Europe’s largest online game showcase, Gamescom, kicked off earlier this week with a two-hour showcase that includes new and beforehand introduced video games. The occasion included recent appears to be like at Final Fantasy 7 Revelation and The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, in addition to debut trailers for Hoyoverse’s Elden Ring-like Nodusfall and the long-rumored Lego Skylines. However for me, China-based developer Nekcom Leisure’s completely wild trailer for Showa American Story was the most effective shock of the present.
This single-player RPG is coming to PC and PlayStation 5 and takes place in an alternate-history model of the US within the ’80s, the place Japan has culturally colonized America. You play as Choko, who has returned from the useless to get pleasure from a traditional American cross-country highway journey, kicking ass and taking names as she squares off towards zombies, monsters, and human survivors of varied backgrounds. Assume Yakuza meets Lollipop Chainsaw.
At first, I used to be skeptical. Who wears booty shorts to a temple? However as soon as we had been launched to the brilliantly named character “Michael Hero,” I began to imagine. Like Yakuza, there are sword fights, fist fights, and portly nude males. Generally you may struggle hordes of goons directly, whereas different brawls will simply be you delivering a swift knee to some poor loser’s nuts. There additionally seems to be a facet quest the place Choko scouts places for pink movies, aka Japanese softcore porn. You possibly can play hopscotch in a playground and shooters in arcade cupboards. Better of all, you need to use the nice outdated American flag as a melee weapon, each as a sweeping polearm for crowd management, and as a rocket-powered finisher that sends your unfortunate foe skyward as you and different onlookers solemnly salute the USA. Simply do not let it contact the bottom!
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The trailer additionally means that Showa American Story will satirize American tradition in ways in which many western-made video games have been squeamish about in recent years. “America was by no means a spot. It is a dream. A dream drunk on bourbon, refusing to get up at 4 within the morning,” says the President in a voice-over. “Is that this the twenty-first century we dreamed of?” Contemplating a bag of Doritos at present prices $8, a PS5 Professional prices $900, and there’s nary a Again to the Future 2 hoverboard in sight, I believe we are able to all agree the reply is a reasonably agency “nope!”
This truly is not the primary time we have heard about Showa American Story. The builders shared another trailer for the sport again in November 2024, and it was first announced again in January 2022. Showa American Story would not but have a agency launch date, however the official site says it’s going to launch someday in 2026.