Tchia, an upcoming open-world adventure and exploration game from first-time developers Awaceb, borrows different bits and pieces from a variety of popular games but is working to create something wholly unique. All it takes is a few moments traversing the fictional island of Ija Nöj to see snippets of inspiration from a variety of popular games. From a reimagining of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s boat to Goat Simulator and Assassin's Creed's climbing mechanics, Awaceb is taking some of the best aspects of each and combining them to create Tchia, a beautiful world filled with fun and exploration.
The game draws a lot of its inspiration from nature and the lives of those on New Caledonia, an island located between Australia and Fiji. Those influences are felt in the game's laid-back nature, the folklore and culture throughout, and some design elements that attempt to make it stand out from your typical exploration game. Everything from the small pontoon-style boat to the musical and magical ukulele infuses the game with a unique island ambiance that adds to its charm. The main character Tchia, who shares the same name as the title of the game, embodies all these aspects as well and is an adorable protagonist to traverse the islands with.
When first starting Tchia, its graphical artistry is something to behold with clear water that changes into a huge variety of beautiful blues and greens, gorgeous sandy beaches and grass-covered hills, and distant mountains create absolutely gorgeous views at first glance. Super close inspection does show a more basic and less true-to-life art style for most objects, creatures, and human characters, but everything comes together very satisfactorily when viewed as a whole. The cute aesthetic might not interest the more hardcore gaming crowd, but Tchia is made for a more laid-back audience.
An assortment of wild creatures roam the islands as well, but they don’t pose much of a threat. Instead, they can become a helpful tool for getting around and traversing through the various biomes using an ability called ‘soul jumping’ that allows Tchia to possess and take over their form. It is a very easy system to use: activate the ability, aim at what you want to possess, and Tchia flies into them taking control for a limited time. There are also unlocks that will allow the player to extend their possession timer. From deer and dogs and more on land, flying creatures like pigeons and ravens in the air, and sharks and a variety of fish in the ocean, each animal has a specific ability that can either increase traveling speeds or perform other tasks. Some of the other abilities that aren’t for traveling seem a little less useful in the current state of the game but will more than likely have some sort of utility when the game releases.
Animals aren’t the only thing Tchia can possess. She is also able to possess many of the physical objects scattered throughout the world. While under her control, the objects can then be bounced and tossed in any direction until the possession meter runs out. While not as fast as the animals or capable of traveling very far, item possession can be used to attack the various enemies spread throughout the islands. These fabric-like creatures named Manno were used mostly to guard unlockable cosmetics, but will more than likely play a larger role as the story progresses.
After exploring for just a little bit, it becomes apparent the developers spent a lot of time getting the free-form locomotion system that is used to traverse over the island to feel as smooth as it does. A gorge can usually be crossed on foot with some wall climbing, but instead of just walking, users can opt to climb a tree, and using built-up momentum from swinging it back and forth, launch Tchia over the gap and settle to the ground with help from a small parachute she carries with her. The system works surprisingly well when launching from treetop to treetop and sliding down hills before leaping back into the air to float wherever Tchia needs to go. It feels well-thought-out when combined with the game's stamina system and works to break up the monotony of simply running everywhere.
Tchia currently has a large variety of outfits to find and change into, such as grass-woven pants, jackets, hats, and sandals, as well as allowing players to decorate and change the sails and pontoons of the small craft used to travel to other islands. The press demo provided to Game ZXC only allowed travel around one large island, but it gave a sense of the size and scale that the full game will provide. Multiple islands can be seen on the horizon, as well as taking a good chunk of time to actually sail fully around the main island provided. There are rivers and streams seemingly everywhere that can be sailed up and down, allowing a great sense of adventure that can feel missing from some exploration-based games.
One questionable choice the developers made was creating an odd light reflection that occurs when up close to most bodies of water. A lot of current-gen games choose to have light reflecting off of water in a sort-of blinding fashion, but Awaceb chooses to have these light refractions occur everywhere even when the engine's light sources wouldn’t usually allow it to happen. It is a bit distracting when it is seen during the day and night, including at dusk or during cloudy mornings.
The game can also seem a bit empty of things to do when traversing from point A to point B over land. There are a variety of mini-games scattered throughout the islands, but there were brief moments when it felt like a bit of a slog traveling to an undiscovered location or dock to retrieve Tchia's boat. Perhaps upon full release, there will be more to do between locations, but the larger stretches of emptiness will just encourage people to get through it as fast as possible, which for a game based around exploration and discovery could wind up being a negative aspect to traveling.
Tchia is shaping up to be a gorgeous and fun open-world exploration-style game, with methods of traversal that should delight most gamers with its style and ease of use. It works to create an enchanting atmosphere from the very start that players looking to escape the super gritty and serious style of games will probably enjoy when it releases.
Tchia will release in early 2023 for the PC, PS4, and PS5. Game ZXC was provided a PC code for this preview.
