Showa American Story: Difference between revisions

2026 video game

Showa American Story is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by the Chinese studio NEKCOM. The player assumes the role of Chouko Chigusa, a stuntwoman who has been revived from the dead. The story is set in post-apocalyptic Showa America, an alternate history reimagining of the United States shaped by the culture and economy of Japan.

Showa American Story is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5 and Windows in 2026.

Showa American Story is an action role-playing game.^[4][5][6] It is defined simply as a role-playing game by NEKCOM.^[3] It is played in single-player mode.^[7]

The player controls the stuntwoman Chouko Chigusa.^[8] She can wield melee and ranged weapons.^[9][10]

One of the enemy bosses is Gokou, the Governor of Texas, who is both an American cowboy and a Japanese samurai.^[11]

The game features a semi-open world.^[3] It consists of multiple cities, each of which is its own sandbox.^[12] Modes of transportation include a camper, a motorcycle, and more.^[3] The camper, which serves a base of operations, is used to traverse between the cities.^[12]

Showa American Story takes place in post-apocalyptic Showa America.^[9][10] It is set in the year 66 of the Showa era,^[3][12] which corresponds to the year 1991.^[13]

The setting is presented as an alternate history.^[11] In this world, Japan‘s culture and economy have profoundly shaped the United States.^[9][10] Japan has bought out much of the country through its strong economic power, while the two cultures have rapidly amalgamated into a new way of life there.^[9][10]

Chouko Chigusa, a 19-year-old stuntwoman, travels with her younger sister to America. In Neo Yokohama, Chouko goes to a movie audition and is killed by a mysterious agent. However, she is revived from the dead and discovers that America has changed into a post-apocalyptic landscape with zombies, monsters, and other human survivors. In an effort to find her missing sister, she embarks on a journey across America.^[14]

Showa American Story is a game developed by NEKCOM.^[12] It was initially built using Unreal Engine 4 and was later built using Unreal Engine 5.^[11] Its development started in 2016.^[15]

Showa American Story is based on American and Japanese popular culture of the 1980s and 1990s, as drawn from the memories of the Chinese developers.^[13] Xiangyu Luo commented that “I used Japanese manga, movies, and the like that were popular in China as my base. I thought it would be more interesting to show people a unique take on Showa style as seen by a Chinese person than it would be if we depicted it faithfully. While I was confident that Chinese users who experienced the same timeframe and creative works as me would understand the charm, I never imagined I’d get this big of a reaction from Japan and the West.”^[12]

The development cost of Showa American Story was about US$20 million, as disclosed by Luo.^[16]

Showa American Story is scheduled to be released for PC and PlayStation 5 in 2026.^[17][18]