An archipelago in New Caledonia

Tchia (named for the main character, a girl who lives on an archipelago on the island of New Caledonia), is premised on a complete story about the rescue of a family member captured by an ancient villain. The game speaks and shows many emotions, something that made me get caught up in the story and pay attention to each new narrative that was presented to me.

When we start the gameplay, we go through a "mural" that presents us with the central idea of the game, showing a very strong sentimentality from the developers. I thought it was cool the way they fixed this in little notes, the strategy was very well placed because it made me glued to the story that inspired the game.

When I advanced a little in the game, after exploring some places in the island, I realized that Tchia is a simple girl, very young and that seems to be happy living in this place with her father. The girl has many nice moments with her family and learns several skills that will be very useful in the future, and that I myself found interesting, such as the mechanics of playing a song with dry fern leaves (something I had never seen).

As it is a tropical open-world game, I felt very free to explore before focusing on the missions. A very positive point because the game doesn't rush you to finish one mission and then start another, it gives you the experience of walking, searching and even swimming on a lovely, colorful island with very rich scenery.

I guarantee that those who like this style of game will love Tchia. This gameplay made me very excited and anxious to find out how I was going to complete a great mission, while I had to learn several mechanics and explore and improve myself more and more to conquer the end. Tchia delivers a new experience, very rich in detail, with a good story and a Hawaiian nature setting.



Hawaiian-style skills

The gameplay of Tchia is centered, at this first moment, on mechanics. The girl can learn various mechanics and improve them as skills. We can tell that this is the initial focus because it is like training for the real goal of the game: that Tchia can safely rescue her father.

In the beginning, basic mechanics are the focus: shooting with a slingshot, picking up objects from the ground and putting them in a backpack, being able to transform them into animals, and using the map. At first, the map is very easy to use, its only problem is that it does not give us our complete location (i.e. we do not have a marked point telling us where we are and the location of our next mission).

Apparently, the map serves only to give us a sense of space, something that was not a big problem because I was in an archipelago, relatively a small place. But as the gameplay went on, I missed a more precise marker.

The interesting thing about Tchia is that all these procedures are very well explained. As we discover a new ability, a screen is shown with instructions and hints as to how we can perform that task. Again, something that is proven here is that the game is totally focused on explaining the mechanics and letting the players enjoy them during the game, as they see fit.



The advancement of the gameplay is given by the mission system present in it. At each completed mission, we have to talk to Tchia's father so that he can better explain to us what we have just discovered and what is the next step, always having some information that we will use in the future. I really liked this process, which shows that the game is not just about completing and getting new missions but learning new tricks, using them to my advantage, and putting all of this within the sentimental narrative.

We have many mechanics, but all are very well explained and easy in a way. One that I found quite different from anything I had ever seen was the stacking of stones, which, at first, seemed to be just a hobby, but turned out to be very convenient. We have to stack stone by stone, of different sizes, and with this, we get the "power" to control the weather, a factor that will be fundamental in the next scenes.

Besides controlling the weather, because of its importance, we can also play the ukulele that, with each different chord, is a change in the environment. By getting the chords right, we are able to change the mood as we prefer. I really liked this particular mechanic, because there, on an island, it seems to make sense that by playing a song we can change the air, the temperature, and the atmosphere around us.



And specifically the ukulele, the instrument is of great use throughout the gameplay. It is important in the culture of the Kanaki, people living in New Caledonia today, who preserve their traditional culture through music, drama, and dance (issues present in the game).

The presence of trailers in the game shows that the music and soundtrack are impeccable. Tchia can play instruments and accompany the singing in real-time. In one scene, we play our ukulele along with Tre, the man who rescued and housed the girl for a few days as she prepared to leave for the island of Meavora. Tre sings while Tchia accompanies him with the chords, and we are able to control this (so much so that if you miss a note you will notice that the song will sound different). But don't worry, it's not difficult, and if you can't, you can choose to leave the melody automatically.

One issue I noticed is that the girl is not much of a talker. We hear the voice of the narrator (called Lady) and some characters a lot, but I only noticed that I heard Tchia's voice when she needs to talk to Tre after her father is captured. And it was a very sad moment, a scene where he is taken away by a henchman of Meavora the villain of the game. Tchia is very upset and seeks help to free her father. At this moment, I felt my heart squeeze and I really wanted to keep playing to find out how I was going to accomplish this.

With Tre's help, we get new objects (a new map and a compass). These will accompany us until the end of the gameplay, making our journey much easier. Because of the compass, I was able to locate myself better and get around much faster, heading directly to my goal. This a very positive point because I was only using the map and having a lot of difficulty because of the marker (which, with the compass, improved the quality a lot).



The big villain of the plot is Meavora, and our main goal is to defeat him. Meavora lives in a totally different place, like a city within an island, which has all the technology and advancement of a metropolis. So it is a little more difficult for us to talk to him and finally get on with the story.

The narrative continues with this premise that we must face him at all costs in order to rescue Tchia's father safely. But first, we will use our skills and teachings to get somewhere.

Cozy and Colorful

Tchia has a wonderful setting. The ambient sounds are very detailed and give the game all the flair it needs.

I also need to comment on the wonderful soundtrack that surrounds us. At every moment we are hearing animal, plant, or even water sounds, and they are very good sounds to listen to, and when we stop to pay attention, it is really something that enchants.

The video graphics are very fluid and run perfectly. Tchia has as minimum requirements an Intel Core i5-7600 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 processor, 8GB RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 video card. The game as a whole is well-optimized.

The movement of the camera is very good and it is important that it does not crash because the game is very fast, since at times we need to swim and lose power by staying too long underwater. With this, I can say that the controls are ideal and not too difficult.

Tchia is a very colorful game, with bright and vibrant colors. This is something I like a lot, it brings a certain joy and excitement to playing. As it is in the adventure genre, and set on an island, it is only fair that it be a game with very flashy graphics.



We also experience a wonderful soundtrack. At one point in the game, we acquire two dry fern leaves, which when passed over each other produce a sound. The music is all very cool and good to listen to, not repetitive or cloying, it's a factor that really keeps you focused.

The game is localized into Brazilian Portuguese and many other languages such as English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Simplified Chinese.

The PC key for Tchia is available from Kepler Interactive.