Ikigai: An Alternate Cold War Simulator

The president is dead. You were never supposed to lead.

At just 30 years old, Makoto Takatsuki was nothing more than a political prop. A handsome face on a campaign poster, tapped as Vice President to charm voters while the real powers governed behind closed doors. But when President Watanabe is found dead inside the Diamond Office, Makoto is thrust into the highest seat of the most powerful nation on earth.

Now, from 1961 to 1964, you must lead the United Provinces of Kinshu through a Cold War that threatens annihilation, an economy on the verge of collapse, and a political establishment that never wanted you in the first place. All while a question festers beneath every handshake, every briefing, every alliance: who killed the president, and why do they want you in his chair?

Your decisions will shape not only the fate of your nation, but of the entire world.

• A Murder in the Diamond Office: The president was assassinated, and you inherited his enemies along with his title. Navigate a web of suspicion while running a nation that is watching your every misstep. Trust is your most valuable, and most dangerous, currency.

• A World Turned on Its Head: Immerse yourself in an alternate history where global power has shifted East. Lead the United Provinces of Kinshu through the dawn of a terrifying Cold War, where rival superpowers circle and your every diplomatic move reverberates across the world stage.

• Govern a Living Nation: Go beyond simple dialogue choices. Control the national budget, set tax policy, manage trade, and invest in key sectors through a real economic simulation. Push bills through a bicameral Congress where rival parties, internal factions, and political dealmaking determine whether your agenda lives or dies.

• Every Ally Has an Agenda: Engage with a cast of advisors, senators, and power brokers, each with their own loyalties and secrets. Who is guiding you, and who is steering you toward ruin? Your relationships will shape your presidency as much as your policies.

• Consequences You Can't Take Back: Traverse a branching narrative where decisions cascade. A concession to one faction becomes a betrayal to another, a diplomatic gesture abroad ignites protests at home. There are no clean choices, only trade-offs.

Welcome to Ikigai, an alternate timeline where history was shaped not by Europe, but by the great powers of Asia. Nations like Nihon, Joseon, and Chu dominated the globe. In the Americas, this led to a revolution against Nihonese rule, giving birth to a new world power: the United Provinces of Kinshu. Meanwhile, Europe languished, with a fragile, unified Rome and an isolationist Britannia watching from the sidelines as the world changed around them.

The 20th century brought two world wars. The second, a bloody confrontation between the Allies and the Axis, reshaped the planet. The Allied powers were led by the United Provinces of Kinshu, Nihon, Republican Rome, and the Union of Social Council Republics (the successor to Mongolia). They fought against an extremist Axis composed of Chu, Vietnam, and a militaristic Britannia. After the most bloody conflict placed upon humanity, including the detonation of the first nuclear weapon which led to the final surrender of Britannia, set in the world in the most tense era of the entire history, the Cold War.

The times after the war proved to be turbulent, with events such as the defeat of the Republican Rome by the Roman Councilist Forces, the Danmark War, and the beginning of the Space Race, the United Provinces of Kinshu, the Union of Social Council Republics, and the People's Republic of Rome are engaged for the dominance of their beliefs and ideology in a race for technology and influence across the world.