On this episode Bryan and Josh drive into Promise Mascot Agency, developed by Kaizen Game Works, the team behind Paradise Killer. Released in April 2025 for Windows, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, the game blends open-world driving, management sim mechanics, visual novel storytelling, and crime drama into an experience Bryan called his Game of the Year 2025. Set in the cursed town of Kaso-Machi, the story follows exiled yakuza lieutenant Michizane “Michi” Sugawara (voiced by Takaya Kuroda) as he attempts to repay a debt by rebuilding a failing mascot agency alongside his chaotic, foul-mouthed assistant Pink, a literal severed finger with a heart of gold. We explore how the game’s “PS2-feeling” open world, bizarre truck physics, card-battling support system, and management mechanics shouldn’t work on paper but absolutely do in practice. Buoyed by an infectious east-meets-west soundtrack from Alpha Chrome Yayo and Ryo Koike, Promise Mascot Agency delivers a potent dose of earnest absurdity.

From negotiating mascot wages and launching Pinky out of a truck-mounted cannon to debating civic policy and upgrading town landmarks, every system feeds into a larger story about found family, labor, accountability, and rebuilding community. So hop into your mascot laden truck and listen in as Bryan and Josh discuss Promise Mascot Agency!

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Uplifting Offbeat Sincerity

Josh - A Rambling Tale

In this episode, Bryan and Clint ride off into Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Picking up directly after the first game, Warhorse Studios’ historical RPG returns us to early 15th-century Bohemia, following Henry’s journey from blacksmith’s son to reluctant man-at-arms amid political chaos, feudal power struggles, and deeply human moral choices. Along the way, we examine how KCD2’s simulation-driven design—living villages, reputation systems, punishing swordplay, and obsessive historical detail—creates a world where the player always feels like a small cog in a very large, uncaring machine.

We also examine the series’ fixation on historical accuracy, immersion, and realism, and how its simulation of everyday medieval life firmly grounds the game’s themes. Bryan and Clint unpack the game’s uneasy relationship with war, its unflinching portrayals of atrocity, religion, and power, and its often uncomfortable parallels to modern politics and class structures. Through character studies of Henry, Hans Capon, Jan Žižka, Father Godwin, and a sprawling ensemble cast, the game strips away fantasy and leans into human truth. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II tells a story that doesn’t just feel real, but revealing.

Three Word Reviews:

Clint - Bohemian Bastard Simulator

Bryan - Veritas Ex Fabula

In this episode of Pixelated Playgrounds, Josh Galecki and Bryan Skursha tackle Baby Steps, the 2025 overly literal walking simulator developed by Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy and published by Devolver Digital. Known for games that turn basic movement into existential comedy (QWOP, Getting Over It, etc.), the team delivers another strange, hilarious experiment in control and patience.

We embody Nate, a 35-year-old basement-dwelling failson, who is dropped into a vast mountain wilderness and must literally learn how to walk using deliberately awkward controls which turn every footstep into a small triumph or a catastrophic pratfall. Along the way we dig into the open-ended world design, the absence of a map, the optional “gamer bullshit” challenges like hats and dares, and why Baby Steps is less about rage and more about embracing failure, exploration, and weird little stories that only happen because you fell down a hill the wrong way. So listen in as we learn about patience, humility, and how sometimes the only way forward is face-planting, laughing, and taking one more careful step on the path.

Three Word Reviews:

Bryan - Victory in Defeat

Josh - Enjoying the Journey