Tchia

This archipelago adventure is, in a word, lovely. While its open world can’t soul-jump out of making familiar wrong turns, we still enjoyed getting lost in it. [Issue#27, p.72]

Tchia is an extremely fresh game, bringing a perspective from a very exotic region of the world. It’s beautiful to look at and to listen to and its story is quite well executed. Its systems are a bit dated, though, and there’s not much fun to be had if you’re not into wandering the map and exploring for yourself. The greatest delight is undoubtedly the discovery of a whole new culture of New Caledonia.

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.

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.

One of the best post-Breath Of The Wild open world adventures, but while the game’s heavily influenced by Zelda it ultimately plumps for amiable exploration over more rugged adventure.

Tchia has an open world that is full of fun music, creative activities, cultural challenges and a good dose of (dark) humour. As fun as turning into pooping birds, tasty coconuts or explosives is, it just doesn't gloss over the stretched checklist story, poorly fleshed out characters and bugs enough to make it fun more than once.

Tchia is the living proof that it's possible to make a good game without complex plots or challenging gameplay features. The simple story of the people from New Caledonia is beautiful enough to contemplate and contrasts with our daily life, which is so busy and destructive. Tchia teaches us to stop and smell the flowers, admiring what we really need and valuing the things we take for granted.

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.

Tchia is a nice open world experience that has enough magic to keep anyone trapped for hours. While its story doesn't have the necessary rhythm and depth, it's worth giving its wonderful world a chance.

Tchia feels really unlike any experience we've ever had with a video game. Full of heart, but occasionally lacking direction, it's a unique experience showcasing the love the dev team has for New Caledonia. Everything about Tchia evokes a wonderful tropical vibe, full of rich history and culture, from the folklore elements of the storyline to the authentic voice acting in New Caledonia's native language, Drehu. Unfortunate bugs let it down and stop players experiencing it to its fullest, but a solid, enjoyable, and ultimately beautiful game is at its core. It's evident that a lot of love has been poured into this really exciting debut from Awaceb, and as a day one PS Plus Extra release, it's bound to bring a lot of joy to a lot of players.

Story gets forgotten, but the mood is good.

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.