In Tchia, in you explore a fictional archipelago inspired by New Caledonia. Explore the world and meet new characters. Here is our full Tchia Review.
Tchia is developed and published by Awaceb. It was released on March 21, 2023, for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
At first glance, this game seems like a fun and cartoonish children’s game however look past all that to see an incredibly interesting story and vividly imagined world. Loading in you will get a message from the team at Awaceb before you get to step foot on the Archipelago that you will call home. In all honesty, there are 2 things that the game can resemble, the first is spoken about below however the second is a more fundamental thing. Thinking about the locations, and everything in the game is set in Disney’s Moana can be seen in some of the soundtracks and appearances in the game, looking it up they are based in the same region of the world so it’s not hard to see. When the fun creativity of a child’s playfulness is added into the mix you can really see how good this game is.
It should be noted that the game is not in English, however, a sub is provided to help with understanding the game. The “Most Prominent Languages” in New Caledonia are the ones that are used in the game which are French and Drehu. In addition to this, there are some interesting features such as the ability to “Skip Gameplay Segment” and take full use of the Chapter Selection from the main menu. It is ill-advised to do this as it will “Hinder your Experience”, although the team at Awaceb thinks it’s an important accessibility feature it is better to play through and experience the story as intended.
Story:
The Story in the game can take a bit to get used to, and although it starts off pretty fast-paced it will soon slow down. Where you are initially given the locations in which you need to progress the story and obtain progression items, from chapter 3 you will be handed over to a more free-roam world where you can explore and decide where to go. There are no real limits to your traversal and exploratory capabilities, well apart from having the stamina to keep going. You can climb virtually anything, dive to the deepest depths, and sail the archipelago to your heart’s content if you don’t feel like taking on the pressure of saving it quite yet.
Gameplay:
Although basic and simplistic, the way you interact with the game is interesting but effective. Playing from a 3rd person perspective you control the titular character Tchia, who is a girl in a story told to a group of orphans. Upon receiving control of Tchia you are given your first weapon/ tool that you can utilize. Soon after, the abilities to glide, scan from vantage points, and even play music are added to your load out.
Within the small island that you start in, there is so much to take your attention it’s “unreal”. Although your goal is to reach the cliff you can spend a few hours just running around and looking both on land and underwater at everything. Even petting the animals, changing the time cycle, and picking up objects that can be stored in your pack can be a fun diversion. This is all well and good but the game is far bigger than your starting island.
This brings us to the awkward point of Navigation. It is confusing, although you have a map it doesn’t update in real-time to show your location. The game is simple enough that you shouldn’t need to worry too much, but it was easy to get turned around, even with pins to guide the way. This is negated if you are traveling by boat, however, you can track the boat as it moves meaning you have an idea of where you are in relation to where you want to go.
One of the biggest things in the game, arguably its core is the soundtrack. All the musical scores in the game are recorded from the area the game is set, which is New Caledonia. This makes the game feel probably more alive and lived in than something where you play in a big populated city for the entirety of the adventure. To accompany this the game features its own Rhythm mechanic, where Tchia can equip the Ukelele and either play along in selected musical sequences, or when out exploring the world use a powerful tool to aid in the exploration. Rhythms known in the game as Soul-Melodies can be played on the Ukelele to do all sorts of things, like changing the time of day or granting the power to breathe underwater for longer. Alternatively, if you didn’t want to do that you can also just play the Ukelele using a fully kitted-out set of musical notes.
Using the boat and how you can travel around the world by sailing feel very reminiscent of the 1995 film Waterworld. This is mainly because of the design of the boat you have and the fact that you can spend a while sailing around without seeing the land if you head out too far. That being said there are plenty of things to occupy your time on land too like minigames.
There are a great many in the game, however, there is one that should be brought to attention, which is Cairn Stacking. Most people might be sitting reading this thinking of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Cairns. This is not the case, Tchia is way more forgiving and possibly a thousand times easier than Valhalla.
Another rather interesting mechanic is the Soul-Jump. This is a magical ability that will let you possess an item or animal in the world, using Tchia’s Left Eye. Not only is it a core mechanic for traversal and progression in situations, but it also functions as a method for navigating the world if you don’t want to walk everywhere. Just find an animal and possess them to play as them for a short time, the best are probably birds as they can fly and cross large distances quickly but fish and deer are also very good in their own elements.
Before we close off this review there is something that should be noted, which is a crashing error. This was only present in the first session of playing the game and seemed to stop on the second session (Following Day). Now it should be stressed that this was played on a PS4 and not the PS5, which might have had something to do with the crashes, and it is on older technology but it is something to be aware of.
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