Tchia

About

"Tchia" is a single-player, open-world adventure set in a tropical archipelago, where you play as Tchia, who can soul-jump to control animals and objects. Traverse the world through climbing, gliding, swimming, and sailing, using unique soul-jumping abilities to explore, solve puzzles, and uncover secrets. Face Meavora's fabric soldiers in open encounters, making friends and jamming on your playable ukulele in this poetic coming-of-age story inspired by New Caledonia.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 196 reviews

story35 positive mentions

grinding8 negative mentions

Tchia offers a charming and immersive experience with beautiful graphics and a heartfelt story that celebrates New Caledonian culture.
The gameplay mechanics, including the ability to possess animals and objects, provide a unique and fun way to explore the vibrant open world.
The soundtrack is exceptional, enhancing the overall atmosphere and emotional depth of the game.

The game suffers from some technical issues, including crashes and bugs that can disrupt the experience.
Some players find the open world to be somewhat empty and repetitive, with a lack of engaging side quests or challenges.
The pacing can be slow, with lengthy cutscenes and music minigames that may detract from the exploration and gameplay.

story
102 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
62%
4%
The story of the game is praised for its emotional depth, cultural richness, and engaging narrative, often intertwining dark themes with heartwarming moments. Players appreciate the respectful representation of New Caledonian culture and the dynamic characters, although some feel the main storyline could benefit from more depth and cohesion. Overall, the storytelling is described as compelling and unique, providing a beautiful backdrop for exploration and gameplay, despite some critiques regarding pacing and the inclusion of fetch quests.
- “I loved the storyline, the involvement and intentional integration of the New Caledonian culture to create such a meaningful game.”
- “The story is bittersweet, heartwarming, and surprisingly hilarious at times, and the game isn't afraid to be violent, gory, or crass if the situation calls for it, pulling no punches and always sticking the landing with its tone.”
- “The story is beautiful, the ties to culture and people are amazing, the music is so good; this is the only video game soundtrack I've ever purchased. It is broad in its scope, but I enjoyed each and every game mechanic and am working to complete all of the side quests and achievements.”
- “The story suffers from a lack of cohesion and depth.”
- “Tchia is filled with no context events in its story, which are meaningless.”
- “But after completing the main story, I can say that Tchia is extremely shallow in every way.”
music
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
42%
4%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and cultural significance, featuring a diverse soundtrack that immerses players in the setting of New Caledonia. Many reviewers highlight the emotional impact of the music, its integration into gameplay through rhythm mini-games, and the option to play along with a ukulele, enhancing the overall experience. While some found the frequency of musical segments a bit excessive, the general consensus is that the soundtrack is a standout feature that adds depth and charm to the game.
- “The music is incredibly chill and immersive to the environment.”
- “The music design is fantastic and the setting and tone is meticulously crafted to evoke love and care for this little slice of paradise in the Pacific Ocean.”
- “It's a labor of love from the developers, and their portrayal of New Caledonia along with the stellar soundtrack was a breath of fresh air.”
- “This was marketed as a BOTW clone, and the beginning of the game spent far too long trapped in cutscenes and music minigames.”
- “Small gripes: the music sequences felt a bit long and there was quite a lot of them.”
- “Although the music system is pretty deep, the rhythm game that pops up fairly frequently in the story is only available during the story, and as far as I know, there is no way to replay a sequence in-game other than just starting a new one and playing up to that point.”
gameplay
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
46%
4%
The gameplay in Tchia is characterized by its charming mechanics, including unique features like soul-jumping and animal possession, which enhance exploration and interaction with the vibrant world. While the game offers a fun and engaging experience with a focus on exploration and creativity, some players noted issues with polish and pacing, leading to a mix of enjoyment and frustration. Overall, it provides a relaxing, casual gameplay loop that appeals to fans of open-world exploration, though it may not satisfy those seeking intense challenges.
- “The traversal, possession, musical, and combat mechanics all work great together, and the game was the most fun when I was just exploring.”
- “The creative gameplay mechanics, like soul-jumping, and the seamless interaction with nature added so much depth to the experience.”
- “The gameplay is simple yet extremely fun and the exploration of the warm, bright lands is engaging and feels like a real adventure.”
- “If you aren't motivated by collecting cosmetics and the activity of checking various items off of your map, there won't be much for you here in the way of gameplay pursuits.”
- “I really hoped Tchia would be fun, because it’s such a great game on paper, but some poor gameplay design decisions made this game extremely frustrating and dull to play from nearly the first hour onwards.”
- “But there's little focus on progression mechanics, combat development, or advancing Tchia's stats or power.”
graphics
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
30%
11%
The graphics in Tchia are widely praised for their beauty, vibrant colors, and charming art style that effectively brings the archipelago to life. While many players appreciate the stunning visuals and immersive experience, some have noted performance issues, particularly on the Steam Deck, and a few graphical bugs that detract from the overall polish. Despite these concerns, the game's aesthetic and design contribute significantly to its appeal, making it a visually captivating experience.
- “I loved the exploration-heavy gameplay and the vivid, colorful aesthetic.”
- “Tchia's art style is both charming and detailed, bringing the archipelago to life in a way that's both beautiful and immersive.”
- “The graphics are stunning, I love all the animal forms and minigames, and the story really grew on me.”
- “The graphics are simple - but it frequently made my (albeit ancient) GPU chug hard.”
- “The normal price for Tchia is $35, yet the game feels so unpolished. I had this feeling for every aspect: design, graphics, animations, sound design, voices, UI, scenario; all of this feels so amateur. I don't understand why the price tag is so high; I was expecting something way more polished.”
- “Interestingly, the city side looks absolutely disgusting graphically.”
emotional
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its blend of heartwarming and bittersweet storytelling, deeply rooted in New Caledonian culture. Players appreciate the game's ability to evoke a range of feelings, from joy and humor to sadness, as they navigate the protagonist's journey and the vibrant, respectful portrayal of local traditions. Overall, it is described as a beautiful and memorable experience that resonates emotionally, making it a standout in the indie game scene.
- “Its absolutely beautiful, with a fantastic soundtrack, but don't think it's all cutesy - there is a serious side, and emotional impact too.”
- “Not only does it tell us about the culture and music of New Caledonia, it also takes us on this emotional ride of the game's heroine.”
- “It's deeply moving, both through very dark storytelling at some points and powerfully heartwarming in others.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews of "grinding" in Tchia highlight a mixed experience; while sailing and exploration can be relaxing and visually appealing, many players find the overall gameplay and traversal tedious, particularly due to inefficient movement mechanics. Despite the game's potential and engaging elements, the repetitive nature of certain tasks detracts from the enjoyment, leading to a sense of frustration for some players.
- “I do generally enjoy 'collect-a-thons,' and I've 100%ed some much longer and larger than Tchia, but exploration in this game is downright tedious due to the fact that the only remotely efficient means of getting around disappears every time you exit it and you have to wait to summon it again.”
- “I wish I had more fun playing this game, because there are a lot of things it absolutely nails that I hope to see other games take note of, but sadly the gameplay and traversal in Tchia was painfully tedious for me the entire way through, so I can’t recommend playing it.”
- “The game had a lot of potential but it's just too tedious.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is described as a blend of heartwarming and darkly comedic elements, effectively balancing lighthearted moments with more serious themes. Players appreciate its willingness to embrace violence and crassness when fitting, while still delivering poignant and funny experiences. Overall, the humor is seen as a standout feature that enhances the game's unique tone and emotional depth.
- “The story is bittersweet, heartwarming, and surprisingly hilarious at times. The game isn't afraid to be violent, gory, or crass if the situation calls for it, pulling no punches and always sticking the landing with its tone.”
- “Beautiful and just plain fun, with moments of poignancy and humor; this is a really special game.”
- “There is a great sense of humor in this game, but it also isn't afraid to get sad or a bit dark at times, where appropriate.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Overall, optimization feedback for the game is mixed; while some players report smooth performance and bug-free gameplay, others experience significant stuttering and performance issues, particularly on specific hardware configurations. Despite the game's decent mechanics and strong artistic elements, concerns about optimization persist, especially for those using certain GPUs.
- “The optimization is good; the game works bug-free.”
- “The gameplay is pretty basic (though mechanically decent) and the world isn't huge, but everything else is great - art, vocals, music, performance, story.”
- “I haven’t experienced anything anywhere close to this bad playing any other game, so I believe Tchia is rather poorly optimized.”
- “Some people complained of stuttering in the game.”
- “Prior to the patch, it also appeared to only affect my PC with an NVIDIA GPU (3070); the AMD one (7900 GRE) did not have any performance or frame rate degradation when it rained.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been reported to have significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, crashes, and sound glitches, which often require restarts to resolve. Additionally, enabling DLSS has been noted to reduce frame rates, further impacting overall performance.
- “It was also fairly buggy, and I had to restart often to fix map and camera problems.”
- “Despite that, I had multiple crashes, sound bugs, glitches, and enabling DLSS reduced FPS.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is highly praised for its outstanding musical elements and engaging mini-games, which enhance the exploration experience and contribute to an immersive environment.
- “The musical atmosphere is outstanding, and there are so many mini-games that make exploring even more motivating.”
- “Great atmosphere.”