Tchia

Tchia is an open world game where you play as 12 year old Tchia, a girl on a mission to save her father. The game takes place on an island nation inspired by New Caledonia. If you know about New Caledonia, you’ll probably see many familiar things. They speak French, for example, with some native languages also thrown in. From the pictures I’ve seen of New Caledonia, the hilly parts look quite accurate. They also show off the food and fashion of the area.

So join Tchia on her quest to save her father and maybe stop an evil plaguing the lands. Find it on Steam.

Tchia is a cute game full of vibrant color as you go on an adventure in among the islands. It captures a fun island vibe well from people just hanging out, to roadside food stalls, tourists walking around, and beautiful waters. The music of the game fits in well full of island and tropical charm.

And there are lots you can do around the island, especially since you are a super hero! Tchia is full of powers from being able to barehand grab barbed wire to climbing up walls like Spider-Man. Not to mention actual powers such as playing music to change the time of day. And her main power, being able to possess small objects and animals. (Though her best superpower is just getting free food wherever she goes).

Possessing objects is mainly for fun, but you can launch them at your target. Primarily useful with explosives. Possessing animals give you their abilities, such as flying if you’re a bird, running fast as a deer, or digging as a boar. It is great fun exploring the island as one of these animals.

And going through the islands, there are other activities you can do as well, such as racing time trials or slingshot challenges. I usually play this using a XBox controller, but being able to switch to a mouse made the slingshot challenges so much easier.

There is also a lot of customization you can get for Tchia. She can get new outfits, new hairstyles, traditional face paint. Even her boat can be customized. There are a lot of options ranging from fun to absurd. Do you want to walk around in a cow outfit? You can!

Tchia is full of charm and fun with humorous presentation. For example, the songs you play to affect the world are easy to remember because they all have meaning. If you want to change the time to day, you play the notes C, A, F, and E. If you want food, you play C, A, C, A. It makes remembering the different effects easy, though there is always a list at the bottom of the screen for reference.

The story can also be solemn and heartfelt. There isn’t a lot of dialogue in the game. People mainly speak when they need to, otherwise they use motions and facial expressions to convey things, and the emotions come across well.

There is combat in the game. It fits in well with the overall tone. Combat isn’t too hard, and there are always ways to make things easier with your special powers. Remember how you can launch things, including explosives? That is your primary means of fighting. You can either try to stealth through and take out enemy camps without getting spotted or just go in with a backpack stuffed with more gasoline than a pickup truck.

Despite how cute and bright the game looks, I would not recommend it for young children. The game is surprisingly violent. I’m not saying it’s full of violence, but for what you think, there is definitely blood and other serious injuries. The game also encourages Tchia to pet animals, including wild animals such as boars that could gore a person or venomous snakes.

The game is great, though. When not doing story missions, it can be your island vacation. Just go around doing what you want. There are many ways to get around, the easiest of which is possessing a bird, as long as it’s not a kagou. Flying feels great in the game. There are more advanced techniques, too, that can help. And sailing is mostly a simple thing, except you can’t steer and control the speed at the same time. You’ll need to go between the rudder and the sails if you want to adjust either.

The game is charming with bright locales and well-done powers that are fun to use. You can take it at your own pace, and it’s not overly difficult with generous checkpoints if you do happen to lose all your stamina.

I did experience some technical issues, though, including some crashing. Also, the game takes a long time to start up. Only the first time, so if I happen to crash, loading back into the game is much faster.

Go experience Tchia along with the culture and island based on New Caledonia. Find it on Steam.