The opening act of the game introduces us to an isolated island which consists of orphans, children who lost their parents and the ladies who look after them. A new baby boy will increase the population of the island and allows the creators to show us the prevailing condition. All the kids help
the little boy adjust to his "new home". During the night, a group of children invite the little boy to come around the fire to listen to this fairy tale that the old lady would tell. The tale she is about to tell is the story of Tchia, which the children adore.
Tchia is a little girl who lives with her father hidden on an isolated island. It was her birthday, and her father told her to pack materials as a family friend, Tre, was coming to see them. Upon arrival, he drops anchor and the three greet each other in traditional fashion and prepare to celebrate
the night with food and songs. In the morning the characters wake up to the sound of a flying vehicle as some have followed Tre and discovered Tchia's family. Pwi Dua comes down from the vehicle with two magical monsters and reveals to us that Tchias' father has been hiding for twelve years as the two
have met again in the past. Pwi Dua and his followers capture Tchias' father and board the vehicle. Tchia runs towards the enemy and realizes that she is awakening the magical power within her that allows her to take control of objects such as Pwi Dua's machete which she injures him with. Whilst screaming in pain
he pushes Thia of the plane.
The next day, Tchia wakes up in Tre's sea sanctuary who urges her to leave as she won't be safe here. He gives her information about Pwi Dua as well as Meovora who is the ruler of the area. In order to save her father, Tchia embarks on her new adventure.
The games plot is a mixture of both good and bad. From one side it introduces us to characters who follow the traditions of certain areas. Through Tchia's eyes we see how they live both in modern cities and also in less evolved areas such as caves. At the same time we hear traditional music and do minigames based on their lide style. On the other hand the characters themselves do not get any specific development and feel one dimensional. The way they interact with the heroine are simple and mostly plot convenient, as they claim things we do not get to experience. It has a nice mystery and a mid delivery. Last but not least there are a few elements that got me off guard in a good but also a bad way.
In Awaceb's second game after you are done with its prologue, it lets you explore the world at your own pace as the open world format lets you go wherever you want whenever you want. You can cross the ocean through your raft or by swimming above or below the water. On land you can climb mountains, trees, buildings,
everything. When you are at the top you can jump down and use your glider to avoid the sharp collision with the ground. All actions (hovering, underwater swimming and climbing) require stamina which appears as a lightning bolt next to the heroine and starts the countdown. When you walk or stand still the stamina will refill
on its own.
After a point and then Tchia tries to learn to use the power she used in the opening act of the game which is called soul jump. This power, as mentioned above allows you to temporarily take control of the target, whether it is a living organism (animals) or not (stone, fruit) with the exception of NPCs and vehicles (cars, etc.).
This ability is inspired by the folklore of the New Caledonian people, who believe in shapeshifting. Soul jumping makes exploration much more interesting and easy as you can fly over the islands via various birds or explore the underwater life via fish which swim much faster than Tchia and don't have the stamina pressure.
Soul jump is activated by pressing a button which allows you to find the target to take control of. When you control something a green bar will appear which acts as stamina before you lose control. Unlike Tchias's stamina, this stamina refills much more slowly, but if you eat food or rest at a rest point, it will be fully refilled.
Finally, completing the "Totem Caves" will reward you with a magical fruit that will increase your strength and stamina.
The heroine's main adventure follows a repetitive pattern consisting of fetch quests in which you will have to bring the materials requested by the NPCs and after doing them will follow a ukulele mini-game in which you will have to play the appropriate notes dot. The game allows players at any time to skip the gameplay section
if they find it difficult and go directly to the next plot. Eg if you have a mission to find an item and bring it to the NPC, if you choose to pass them the next cutscene will trigger where you brought the requested item. Be careful as this mechanism does not skip side activities unless you have finished the main script as the
skip will consider the main objective rather than the side content.
Tchia is at its best when it leaves you free to explore the archipelago. There are tons of treasures, collectibles and other things that you can explore. Their world is neither too big nor too small, just the right size but also the right amount of content to keep you busy. Beyond the collectibles, treasures and minigames the game
includes enemy camps where you have to defeat the enemies. Tchia possesses a sling that can paralyze enemies but to defeat them she must burn them as they are made of wood and cloth. Really easy as in all cases the bad guys are frequently placed around campfires, petrol tanks and oil lamps.
Mini-games and treasures allow you to unlock various decorations for Tchia and your raft. As for the heroine, you can change her haircut, her clothes, her accessories, her facepaint, her glider and her ukulele. For her raft, you can change her colors and her flag. The ukulele beyond the story, you can use it in campfires but also
at any time as it has magical abilities that can change the weather and also appear animals mainly for the purpose of soul jump. New songs are unlocked when you complete the rock balancing mini-game.
Lately when a company creates a new game, they try to make it accessible to all players. In this new game, the company Awaceb, created the new mechanism "skip Gameplay Section" that allows the player to skip the section in which he should play the game. The Button to skip the boss battle meme was created in 2017 as a bad
joke that separated video game fans from people who try a game with a different goal (streaming, reviewing, etc.). In the case of Tchia, this mechanism was created despite the fact that the game has no difficulty or boss battles. Personally i feel like this was a bad thing to do as it takes away the fun of playing a video game. Why
invest time in it if you can simply skip it.
Then the plot of Tchia is confused as various events take place and the reactions of the heroine and the NPCs don't seem to make a common sense. For obvious reasons, spoilers, no details will be given as this happens near the end of the game. A simple example is how the script will "show up" elements out of nowhere like the
heroine's romance with another little girl with whom you had a dialogue exchange or two. You may also be introduced to tribes that are not friendly which does not play any role in the scenario or add anything new to the gameplay(such as stealth mission) and are only used as excuses for "fetch quests" or to build a more
realistic environment. For example, in other games such a concept is used to create "stealth sections" or to prepare you for intense battles.
Aiming to create the experience of their country of origin, the creators created an archipelago. The graphics aren't the best but that doesn't mean they aren't nice. The graphics of humans compared to fauna and flora differ greatly. Each island is very different from the other as it has its own vegetation and settlement.
E.g. One island has modern apartment buildings, roads, cars, etc., the other is full of trees, mountains, huts and wooden paths, while the other has corals and statues. The game does not have many polished animations as if Tchia falls down either as a human or as an animal (with the help of soul jump) the animations of
the character will be like a sack of potatoes falling.
On the other hand, the sound field of the game is based on various musical instruments and rhythms based on New Caledonia. From the beating of leaves, to the drums, to the ukulele and the traditional language of the inhabitants. According to the creators, a huge challenge of the company when creating the game was to
find people/actors who could speak French as well as drehu (traditional language). According to audio composer John Robert Matz, his team worked for five years to create the music and collaborated with various local artists.
In conclusion Tchia allows you to explore the islands that the creators made through the eyes of the heroine. The game's story may be its weak point, but its gameplay and music are enough to create an enjoyable adventure. The islands as well as the ocean are worth exploring either as Tchia or as a wild animal that you have used Soul-jump on. The game is at its best after you unlock the Soul-jump and set yourself free to explore the islands .By increasing your stamina as well as your strength, your speed and exploration possibilities increase as you can hover longer, breathe underwater and dig in any area. Unfortunately though, the game doesn't offer much to the player beyond a list of things to find in the world. Enemies won't offer you anything as you can easily beat them and if they beat you, you can simply escape from your cage as there is no game over. Nevertheless, the fact that the game was created by a team of twelve people is admirable.