One of the loveliest books I’ve read in the last few years is J. L. Carr’s short novel A Month in the Country. The book’s about a lot of things – and I may have written about it before on Eurogamer – but, broadly, the novel concerns a veteran of the first world war who turns up in a small village up north to uncover a piece of art that’s been concealed in the church. For a month he works in the church, restoring a lost mural element by careful element, having nightmares of the mud and gas at night and making tentative friendships during the day. Nothing happens and everything happens. At the end, he leaves and is – somehow – transformed by the experience.
Promise Mascot Agency reviewPublisher: Kaizen Game WorksDeveloper: Kaizen Game WorksPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on Steam, Switch, PS5 and Xbox X/S.
Promise Mascot Agency is not very similar to A Month in the Country – in a minute I’m going to make that extremely clear by listing some of the things it contains – and yet it reminds me of the novel in a way that little else does. The more I played, the more I thought about J. L. Carr’s story. Again, this game is about a lot of things, but one of them is about finding a new way of being in a new landscape. It’s about getting away – in less than ideal circumstances – and finding out that life continues, that life is still .
How rich? Well, last night was wild. I was cleaning shrines up in the hills when I got a call that my mother was about to be killed by proper professional villains unless I paid some protection money pronto. My bank account was almost down to zero, though, and the sun was setting, which meant my nightly bills were coming and they would surely take me even further into the red. I raced, wallet empty, over to the nearest payment ATM, jouncing along in my rattling van that was decked out for a political campaign I was currently running against the town’s crooked mayor. I checked my watch. Mum was running out of time. My only hope was that a giant over-sexed, yam-covered cat (don’t ask) who I’d sent to cheer people up at a local bookstore (don’t ask) would do the job and bring home some cash in time for me to transfer it before all those bills swept it away and my mum ended up in the river. (Don’t ask.)
Promise Mascot Agency – Official Release Date Trailer | IGN Fan Fest 2025 Watch on YouTube
Promise Mascot Agency is quite an odd game a lot of the time. And if anything I’ve played it pretty straight up-front. This game has weeping tofu mascots getting into fights with badly stacked boxes, a train station part run by kittens, papery ghosts circling the hills and alleyways, hands joined, and, oh yes, the giant thumb I travel around with, who likes to ride in the back of that van and spout obscenity-laced wisdom at the worst moments.