Set on a fictional tropical archipelago inspired by New Caledonia, Tchia focuses primarily on traversal mechanics involving gliding and nimble, acrobatic actions, while the titular protagonist’s soul jumping ability serves as the game’s other central pillar, allowing players to assume control of a number of different animals and objects found throughout the open world map.

Last month, Awaceb released a new update for the game, adding new Soul Melodies, cosmetics, and more.

Tchia is currently available on PS5, PS4, and PC.

Additionally, the developer has also confirmed that Tchia is now available via Steam. Its Steam release is, notably enough, also accompanied by plenty of new content arriving in the form of a free update. That includes eight new Soul Melodies, such as Super Boat, which enables faster sailing, Acrobat Mode, which enables significantly higher jumps, Human Torch, which lets you shoot fireballs, and more.

Meanwhile, players can now also wear new cosmetics to make themselves look like a variety of different animals, which, in turn, will attract those animals to you (which “has no benefit other than looking super cool”, according to Awaceb). There’s also a new setting that lets you play with an infinite Soul Meter. Check out the trailer below for more details.

Tchia is currently available on PS5, PS4, and PC.

Taking to Twitter, the indie developer announced that in the first six weeks after its release, Tchia has been played by over a million players. The game was also available via the PlayStation Game Catalog for PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers for no additional cost, so that number isn’t necessarily indicative of its sales. Even so, it has attracted a solid playerbase.

Meanwhile, the developer has also announced that it’s partnering with Maximum Games to release a physical “Oleti” edition of the game, which will also include in-game cosmetics for Tchia’s outfits, her glider, her boat, and her ukulele based on Kepler Interactive’s titles, including Sifu, Scorn, Cat Quest, and the upcoming Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn.

Tchia is available on PS5, PS4, and PC. Read our review of the game through here.

https://twitter.com/awaceb/status/1653746361492205568

The game starts with a grandma rounding up orphaned children to tell a bedtime story by a campfire, which revolves around our player character Tchia and her adventures across the many islands of New Caledonia. The narrative opens with Tchia celebrating her birthday with her loving father, but those moments of joy are quickly swept away when a helicopter arrives on to the scene and an armed man takes her father away to a mysterious place. This kickstarts Tchia’s journey to do everything in her power to get her father back, and in doing so – restore the peace back to her land.

"Awaceb’s love and appreciation for this place and its culture shines through in the game’s rich visual presentation."

The story seems to have a folksy feel to it with its simplistic setup and characters that can almost pass as caricatures, but the developers do a good job of not taking this fabled narrative too seriously. There are light-hearted moments of humor sprinkled throughout the narrative, which are to be appreciated because the core story feels pretty predictable and uneventful. The game teases some heavy themes like hatred between different tribes of the island, but those themes are quickly brushed off and what we get is a forgettable story with little in the name of memorable characters or plot revelations.

The pretty basic writing also does little to no favors to the rather bland story. The characters in Tchia are voiced in the native language of the land, so the story is told through translated dialogues which mostly ends up being boring. Furthermore, the narrative pacing is all over the place, with the first half of the story being Tchia essentially running errands for leads, and it’s only in the latter half that we get to meet the core characters and witness events that are vital to the story.

" Music plays an important part in Tchia’s narrative, and almost each of the essential story beats are accompanied by a song in the native language of the land."

Music plays an important part in Tchia’s narrative, and almost each of the essential story beats are accompanied by a song in the setting’s native language. Tchia mostly sticks to playing the Ukulele, but some songs will feature different local instruments which serve to showcase the rich musical history of the land. The rhythm minigames are pretty basic but enjoyable to get through, and the game also allows you to sit back and let Tchia play by herself through an auto play option.

Tchia is an open world sandbox, and the moment to moment gameplay revolves around completing objectives and exploring the many islands that constitute the game’s rendition of New Caledonia. As something that was lifted straight out of Super Mario Odyssey’s hat, Tchia has a special ability to perform a Soul Jump which allows her to assume the role of any creature or non living object as she sees fit. So you can become a rock, a coconut, a fish, a bird, or any creature or any object that catches your fancy. Tchia can also climb up any surface until she runs out of stamina, and can use a parachute to gracefully glide through the air and safely reach the surface.

Anyways, these mechanics come together to make Tchia a very nimble character to control, which makes just getting around the islands an incredibly fun activity. You can climb to high viewpoints littered throughout the islands, and scream at the top of your voice to reveal nearby areas of interest. You can also take part in many side activities like races courses, sculpting, and rock balancing challenges among others. They are fun to engage with during the first couple of times, but since the formula remains the same for each type of activity – doing them over and over again can quickly grow out to become a frustrating affair. Furthermore, the rewards received from completing these challenges aren’t that significant – be it stat upgrades to Tchia’s Soul Jump ability or cosmetic additions to her wardrobe. As such, I mostly avoided indulging in side activities after having a first taste of each new hustle that was presented to me.

"The first half of the game is focused on fetch quests for one NPC after another, and when things start to get interesting – the game is already inching close to the climax."

But what’s really egregious is how the main missions are designed. Objectives are generally spaced far from each other, and thanks to a lack of a proper fast travel option – getting from point A to point B consumes most of your mission playtime. Further making matters worse is the fact that the objectives aren’t really fun for the most part. The first half of the game is focused on fetch quests for one NPC after another, and when things start to get interesting – the game is already inching close to the climax.

The combat isn’t even introduced until two-thirds of the game, and frankly speaking – it’s nothing worth the wait. The combat revolves around trying to soul jump to inflammable objects, and using the throw ability to light your enemies on fire. It’s pretty basic in its scope, and things can quickly get pretty chaotic as you try to find the next inflammable object to hurl at your adversary. Enemy AI is pretty poor, and there were several instances of enemies getting stuck on geometry during my time with the game.

"Tchia puts a decent first impression with its faithful rendition of a hidden tropical wonder and fun traversal mechanics. But the game quickly tends to devolve into a subpar open world experience complete with all the trappings that usually come with that description."

One of the most impressive aspects of Tchia is undoubtedly its superb visuals that are a beautiful mix of cartoony and realistic. Awaceb has crafted a wonderful world that looks just like a tropical wonder. The islands are filled to the brim with lush green grass and tall palm trees as far as the eye can see, and each of these islands are visually distinct from one another. The clear blue waters surrounding the islands is also a beauty to behold. There are times when you are cruising around the ocean on your makeshift boat while the sun is settling down, and when the swelling music kicks in – Tchia is simply at its best.

Briefly touching upon the performance, Tchia isn’t a very stable game on the PS5 and I experienced a dozen or so crashes and bugs that required me to restart the game time and time again. Thankfully, the frame rate remained constant throughout and there were little to no gameplay hitches or slowdowns. But it’s also important to mention that the review build I played was a couple of updates behind the launch version, and the latest update seems to have resolved most of the crashing issues.

In conclusion, Tchia puts a decent first impression with its faithful rendition of a hidden tropical wonder and fun traversal mechanics. But the game quickly tends to devolve into a subpar open world experience complete with all the trappings that usually come with that description. Boring mission design and repetitive side activities can quickly come together to make this experience a dull time, which is a shame considering that Tchia could have been so much more.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

In Tchia, players will have a variety of cosmetic customization options that will allow you to change titular protagonist Tchia’s outfits, hair, and more, with various clothing options, masks, and several accessories included, some of which will be inspired by New Caledonian culture. Players will also be able to customize their boat, with options available for sails, flags, wood finishes, and liveries.

Additionally, Tchia will also allow players to use a camera to click photographs, which, according to Awaceb, will be a fully analog and detailed mechanic similarly to the fully playable ukulele. Players will be able to choose between various film rolls, lenses, and even use a tripod, along with various other options included. Check out the video below for more details.

Tchia is out on March 21 for PS5, PS4, and PC.

Players will be able to engage in a variety of side activities in Tchia’s open world, ranging from ranging a shooting range to time attack races that you’ll be able to take part in on foot, on a boat, and even as an animal, while various minigames will also be featured, including a claw machine, a rock balancing minigame that’ll let you learn new melodies for your ukulele, a sculpting minigame that’ll let you sculpt wooden totems to unlock totem shrines, and more. There will also be elaborate treasure hunts, a diving competition, and various collectibles. Check out the video below for more details.

Tchia launches on March 21 for PS5, PS4, and PC.

Tchia is not a combat-focused game by any means, but players will still encounter foes known as Maano, who have been brought to life using wood and fabric. Combat against them will encourage experimentation and creativity, with the primary way of dealing with them being to set them on fire. You’ll be able to do that using flammable items in your inventory, by soul-jumping into objects such as lamps, and more, while also constantly using your various locomotion abilities to stay out of harm’s way.

The open world will also have several big fortresses occupied by Maano that players will have to clear out. These will present much bigger combat challenges, with your primary objective being to burn down every pile of fabric laying around in the fortress. Meanwhile, you’ll also find several Totem Shrines throughout the open world, which will present other, non-combat-focused challenges, clearing which will aid with progression. Check out the video below for more details.

Tchia launches on March 21 for PS5, PS4, and PC.

In a new gameplay video, Awaceb has shined a light on that, detailing the fully playable ukulele in the game. The ukulele will play a role in both story and gameplay, and where the latter is concerned, will enable additional abilities in traversal and combat. Parts of the story will also see the titular protagonist whipping out her instrument to form bonds with other characters through a rhythm-based mechanic- though this will be purely optional, and a fully automatic mode will be available for those who don’t want to engage in the manual one.

Meanwhile, a free jam mode will also be featured for players who want to strum away of their own accord, with various options and features included to provide a full-fledged ukulele experience. At its core, the mechanics are looking quite similar to the sections of The Last of Us Part 2 that allow players to play the guitar. Check out the video below for more details.

Tchia is out on March 21 for PS5, PS4, and PC.

Awaceb has confirmed that Tchia will launch in less than a month, on March 21. Players will explore a tropical archipelago and engage with a variety of traversal and exploration mechanics, with a particular emphasis placed on gliding and climbing (similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild), and soul-jumping, which will allow players to transfer their souls into and take control of a variety of objects and animals.

Awaceb and Sony have also confirmed that Tchia will be available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers straight at launch.

When it launches, Tchia will be available on PS5, PS4, and PC.

Tchia is putting locomotion front and center in its core gameplay loop, with developer Awaceb sprinkling in variety and fun mechanics in several ways, from climbing, gliding, and stamina mechanics that are similar to Breath of the Wild to all foliage in the game being physics-based, allowing you to launch yourself off trees to take flight.

The game’s map also takes a unique approach, with no player markers being featured whatsoever, instead encouraging you to observe your surroundings and figure out where on the map you might be based on nearby landmarks. Meanwhile, players will also be able to sail on their boat to cover larger distances across the archipelago, while also being able to unlock docks that will serve as fast travel points.

Check out the trailer below for more details.

Tchia is out this Spring for PS5, PS4, and PC.