A wonderfully charming open-world adventure. Take a refreshing swim in the sights and sounds of a fictionalized New Caledonia. Delight in its language and music, learn about its folklore and diversity, and enjoy relatively easy, slow-moving gameplay. The game is clearly influenced by Breath of the Wild in mood, look, and play-style. Tchia doesn't quite rise to the heights of Nintendo, but it has a lot to offer.

There is a main quest and you can play it and only it. Actually, that might the best path for most players, because once you open yourself to finding all the collectibles and completing all the optional challenges then you're in for a repetitive slog. The world is lovely, but there's just not a lot of kinds of things to do in it. Alas, Tchia's open world scheme is Ubisoft-like: find a vantage spot, highlight all the points of interest on the map, and then go clean 'em up. You can also do this after finishing the game.

That sounds boring, and indeed it might be for you. There's just too much of this filler content in Tchia. That said, the world is vibrant enough to keep the game loop enjoyable even when doing the same things over and over again. As the game progresses you get access to more traversal methods, and some of them are truly delightful. But even slowly sailing your raft from island to island has a certain beauty to it. The lapping of waves, the cries of seagulls, a small village in the distance. You can almost feel the warmth of the sun and smell the Pacific sea salt.

While most of the game is about slow traversal, there are some more things to do. Specifically, your powers provide opportunities for emergent gameplay. There's not a lot of combat, but it can be made interesting if you approach it creatively. There are also several mini-games and challenge areas, which work as a change of pace. They are mostly easy, but some can be frustrating if you're going for 100% achievements.

Tchia could have used more polish before release. Controls are wonky during climbing, and you might get trapped in the scenery and have to reload a save. For me, these were relatively small annoyances that did not keep me from enjoying the game as a whole.

Affection for New Caledonia is present in every nook and cranny of this passion project. If that sounds compelling to you, and you're not entirely put off by some repetitive grind, then Tchia is for you.

A wonderfully charming open-world adventure. Take a refreshing swim in the sights and sounds of a fictionalized New Caledonia. Delight in its language and music, learn about its folklore and diversity, and enjoy relatively easy, slow-moving gameplay. The game is clearly influenced by [I]Breath of the Wild[/I] in mood, look, and play-style. [I]Tchia[/I] doesn't quite rise to the heights of Nintendo, but it has a lot to offer. There is a main quest and you can play it and only it. Actually, that might the best path for most players, because once you open yourself to finding all the collectibles and completing all the optional challenges then you're in for a repetitive slog. The world is lovely, but there's just not a lot of kinds of things to do in it. Alas, [I]Tchia[/I]'s open world scheme is Ubisoft-like: find a vantage spot, highlight all the points of interest on the map, and then go clean 'em up. You can also do this after finishing the game. That sounds boring, and indeed it might be for you. There's just too much of this filler content in [I]Tchia[/I]. That said, the world is vibrant enough to keep the game loop enjoyable even when doing the same things over and over again. As the game progresses you get access to more traversal methods, and some of them are truly delightful. But even slowly sailing your raft from island to island has a certain beauty to it. The lapping of waves, the cries of seagulls, a small village in the distance. You can almost feel the warmth of the sun and smell the Pacific sea salt. While most of the game is about slow traversal, there are some more things to do. Specifically, your powers provide opportunities for emergent gameplay. There's not a lot of combat, but it can be made interesting if you approach it creatively. There are also several mini-games and challenge areas, which work as a change of pace. They are mostly easy, but some can be frustrating if you're going for 100% achievements. [I]Tchia[/I] could have used more polish before release. Controls are wonky during climbing, and you might get trapped in the scenery and have to reload a save. For me, these were relatively small annoyances that did not keep me from enjoying the game as a whole. Affection for New Caledonia is present in every nook and cranny of this passion project. If that sounds compelling to you, and you're not entirely put off by some repetitive grind, then [I]Tchia[/I] is for you.