Showa American Story

Showa American Story‍^[a] is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by the Chinese studio NEKCOM. The player assumes the role of Chouko Chigusa, a stuntwoman, who navigates post-apocalyptic Showa America, an alternate history reimagining of the United States shaped by the economy and culture 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.^[6][7][8] It is defined simply as a role-playing game by NEKCOM.^{[4][9][10][11]} It is played in single-player mode.^[12]

The player controls the stuntwoman Chouko Chigusa.^[13] She can wield melee and ranged weapons.^[14]

The combat is real-time action.^[9] One of the enemy bosses is Gokou, the Governor of Texas, who is both an American cowboy and a Japanese samurai.^[15]

The game takes place in a semi-open world.^[4] It consists of multiple cities, each of which is its own sandbox.^[3] A camper, a motorcycle, and other vehicles are drivable.^[4] The traversal between cities is done using the camper, either through fast travel or by driving.^[3] The base of operations is the camper.^[3]

The main story is linear, while side stories and minigames gradually become available as the main story progresses.^[16]

Showa American Story takes place in post-apocalyptic Showa America.^[17][18] It is set in the 66th year of the Showa era,^[3][4] which corresponds to the year 1991.^[19][20][21]

The setting is presented as an alternate history.^[15][22] In this world, Japan has bought out much of the United States through its strong economic power, while a surge of immigration by its people has led to an amalgamation of the two cultures into a new way of life in the United States.^[17][18][21] The United States has essentially become an economic and cultural colony of Japan.^{[14][21][23][24]} In this scenario, Japan's economic bubble did not collapse.^[4][14][22]

Chouko Chigusa, who is a 19-year-old stuntwoman, and her sister go to a movie audition in Neo Yokohama, formerly known as Hollywood. Shortly after arrival, Chouko is killed by mysterious agents. Her body is buried in the outskirts of Neo Yokohama. However, she is miraculously revived from the dead and discovers that America has changed into a post-apocalyptic landscape populated with zombies, monsters, and other human survivors. In order to find her missing sister, uncover the truth, and exact revenge, she embarks on a journey across America.^[25]

Showa American Story is a game developed by NEKCOM.^[3][26] The studio is based in Wuhan, China.^[27] The game was initially built using Unreal Engine 4 and was later built using Unreal Engine 5.^[15]

NEKCOM started the development of Showa American Story in 2016.^[28] The conceptual design happened from 2016 to 2018.^[29] During this period, at most five people were involved in the project.^[30] The development entered its official phase in the second half of 2018.^[30]

Showa American Story was based on Japanese and American popular culture of the eighties and nineties, as approached from a Chinese perspective.^[19] At the time, these foreign cultures were introduced to China and appeared in distinct ways within its society, which left lasting memories for the developers.^[19] The developers derived cultural references from their own memories, rather than from research or consultation.^[19] 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."^[3]

The developers intended to convey a sense of nostalgia for the Showa era.^[31] Although they considered a cyberpunk theme, they concluded that science fiction elements would detract from their portrayal of a setting rooted in the period and decided to exclude elements deemed extraneous to the nostalgic tone.^[31] They adopted a B-movie style for its distinctiveness within the current market and as a way to display the romantic feeling of the eighties and nineties familiar to the generation of the time.^[32] For example, the combat was inspired by the straightforward violence often seen in that medium.^[16]

The developers created a game prototype with a 45° top-down perspective and concluded that it lacked the expressiveness required for the game's subject.^[32] Therefore, following an assessment of the costs and feasibility, they shifted the direction toward a game in third-person perspective.^[32]

Character designs were either drawn by hand or based on photogrammetry.^[15] The protagonist Chouko Chigusa was featured with a mosaic effect over her face in the 2024 trailer, because her design was not finalized and thus could not be shown at the time.^[26]

The developers chose "Sorega Daiji" by the Daijiman Brothers Band as the game's theme song.^[14][31] Luo came across the song randomly on a playlist, which brought back nostalgic memories and led to the realization that this was what he had been seeking.^[31] He had listened to the song a lot in the past and remembered it as a powerful song that encouraged people who were left discouraged following the collapse of Japan's economic bubble.^[14] He therefore felt that the song aligned with the game and was ideal as its theme song.^[14]

The development cost of Showa American Story was about US$20 million, a preliminary figure given by Luo in late 2024.^[33]

Showa American Story is scheduled to be released for PC and PlayStation 5 in 2026.^[34][35]

In January 2022, NEKCOM unveiled Showa American Story.^[6][36] At the time, the game was announced for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.^[37] Starting a few days earlier in that month, the studio teased the project under the title Project SAS with a daily countdown toward the reveal.^[38] In November 2024, the studio revealed that the game would be released for PC and PlayStation 5 in 2025.^[39] In November 2025, the studio stated that the game was delayed to 2026.^[35][40][41]

Showa American Story won Phenomenon of the Year, and was also nominated for Most Anticipated Game and Surprise of the Year at the UCG Game Awards 2024.^[42][43]