Tchia

Tchia is a charming game set in a fictionalized version of the Pacific archipelago New Caldonia. The game follows a young girl (Tchia) who sets out to rescue her father, meeting a colorful cast of characters who help her along her journey.

Tchia (2023)

Completed

The story takes you all over the archipelago on a little raft, and has a few twists to keep things moving along. The story and characters are engaging. Gameplay and mechanics are solid, as are exploration and traversal. I ended up spending a long time just exploring the world and collecting things because it is so satisfying.

The most unique mechanic is called soul jumping, where you can inhabit any animal you come across in the world. It’s used as a puzzle-solving mechanic a few times, but less than I was expecting. It is a good way to traverse the map, and soul jumping into a bird to quickly fly long distances was a favorite of mine.

It has a fantastic soundtrack, including some memorable vocal tracks that you can play along with on the game’s playable ukulele. Don’t worry, it’s just for fun and you can put down the ukulele and just enjoy the songs if you want.

Tchia is a collect-a-thon, with an incredible variety of items for players to gather throughout the world. Some items are story related, but most are optional. Although you’ll want to get as much stamina fruit as possible to make traversal easier. I spent way too long checking off icons on the map, but even still I didn’t manage to collect the Platinum trophy. I was having a good time, but just ran out of steam.

There are some shortcomings—the gameplay gets repetitive, and the combat is not great. Paragliding loses altitude too quickly, and soul jumping doesn’t last long enough (especially early on before collecting all the stamina fruit). It’s very derivative of other games, without a lot of new ideas.

But honestly, that’s okay. It is an indie game developed by a team of 12 people, and they did a great job putting together a lot of familiar elements into a cohesive whole.

The game’s setting is gorgeous, and the art style and direction are fantastic. The aesthetic fits the game perfectly and is very pleasing to the eye. Although Tchia is not a particularly challenging game, it is still a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing it.

Overall, Tchia mostly delivers on its promise and my expectations. It’s refreshing to see a game celebrate and showcase a lesser-known culture, and Tchia does an excellent job of piquing players’ interest in learning more about New Caledonia.