Showa American Story

Showa American Story
Developer	NEKCOM
Publishers	2P Games 4Divinity
Directors	Xiangyu Luo‍[1][2] Jensen Fang‍[3]
Producers	Xiangyu Luo‍[1][4] Jensen Fang
Engine	Unreal Engine 5
Platforms	PlayStation 5 Windows
Release	2026
Genre	Action role-playing
Mode	Single-player

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 has miraculously revived from the dead. The story is set in post-apocalyptic Showa America, an alternate history reimagining of the United States that is profoundly 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.^[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]

In terms of the story campaign, there are main and side quests.^[14]

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]

Showa American Story takes place in post-apocalyptic Showa America.^[16][17] It is set in the 66th year of the Showa era,^[3][4] which corresponds to the year 1991.^[18][19][20]

The setting is presented as an alternate history.^[15] 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.^[16][17][20] The United States has essentially become an economic and cultural colony of Japan.^{[14][20][21][22]}

Japan's economic bubble collapse did not occur in this scenario.^[4][14]

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 miraculously revives 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.^[23]

Showa American Story is a game developed by NEKCOM.^[3] The studio is based in Wuhan, China.^[24] 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.^[25] The developers worked on the conceptual design from 2016 to 2018.^[26] During this period, at most five people were involved in the project.^[27] The developers began the official phase of the development in late 2018.^[27] By early 2022, the project's team comprised approximately 20 people.^[27]

Showa American Story was based on Japanese and American popular culture of the 1980s and 1990s, as approached from a Chinese perspective.^[18] 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.^[18] The developers derived cultural references from their own memories, rather than from research or consultation.^[18] 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 in the game.^[28] They also considered a cyberpunk theme, but they concluded that science fiction elements would act as noise to their portrayal of a setting rooted in the period and decided to exclude elements deemed extraneous to the nostalgic sense of the time.^[28]

The game's theme song is "Sorega Daiji" by the Daijiman Brothers Band.^[14][28] Luo commented that the song was one that he listened to a lot back then and remembered as a powerful song that encouraged people who were left discouraged following Japan's economic bubble collapse, so he thought that it suited the game and was ideal as its theme song.^[14]

The development cost of Showa American Story was about US$20 million, as disclosed by Luo.^[29]

Showa American Story is scheduled to be released for PC and PlayStation 5 in 2026.^[30][31]

In January 2022, NEKCOM unveiled Showa American Story.^[6][32] At the time, the game was announced for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.^[33] 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.^[34] In November 2024, the studio revealed that the game would be released for PC and PlayStation 5 in 2025.^[35] In November 2025, the studio stated that the game was delayed to 2026.^[31]

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.^[36][37]