Really cute little game! A ton of fun mobility options with your boat, hand glider, and the ability to become birds, deer, fish and so much more.
Playing a game based on a culture and country that has seen basically zero representation so far (New Caledonia) was a wonderful breath of fresh air, jumping into their myths and experiencing their traditions was a ton of fun.

Speaking of fun, the game has a really silly but effective way of humor, made me laugh a few times and smile a whole lot more.

THe last act unfortunately drags the game down a good bit, in which Tchia moves away from the rewarding, free flowing Island exploration and towards three big weirdly forced stealth and combat encounters, that can be cheesed with your guitar powers (playing your guitar makes cool stuff happen, how much more of a sales pitch do you need) but were still a tedious break from what made the game fun up until that point

A game that unfortunately is never more than the sums of its parts.

The gameplay loop is fun, but it becomes way too repetitive. The exploration is interesting, but it becomes a drag when you are forced to wait for your stamina to refill (and it only refills by half of your full bar). Combat is simple but it never really evolves and your primary weapon is almost useless. The story is somewhat dark and interesting, but it rushes at times and you are supposed to care (and love) people you just meet 5 mins ago.

Tchia is not a bad game, but its a game that fells short of all its potential. It is still a fun game, with a beautiful art-style and fun exploration, but the game insist on adding unnecessary steps or restrains to almost every fun activity.

Tchia felt very inspired by Breath of the wild and Wind Waker, but fell a bit short due to the mechanics of the game not being utilised to its full potential. The game had an amazing mechanic that allowed you to turn into any animal or small object, but you really never had to use it to actually beat the game or solve (almost) any puzzles. Worth playing if you've got ps plus extra. Visuals and music are stunning. This is more of a game for people who enjoy photo mode (and I don't mean that as a bad thing).

First of all, YES to more unique stories repping the creative teams' cultures and not compromising the details in order to fit a tidy commercial box. 'Tchia' is an absolute success in that regard - the music, the environments, the mythology, the food, all a celebration of New Caledonian culture. That said, this had pacing issues for me that sometimes got in the way of its abundant charms. Lots of trophies, treasures and side quests to clean up, but feels very superfluous to the completed main story.

Não tem como não terminar de jogar Tchia e não pensar que o jogo não era pra ser aquilo. A impressão que eu tenho é que era pra ser um jogo bem mais linear, focado na história de uma garota andando por uma ilha, com seu poder de possessão de objetos e que viraria um museu interativo da Nova Caledônia.

Mas, no fim, de tantos elementos de jogos AAA que ele tenta emprestar e empregar, ele virou um jogo de mundo aberto com cenários desinteressantes, um combate completamente sem graça, um conteúdo fraco e repetitivo, com um grande potencial desperdiçado. Nem a história, que podia ter brilhado mais com a cultura da ilha, acabou sendo super legal.

É uma pena, porque eu queria ter amado esse jogo, mas ele só não precisava seguir tantas "regras da indústria" como ele tenta.

Tchia es un juego muy irregular, pero tiene el corazón en su sitio y es un proyecto súper ambicioso para un estudio tan pequeñito.

Bebe mucho de Breath of the Wild, sobre todo en cuanto a dejarte explorar a tus anchas y a la hora de proporcionarte herramientas para interactuar con el mundo, pero da la sensación de que la mayoría de cosas están ahí por estar y no tanto porque sean interesantes o divertidas. Moverse por el mapa (que además es muy bonito) es agradable, aunque hay algunas instancias en las que puede hacerse algo tedioso ir de una punta a otra.

Da la sensación de que es un juego con muchas buenas ideas que están unidas un poco al tuntún, lo cual hace que la experiencia pase de ser muy divertida a algo frustrante de un momento a otro.

La historia es muy sencillita y sorprendentemente oscura. Tiene ciertos momentos emotivos, pero hay cosas que avanzan tan deprisa que pierde un poco el gancho.

Me lo he pasado bien y es un primer intento muy ambicioso y prometedor para este estudio, pero aún tienen mucho camino que recorrer.

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Tchia is a very irregular game, but it has its heart in the right place and it's a super ambitious project for such a small studio.

It takes a lot from Breath of the Wild, particularly in how it lets you explore at your own pace and how it gives you tools to interact with the world, but it feels like most things are there just for the sake of it and not because they're interesting or fun. Moving around the map (which is beautiful, by the way) is nice, although there are some instances where going from one point to the other can be a bit tedious.

It feels like a game with a lot of good ideas that are haphazardly tied together, which can make the experience swing from very fun to frustrating in just a moment.

The story is very simple and surprisingly dark. It has some emotional moments, but some other things happen so fast it kinda loses its meaning.

I had fun with it and it's a very ambitious and promising first attempt for this studio, but they still have a long way to go.

Much to my pleasant surprise, I really enjoyed this to begin with. Tchia is essentially a 3D platforming collect-a-thon, but without the platforming... so I guess that just makes it a collect-a-thon. And boy does it not fuck around in this regard. New Caledonia makes Banjo-Kazooie look like a barren wasteland by comparison. And you know what, that's okay. Because Tchia is breezy and chill, and possessing the soul of some poor innocent bird to traverse the picturesque world in search of more shiny trinkets to grab is strangely satisfying. Some of the mini-games are fun too. Taking on time trials as different animals is a particular highlight, with the various fauna feeling decently tight and intuitive. (The rhythm mini-games are absolute shit, but hey, you can just put them on automatic and go put the kettle on.)

Yep, Tchia's open world is a charming haven of carefree exploration and relaxing atmosphere... for the first half or so anyway.

And then sure enough tedium sets in, and it all starts to get a bit rote. The same tasks are regurgitated over and over. And then the game commits of the fatal error of placing more emphasis on its turgid 'combat'. There are some missions later on down the line where you have to infiltrate enemy bases and take down paper monsters and sentinels and piles of fabric and it is TEDIOUS AS FUCK! I don't mind tackling the smaller camps where you can get them over with in a matter of seconds, but when the game asks me to clear out literal factories that have 30+ paper monsters wandering around using the same gas lamp maneuver over and over again, I start to question my sanity. The story never really seems to find its footing either and the cutscenes, from the animation to the general direction, tend to feel half-hearted, as if the devs know they don't have the time and budget to fully commit to what they want.

I was kinda hoping that Tchia would prove to be this year's Stray - an indie game given away for 'free' on Sony's gaming subscription service that would quickly go on to generate word-of-mouth buzz and become a darling amongst the gaming community. Unfortunately, it is most definitely not in the same league as the cyberpunk kitty odyssey.

Also, can someone tell these indie developers that heterosexual women are still a thing. I'm not against gay representation in video games, but I can't remember the last time I played as a female protagonist in a video game that was actually straight. Do they not exist in real life anymore?

Aside from a couple of slight annoyances with the 100% requirements, Tchia is an incredibly impressive, sweet, and fun game made by a really small indie team who wanted to celebrate what they love about their own home. You can really feel the love seep through from the locally composed music to the native voice cast, as well as the cultural landmarks and food. I noticed a lot of people complaining that the game is too slow or needed to have more to it, but the thing with this game is that it shouldn't be rushed through. It's supposed to be played at a slow and steady pace not all at once. Think Breath of the Wild meets Wind Waker that's just so incredibly relaxed. A lot of people saying that the game can be 100%'d in about 20 hours, but I honestly think that's too low as I clocked in about 30. Still, the game is almost definitely worth a playthrough on PSPlus seeing as it's free if you have the Extra tier or higher. If you finished the game and liked it enough, then definitely go for the 100%.

After about 30 minutes with the game, I had to give up. It controls so poorly. It feels, and also kind of looks like a game made in Dreams. Not at all what I expected. I understand you get different movement options as you go along, and those seem neat - but I have no desire to play more to get to them. After stumbling around for a bit and reading some dialogue, I was prompted to play an instrument. Cool! Yikes, it was also not engaging whatsoever.

I feel bad because it's clearly a game made from the hearts of the developers, but it plays so poorly that I just can't see anything redeeming about it.

The perfect example of style over substance, with a couple of good ideas that can't hold the game together. Such a shame that a game that cares about movility in an open space with no handholding to let you breath its space doesn't have any sense of cohesion.

Tchia seems to be a pretty comfy game with low stakes but builds itself on top of a "save the world and the person you love the most" plot, with enemy camps and an actual villain that ruins the atmosphere every second it stays in the way of its mechanics. And the actual "leit motif" of this game, to celebrate New Caledonia, doesn't feel more developed than to read a panflet made by a tourist agency. It's nice to play songs and see local dishes, but there's never a compelling character, a tale about its history that actually teaches the player how this culture functions and how has been built and developed.

And that is my main problem with Tchia, it doesn't know what it wants to be; and the point that's supposed to articulate the game is flat and condescending to the player and to the place it was meant to celebrate. The celebration of a culture can't be sincere without showing the conflict that culture has been transformed by, and the refusal of any political conversation by telling the story as a kids tale is intrinsically problematic when that estructure only shows the "tourist friendly" side of the place is trying to commemorate.

[DID NOT COMPLETE - played 1 hour approx]

This game has a great art style, lovely music, and overall appealing representation of a culture I know nothing about.

But the gameplay is so basic and shallow, I just couldn't give 6 hours to this. Once they ramped up the fetch quests I decided to dip.

After 14 hours of playing to 100%, I can safely recommend Tchia for no other reason than the amount of love the creators clearly have for their project.

On the other hand, it's by all accounts an indie Ghostwire Tokyo quality wise. A short, decent campaign centered around the power fantasy of being completely unstoppable, rounded out by hundreds and hundreds of pointless collectibles.

If you're the type to ignore collecting pointless objects, you'll probably like the game, but collectables are the only incentive to actually interact with the games mechanics in a meaningful way, so it's catch 22. There's 33 Far Cry style enemy camps built around a combat system so wafer thin that it gets old by the second fight. Possess jerry cans and throw them at enemies, then run around looking for another. Rinse, repeat. There are some late game unlockables that help a little, but they don't last and have huge cooldowns.

At the end of the day, this game is a must try on PSPlus Extra for the Wind Waker vibes and Mario Odyssey transformation mechanics. Yes, its super padded to complete and kind of shallow, but the story missions are good and there is a shit ton of care and love in this game, which really does help me come away from it feeling better.

I'll take a flawed game with a lot of heart over a polished, jack of all trades AAA grindfest.

Well, I can confidently say that Tchia is the first game I've played set in New Caledonia. And for what it's worth, the level of authenticity to Kanak culture (despite the game itself being fictional) is incredibly refreshing. The indigenous talent, ranging from Awaceb's directors' personable upbringing to the native instrumental score, is Tchia's biggest accomplishment. The picturesque sun rays beating down on you as you dip your toes into the crystalline blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing...

You climb mountains, ride the waves and even "soul-jump" into different creatures and inanimate objects. Yes that's right, you can become a poopin' pigeon, a dainty ukulele or even a boring big rock. Unfortunately, the only animal you'll want to be is a bird because it's the fastest way to traverse these two sizeable islands filled with jumbled collectibles that really do not incentivise the core aspect of exploration. Stamina fruits are great, but collecting pearls and braided trinkets (two currency forms) to trade for cosmetics? It just doesn't motivate. And with no combat or skills to evolve, there's nothing to develop. Would've loved some enhanced manoeuvrability or agility, because Tchia is damn slow bless her!

The story is surprisingly dark but really you're here for the beautiful views and casual gliding, and for that the game succeeds...just...

I have to preface this whole “review” with admitting the fact that a few chapters in I ended up skipping most of the cutscenes.
I’m sure the story is nice, what I did glean from it certainly was and I feel bad because I’m sure I could have learnt more about a culture I know next to nothing about but I found it all so tepid and boring. The way it looked and was presented did absolutely nothing for me and I could feel my eyelids getting heavy.

So look at the relatively low score, take to heart as much as you feel needed (as you should with any criticism honestly) and if you care, read on for some more game based ramblings about my time with the latest new game to hit the PS plus higher tiers.

There’s a lot to enjoy, the world is vast, plenty of things to collect and many ways to explore it thanks to the game's biggest strength; the possession ability.
Run around as a dog, fly and shit as a bird, swim as a shark.
While staying in human form, climb any surface, glide from heights, use trees to fling you or just sail the sea on a little raft.
All of this is pleasant. It’s just it’s all a little janky.

The possession is great but sometimes you feel desperate to find a bird or something fast to get out of the barren land you find yourself in and at best you find some rocks (you can possess rocks too, I dunno). Everything you possess feels floaty and wobbly, there’s little unique between the different animal types of land, air and sea bar some speed, shitting and occasional attacks which I found one single (very smart) use for.
The sailing is nice and calm but with the only fast travel being restricted to finding ports and traveling too and from them if you’re sailing somewhere new it’s a long slog.

Climbing and surface and gliding is a part of why the Breath of the Wild comparisons have been made and while that is a little reductive and I have no issue with games borrowing from what is probably the best open world to date - it doesn’t borrow it well.
Tchia can climb any surface but you’re like a poor Spider-man. You don’t climb ladders in a usual way and altogether much like the movement with the possessions it all just feels unsatisfying.

Unsatisfying is really the word of my experience. Speaking about it to friends while playing it I found myself going “it’s… it’s not crap but..” and feeling like I was having to defend against my own true feelings because I was having a mostly bad time but there was something there, some elements of enjoyment to found and a good few ideas scattered in.
For the most part the movement is mid to poor but occasionally you’ll slide really fast down a hill, just at the end into the air, fly with your glider then stop and possess a passing bird.

The exploration is budget BOTW with combat encounters that are laughably bad and I’d actually rather were not in it.
There are these cool little rock stacking and totem carving mini games that can unlock abilities and caves and I like that, but everything before and after is tedious.

The tedium is really capped off by some terrible end game segments which are best when you avoid all the combat and therefore the bulk of the segments. These are sandwiched between some walk-slowly-and-do-nothing except get some lore dump bits which as by this point I was skipping the cutscenes really, really sucked.

Am I glad I bothered playing this game? There are bits that will stick with me and it was at least polite enough to be short.
I can’t recommend spending money on this but if you’re intrigued and have access to it for free. Pop it on and see for yourself, feel it for yourself.

I’ll finish this off with one final moment I’d like to share because I found it funny and that was just the feeling of playing this game, wrapping it up a few minutes after watching the final Tears of the Kingdom trailer.
“What the fuck am I doing?” I asked myself as I rolled my eyes at some of the junk of this game.
The comparisons are a little reductive and even if not I don’t expect everything to hit that height but my word; Tchia looks, sounds and feels worse than Breath of the Wild a six year old game for the Wii U and it’s being promoted for the all powerful Sony Playstation 5… come on.

I loved playing Tchia for a short time each night to unwind. It's an incredibly chill, low-stakes experience. For example, one quest has you finding a crab and bringing it back to a local woman. You then help cook a feast for the town and celebrate with music and dancing. Tchia is clearly a direct descendant of Breath of the Wild, but I actually enjoyed it a bit more. I didn't have to worry about weapon durability or shitty puzzles. I enjoyed just exploring the world and chilling. The possession mechanic was unique and cool. Tchia didn't have a ton of substance and didn't hold my attention for long stretches but the vibes were impeccable throughout.