Tchia Review (zig_zag1232)
Tchia is just a beautiful game. It's all about exploration and immersion in the culture of New Caledonia, and it is done with such evident passion and care. The world is a collection of islands that you sail between on a raft boat. The sailing is far from tedious and in fact, is relaxing as beautiful music plays while you're in the open ocean. The music is absolutely one of the biggest highlights of the game. It is tranquil, lively, and filled with the stylings of music from the culture. You even get a ukulele with which you can play at any time and there are musical segments where you play along (but can be skipped if that's not your thing). The end credits even include pictures of the staff on the actual island learning about the culture, and I absolutely loved that.
The gameplay is all about exploring these islands, finding collectables, completing an optional treasure hunt, and completing trials to power up your soul gauge. The soul gauge is basically a timer that determines how long you can possess animals and objects. As you complete the tiki trials, that timer increases. Much of the exploration is done by taking control of animals of the islands, sea animals, and objects. It is a brilliant mechanic that is fun and inventive. I do think it could have been expanded upon further with puzzles or combat. Combat is very one note where you possess explosives to blow up the enemies. It's fun for a bit but with that being the only way to deal with them, it can get old. Now, enemies only reside in camps so many combat encounters are optional, but it would have been neat to be able to use animals in some way in those encounters. With this being a smaller indie game though, I understand that expanding all of those things would have been difficult. Maybe for a sequel or other future title though! If you are only progressing through the story, it takes about 7 hours to finish.
I cannot recommend this game enough, and it is a stunning gem due to its immersion in its beautiful culture and environment. The developers should be very proud of what they have created, and it is absolutely worth your time and money!