Tchia Review: Beauty With Uniqueness

Mythology and archetypes within a game’s structure can often seem similar to each other from game to game. Maybe there’s a few Norse mythology games that follow a brooding character through an emotional arch that ultimately shows a softer side. Or maybe there’s a bunch of other games with a reluctant hero, who’s given a sword and is challenged to save the princess from a fiendish big-bad. Happily, Tchia bursts through the noise and creates a beautiful world that’s full of delightful charm, emotional moments, and a uniqueness that I haven’t seen in years.

Finding Something New From The Classics

Tchia, a game inspired by New Caledonia, follows the story of a young girl who must find her kidnapped father and save her home. Though this does seem a bit cookie cutter within a hero’s journey, Tchia’s entire gameplay is focused on a tiny archipelago within the Pacific Ocean that acts as the centerpiece of the world within the game. The varied landscapes, culture, music, and languages were nearly all new to me, so getting the chance to explore this world was truly something refreshing in the open-world genre. Each area of the game feels like its own little community - distinct from one another, but as a whole - all connected. I really enjoy exploring the small villages in the game and reading the lore of each one was fun and certainly worth investing time.

Throughout the story, you find, in addition to the various communities, distinct characters with their own personalities, quirks, and challenges. The dynamic between these characters and the protagonist, Tchia, create unique opportunities for them to have a myriad of encounters. One instance, for example, is when Tchia is faced to do a monotonous amount of paperwork in a specific story beat. For any other game, this would have simply been a one second moment, but with this game, they leaned into the humor that many of the players can relate to.  

Jump Up, Super Star!

Though most of the objectives with the other characters are simple fetch quests, they force you to explore the open-world a bit more and utilize one of the main gameplay mechanics of the game: Soul Jumping. Embedded in some story elements, your character, Tchia, has the ability to take control of various animals and objects throughout the islands. This can help with navigating the skies as a seagull, defeat strange cloth-like creatures, or even roll around the hillsides as a big rock in order to solve a puzzle. Within minutes, I was able to zip around and bounce from creature to item to another creature in a fun and fluid motion. Though there is a timer for this ability, the excitement I had to continue exploring because of this feature made it worth the wait. Plus, as you explore the world, there may be opportunities to extend this length of time to use the ability, circling everything back into the push towards exploration.

In addition to Soul Jumping as a fun method to explore, Tchia can also jump, glide, and climb throughout the world. Similar to other open-world games, she has a stamina meter that can be increased to keep her in the air longer or climb further. Tchia also has her own boat which makes oceanic exploration easier, though not as fun as the other methods mentioned. 

The Language of Music

My favorite unexpected gameplay mechanic is Tchia’s ability with music. Within the entire game of Tchia, a special focus on music is especially harped on. In numerous instances, after you meet a new main character within a new community, a distinct melody begins to emerge. Eventually, the score reaches a fun climax, where you play a fun quicktime event, the community rallies together in song and dance, and you experience something special with all the characters around you. At first, I thought this was a one-and-done kind of quicktime event, but as the game went on, these types of moments kept happening and quickly shot up to be something I looked forward to (and hoped) would occur again. Additionally, Tchia earns the ability to use her Ukelele and mysterious powers to change the environment around her. For example, you can change the time of day, summon a bird (to then Soul Jump), and several other features that I don’t want to spoil. The game also encourages you to experiment a bit to see if you can discover some patterns on your own and have it unlocked for future endeavors. 

Customization is also a fun feature to the game. As you explore the world, you have the chance to find various chests, complete smaller tasks, and purchase various items. All of these actions unlock numerous items that can help customize Tchia’s outfit, her hair, and even her boat. I found myself more aligned with a summer and traditional look for Tchia, but there’s also modern outfits as well as outfits inspired by other indie games that can be fun to scope out. 

Repetitious, But Beautiful

Unfortunately, even with an incredible score and compelling story, I’m disappointed by the repetitious nature of most of the objectives within the game. For most instances, the objectives are either in some form “Go to ‘x’ location” or “Collect ‘a’ amount of ‘b’ item”. At first, my thoughts were this was mainly focused on introducing various areas of the game to encourage exploration, but eventually I realized this was the main aspect of the game. Even with various encampants of enemies, they follow the same structure: destroy the various enemies and piles of enemy items. The variety is nearly non-existent due to the same few items in each area that you can Soul Jump to complete these objectives. This isn’t to say that I did not enjoy my time with the game, but I was more interested in pushing the story along than engaging with the various optional (and very repetitive) tasks.

Happily, the accessibility and various other options within the game are detailed and oriented wonderfully. While playing on PC, I’m able to customize the text language, aim assist, invert controls, adjust action prompts, and numerous other features to create a comfortable and enjoyable experience for players. Additionally, there is a “Family Mode”, which tones down any moderately graphic moments (either for humor or in general) to ensure a family-friendly environment -  a nice touch for a game that presents beautifully in art style and should be seen by as many people as possible.

Breakdown

Game: Tchia

Developer: Awaceb

Availability: PC, PlayStation 5

Reviewed on PC

Pros:

+ Beautiful story, with plenty of fun characters to interact with

+ Incredible score that both highlights the inspiration of the game and plays as a gameplay feature

+ Brisk pace on the story to keep things moving

Cons:

- Repetitious gameplay mechanics that don’t foster variety with most interactions

Final Thoughts

Tchia is a beautiful game that kept me engaged from beginning to end. The beautiful score, art style, and characters were distinct and memorable throughout my time with the game. Though there are numerous repetition actions throughout the game, the other mechanics pushed me forward to see the conclusion of Tchia’s story. If you’re given the chance, go enjoy everything Tchia has to offer.

Reviewed by Harry Loizides