Tchia Reviews
The most infuriating part about Tchia is that the very few enjoyable moments are incredible, letting you see exactly how great of a title this could have been if it weren't for its many lacking elements.
Tchia ended up becoming a frustrating and boring mess of a game.
As ironic as it seems, gliding around a tropical archipelago is a tiresome chore because of its empty world and how its core Soul Jumping power falls well short of its potential. Tchia may jump into souls, but Tchia, as a game, isn’t good enough to jump into any hearts.
Tchia does initially give players a decent narrative to latch on to. Unfortunately, after a couple hours of play, it becomes quite dry. Tchia’s setting, which is heavily based on New Caledonia, does look stunning, especially with its simple art style. However, the world does feel quite empty, and with traversal often feeling quite slow, there is little reason left for players to take on the chore of seeing the sights.
Tchia is clearly a labour of love as Awaceb try to bring their culture to the rest of the world and show off what it has to offer. I absolutely love that tone and feel, but the way Tchia is packaged and paced means that it is ultimately feels like less than the sum of its parts.
Awaceb's open world sandbox and serene vistas capture the splendor of a tropical vacation, but certain design tropes eventually make progress feel like a chore.
Taken as a leisurely journey where the goal isn’t the be-all and end-all, Tchia can be a very pleasant getaway into a playground of delightful sights, sounds, and toys to play with. As a series of quests, it can feel ordinary. But as an escape to another place, it can be wondrous.
Tchia is a huge achievement from a tiny studio that clearly had a lot of fantastic ideas they wanted to blend together into an amazing game. Ultimately though, the mark was just missed by not letting each part really sing, instead they each fell into the backing track with no lead ukulele player.
Tchia has some interesting things going for it with its beautiful rendition of New Caledonia and fun traversal mechanics, but poor mission design and cookie-cutter side activities mar down those strengths by a significant margin.
During the course of Tchia’s tropical adventure, players will experience many great, carefully-implemented ideas. The open world influenced by New Caledonia remains sensitive to its cultural inspirations, the unique soul-jumping mechanic is a joy to use and explore, the boat controls and fully-functional ukulele are overkill in the best kind of way, and the story has both unexpected darkness and humor. Unfortunately, a handful of good ideas can’t save Tchia from running out of steam before the finale and crumbling beneath a wave of performance issues.
It’s a casual experience, with some fantastic exploration, diverse challenges and tasks, a rich setting, and a surprisingly deep story. The entire game has been lovingly crafted and steeped in lore from New Caledonia. The only thing keeping Tchia out of the realm of greatness are the amount of bugs affecting it, at least on the PC version. With that being said, I wholeheartedly recommend playing it, as long as you either play it on a console, or wait until they’ve patched up the bugs on the PC version.
Tchia, is a decent experience that despite its failures, manages to prove itself from the very first moment with the player and this is not mentioned more than what it can offer.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Tchia is definitely a game worth checking out if you are looking for an open-world adventure that offers freedom, fun, and diversity. It celebrates New Caledonian culture and showcases its rich history, folklore, and traditions. However, it is also a bit too ambitious for its own good. It's overwhelmingly cluttered map size and navigation system may be frustrating at times. Despite its simplistic visuals, it is capped at a low frame rate of 30 fps on PS5 and is riddled with quite a few technical glitches. Still, the fact that the game comes free with the Playstation Plus Extra makes it a must-try for folks who love a calm pacific adventure.
Aside from a few missing mechanics and usual features of this genre such as the lack of fast travel and wildlife to Soul-jump into, Tchia is still a brilliantly designed game with beautiful visuals, rich culture to explore, breathtaking music, and so much more. The atmosphere might seem unnecessarily cheery and light, but that might be the main message the game has to offer.
Tchia provides a vibrant and enjoyable world to explore. Soul jumping into an animal or object to move about is an incredible mechanic that allows for creativity, experimentation, and improvisation. Sailing among the waves is mesmerising in colour and imagery, as is the thick jungle and wildlife that also awaits. What's more refreshing is the open-world formula the game offers that doesn't daunt you, only rewarding you for however much you choose to engage with it. Tchia may have the occasional bug on PC and a rocky and overly accelerated last quarter of a story, but remaining throughout is a narrative and world with heart, love, and a feeling of home. For that alone, this is a game well worth taking to the high seas for.
It has its annoying flaws, but if you're looking for a peaceful and calm game to breathe when you're overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of gaming and life, give it a shot.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Tchia certainly wanted to be a bigger, more distinctive game than it is, I have no doubt that it was created with noble motives, but in the end it unfortunately feels like a half-baked advertising game promoting New Caledonia through loving images and excellent music, but with no real sense of enrichment in it.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Tchia is a terrific ode to New Caledonia that's sadly hampered by a bloated and standard open-world design that tries to do too much. Still, even if the gameplay isn't wholly original, there's fun to be had here, with truly impressive sights and sounds that can make the archipelago a delight to explore at times. Just try to maintain some focus as you navigate the numerous distractions and you'll experience quite the impressive trip.
Tchia is a classic open world, that takes great inspiration from other games. If not for its tropical environments, its beautiful artistic direction and its culture, it would have been just another déjà-vu game. Instead, it's a real invitation to travel despite its numerous technical problems. It's hard to resist its stunning landscapes, its sweet melodies and its relaxing rhythm. A generous and exotic game that made ambitious things with little meanings.
Review in French | Read full review