For awhile, I wanted to play the Tchia game. The whole travel mechanic of Soul Jumping into animals and objects seemed very interesting to me. Problem was, it was a Playstation exclusive and then Epic Games store exclusive. Fast forward to a few months ago and it hit Steam, but I was deep into other games.
Now it’s on Game Pass and right as I was ready to play what’s next. The game is fun, but not learning to travel around fast can hamper fun. Lucky for me, I learned the power of chaining Soul Jumping/Throwing rocks.
Tchia Story and Feel
The background story behind Tchia actually enhances the game. It’s based on the archipelago of New Caledonia. The visuals, music, folklore, food and even language are representative of the real place. The overall styling is close to a cartoon, but it looks so good. The sky, sun rise/set, water and islands are all great.
Most of the game revolves around rescuing Tchia’s father from Meavora. There’s plenty of characters to meet along the way, but I’m still confused about all the food stands everywhere. Eating helps restore the games Soul Meter, but makes me wonder if they actually share food freely like this in real life.
It’s not the same food either, it varies and at least seems like it’s authentic cuisine. Sharing food with the locals and jamming out are big parts of the story. There are various instruments for Tchia to play via rhythm based minigames.
Jamming Out on the Ukulele
Personally, I mostly hate rhythm games, but it’s completely optional here. It enhances the experience instead of annoying. There’s even an option to have the game play the notes for me and just enjoy the performance. Because it was all optional and no perfection level required, I only used the auto option once.
The Ukulele is also useful to control the game world. By completing the rock stacking puzzles I could unlock useful sets of notes. Early on, I could play 4 notes to change the time of day. Later on, I could summon a super fast boat or even mythical beast.
There’s a ton of customization options for gear too. I started rocking the oil can turned into a Ukulele, for example. There’s hats, glasses, ton of hair styles, shirts, outfits, shorts, shoes and backpacks. All of them have values that help with stamina, oxygen, etc.. There’s even options to customize the raft.
The entire game is in both French and the local Drehu language. There was a time that would have bugged me, but Yakuza taught me the original voice over enhances gameplay. The local lingo does the same for this Tchia game.
I will admit the folklore heavy story had me confused, but it didn’t take away from the fun. There’s some weird baby eating worm god thing, then there’s magical henchmen made out of cloth. It’s weird, but unique. Not sure if that’s based on some New Caledonia folklore, but seems like it.
The overall mood and chill of the game is great, but the real original draw was the unique methods of travel.
Getting Around Quickly in the Tchia Game
Learning to Soul Jump was why I really wanted to play Tchia. Seeing the original trailers where she basically possesses deer, fish, birds and even rocks, caught my attention. It’s actually comical the amount of things I could possess.
Those fabric henchmen I mentioned earlier were no match for me turning into a gas can and launching fire at them. That’s where the second part of this great game mechanic comes in, the Soul Throw. Once I took control of a creature or object, I could launch it at something or just the open air.
There are parts of the map where I’d have trouble finding any animals or birds flying over head. It was a long jog to anything else, so I learned the power of the rock. Rocks were just about everywhere, so I learned to Soul Jump into it, Soul Throw it far into the air, then Soul Jump back into it, in flight.
When I chained those steps together multiple times, I could quickly launch myself across the map or up buildings. It was a great way to get around fast when other options were not easy to get to. When I could find a bird on land, that was my go to. It’s a bit funny you can make the bird poop. No benefit just a funny dev addition.
Swim Like a Fish
When I’d hit the water, the Raft was actually the preference due to speed and no Soul Meter cost. I could vary the height of the sails to control speed. There’s a separate rudder to control steering and an anchor. It was a bit of back and forth trying to raise the sails to slow it down, then jump back to steering close to land.
In cases where I found myself in water without my Raft, I’d possess various fish to sprint through the water. It also helped that sea creatures offered unlimited oxygen. It was perfect for diving down to various objects. I liked the Dolphins and launching them out of the water, but the Shark cracked me up with it’s bite action.
All the Soul Jumping is controlled by a Soul meter that wore down fast in the beginning. Later on, I unlocked Shrine puzzles (reminded me a bit of Zelda). I’d complete various challenges or puzzles to acquire a Soul Fruit to add a bar to my Soul meter. I completed them all before the credits rolled to max out the length of each Soul Jump.
The real unique part of these Shrine puzzles is how to open the door to them. I’d have to see what Totem face went with that Shrine, then go to carving station to carve a matching totem. The little carving puzzles were plenty of fun.
I’d have to match the pattern of the various eye parts, whiskers, teeth and nose. They were well thought out and plenty of fun to complete.
Navigating the Tchia Game Map
Another little bump in the road to getting around fast in Tchia was the map. The map did not display my exact location, but rather a large radius of about where I was located. That was unless I interacted with the various sign posts around the islands. With those it pinpointed my exact location.
Opening the compass would show me the general direct of objectives or markers are added to the map, so I’d just travel in that direction until I got there. The map was definitely a bit annoying until I learned to rely on the compass.
Learning how to travel efficiently was very important for the treasure hunt side missions. Those really challenged not only traveling all around, but identifying landmarks and later using multiple creatures to get to and open the chests.
The latter treasure hunt puzzles required me to possess an animal that could dig and then a crab that could cut with its claws. It was not always easy to find the exact creature I needed close by, so I learned to store them in my backpack. Not exactly humane, but they survived.
I completed all of those as well and it opened up a ton of great outfits and other rewards.
Tchia is a Definite Buy
Although I played Tchia on Game Pass, it’s definitely a game worth buying. Completing most of the challenges was actually fun once I learned how to easily get around. There’s plenty of activities to keep busy with even after the credits roll.
I’ll 100% buy and play any possible sequel of Tchia, I just hope they release on Steam day one. It’s a great game to play on Steam Deck, for sure.