Game: Tchia
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Steam (also available on PS5 & Epic Game Store)
Developers | Publishers: Awaceb | Kepler Interactive
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $29.99 | UK £24.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: March 21st, 2024
A review code was used, with many thanks to Keymailer.
Tchia is an action-adventure game developed by Awaceb and published by Kepler Interactive. From the moment you begin to play Tchia, it’s evident that the game has developed with lots of passion and love. The fictional archipelago, serving as the game’s backdrop, draws inspiration from New Caledonia, a French overseas territory nestled in the Pacific Ocean.
The Story of Tchia
On the tranquil island, Tchia and her father lead a peaceful life, surrounded only by a handful of creatures and the vast expanse of the sea. The opening chapter of your journey sees Tchia on her 12th birthday when she receives gifts from her father, such as a glider slingshot.
However, their idyllic life is shattered in an instant when Meavora, the tyrant ruling over the archipelago, abducts Tchia’s father. So begins your adventure across the ocean and neighbouring islands, where Tchia, with her newfound skills, must gather friends and allies and harness her abilities to take down the harsh regime of Meavora to rescue her father and set the region free.
Open World Adventure
Tchia presents an open-world experience, drawing heavy influence from games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. It grants you the freedom to travel the islands and oceans via running, sailing, swimming, climbing and soul jumping, with stamina as the only limitation.
On the journey between objectives and fetch quests, you’ll discover various collectables and tackle rock-balancing trials to unlock new Soul Melodies. You can also use Tchia’s ukulele to change the time of day and more. You’ll also engage in races for trophies and acquire items such as Stamina Fruit to enhance Tchia’s stats.
Soul Jumping
For me, the Soul-Jumping in Tchia steals the spotlight. You can hop into objects and hurl them, such as lanterns, to set fire to Meavora minions’ camps, but the real magic happens with animals.
Swimming as a fish or shark speeds up underwater exploration while transforming into a bird lets you travel long distances by wing. From dashing as a deer or soul-jumping into a gecko, each animal you inhabit offers different skills for navigating the world. Though you must keep an eye on your Soul-Meter, which drains as you control creatures, you can refill it by eating and tackling Totem Shrine challenges across the islands.
Sailing the Seas
Another aspect of Tchia that impressed me was the raft sailing; it is very well executed in the game. You have a mast that controls the raft’s speed, while you use a paddle to steer and an anchor to bring it to a halt. Sailing is a very enjoyable pastime in Tchia, so much so that I would often find myself sailing around just for the fun of it and to see where I ended up arriving next.
Map and Quests
Completing the quests will allow you to gather many different items and many items that aren’t useful at all. Exploring the islands, you also have to deal with various guard camps scattered around. The camps are full of guards known as Maano, who are made out of fabric and work for Meavora, who has kidnapped Tchia’s father.
To clear out the camps, you have to burn the guards and any fabric piles down by warping into explosives or using burning wood, and I found that the combat does get a little repetitive after a while.
New Caledonia Customs
Tchia borrows heavily from local customs and culture. It is voiced by local actors featuring French and Drehu voices, the two languages most commonly spoken in New Caledonia, with English subtitles, and it provides an insight into a way of life that is so far removed from mine in not-so-sunny Northern Ireland.
A Few Niggles
The map caused me some problems as it could be more helpful for an open-world game. You see, in order to encourage exploration and give Tchia a more open feel, there is no player marker on the map. While you can see where your boat is, you can’t see where Tchia is. There are signposts dotted around key areas that you interact with to mark down your last known location, but nothing on the map pinpoints exactly where you are. You can also put down a pin that will appear on your compass to help direct you to your desired destination.
As with many open-world games, there is fast travel in Tchia. However, it’s the pretty tedious kind of fast travel where you have to trek to a specific point before you can warp to a location far from where you actually want to go.
Pacing Feels Off at the Beginning
The main problem with Tchia is its pacing. It takes a while to get going. You’ll spend a lot of time sitting around campfires, singing catchy tunes, and trekking across mountains, wishing there were more animals to control in this tropical paradise.
The storyline in Tchia can throw up some highs and lows. There were many delightful moments, but there were also some that took me by surprise and were not so nice.
Some scenes in the game are quite intense, while others are downright shocking. Without spoiling too much, Meovara does something nasty, which might not be suitable for younger audiences. Luckily, there is a family-friendly filter in the settings, so if you’re buying this game to play with your children, make sure to turn the family-friendly filter on.
Visuals and Music
The islands that Tchia is set on are beautiful, vibrant, and colourful, and they feel engaging and fun to explore. The soundtrack to accompany your journey is lovely.
I played the game on my laptop and the Steam Deck. The game actually ran better on the Steam Deck than on my laptop, and my laptop has higher specs than are needed to play Tchia, so I find that odd.
One thing that I found irritating is that Tchia does not have cloud saves. Cloud saves allow you to continue where you left off on another system, such as the Steam Deck. And finding that cloud saves have been overlooked by developers in this day and age when all games have the feature is surprising.
Conclusion
Tchia is a love story of the New Caledonia region and its people. The gameplay is fun and pretty satisfying, with many quests for the player to complete and collectables to find. The soul mechanic sets you up for some very weird and interesting solutions to puzzles or circumstances in Tchia, and it’s my favourite thing about the game. If exploring a beautiful island is your thing, too, you will enjoy playing this game.
Final Verdict: I Like It a Lot 
Do you like our content? Support LadiesGamers on Patreon!
Check out our Tiers and Benefits and join us.