partner in crime on this.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: That was Promise Mascot Agency.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: Next month is mouthwashing, which is fun to say.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to recap it with you.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: Sounds good.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: I'll see you next time.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: All right.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, everyone.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Happy gaming.
35:30
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Much love.