Tchia Review: More Than The Sum Of Its Parts

There are a lot of games out there that aren’t as good as the sum of their parts. Where the individual elements are solid or even good, but they don’t come together in a cohesive way. It’s a lot rarer to see the opposite. If the individual parts aren’t good, cohesion is usually out of the question. Tchia is the rare exception. There are so many parts of Tchia that feel generic, like the sort of thing you’d see in an Ubisoft game from five years ago. Somehow though, they come together to create a satisfying whole, a joyous game well worth your time.

Personality Carries The Day

It all starts with a beautiful open world that gives you a ton to explore, but not so much that it ever feels overwhelming. Inspired by the island of New Caledonia, Tchia is steeped in culture and identity in a way that few games manage. Personality can get you a long way, and whether it’s the way the people interact with each other, the islands which can simultaneously host major modern cities and huts built from wood and straw, or simply the colorful look that pulls it all together, I had a smile on my face nearly the entire time.

Tchia opens with the main character’s father being taken by the local ruler, seemingly for some past transgression that had driven him and Tchia into hiding. Finally discovered, Tchia has nowhere to go and an army intent on tracking her down as well. If she’s going to save her father, she’s going to need to make use of every resource available to her.

It’s A Bird, Its A Dolphin, Its A… Rock?

Luckily, Tchia has a power. She can soul jump into many animals and items, allowing her to use the very islands themselves to fight back against their cruel ruler. Her abilities allow her to become local items like a coconut or a rock. Or she can jump into the many friendly animals running around the island. Cows, deer, birds, fish, dolphins, and many more all have unique abilities that make them useful. Birds can fly and also poop if that seems useful. Fish can stay underwater for long periods, while dolphins can dash through the water, leaping into the air when needed.  A crab can use its claws to fight back against enemies.

Remarkably, almost all of these animals are a joy to control. That’s impressive, considering how much variety there is in how they can be used. Tchia’s primary way of getting around is her boat which she can use to sail the ocean. It’s not a bad option, and I came to appreciate the interesting controls over time, but it’s rather slow, and eventually, I mostly abandoned it unless moving between islands because I preferred finding a deer to dash around or a bird that let me just fly where I needed to go.

Open World Blues

That the animal possession is so strong is important because a lot of what surrounds it in Tchia feels straight out of the last decade’s most generic open-world playbook. Go to this location and start a quest. People there won’t see you, so you need to go somewhere and get something for them first. Except when you get there, the people there won’t help you until you get some things for them. It’s a series of never-ending fetch quests broken up by combat encounters every so often.

Yet, for the most part, I really wasn’t bothered by this. Maybe it’s the game’s personality putting me in the right mental space to enjoy it. Perhaps it’s the somewhat off-beat sense of humor that, on several occasions, dropped my jaw. It could be the stronger focus on exploration rather than combat which encourages players to really experiment and try different ways of solving situations. It certainly didn’t hurt that the animal possession is so much fun and always feels important. Really, it’s a combination of all of these things coming together. While few of the game’s individual elements are truly extraordinary, the combination of them makes for a consistently compelling experience.

Conclusion

Looking back on my time with Tchia, there’s no one game-changing element that I can point to and say this is why you need to play it. The animal possession is the closest thing, but even then, what stands out about the mechanic is how solidly it works in so many different ways rather than any one of those ways being amazing. Yet despite this, I think many players will have a fantastic time exploring these islands. With a ton of personality, solid mechanics, and a unique vibe helping to keep the whole experience compelling, players should absolutely check Tchia out.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: PC (Reviewed), PS5, PS4; Publisher: Awaceb, Kepler Interactive; Developer: Awaceb; Players: 1; Released: March 21st, 2023; ESRB: T for Teen; MSRP: $29.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Tchia provided by the publisher.