When I first took the controls of Tchia in my hands-on preview at Gamescom, I immediately took control of a fish in a river and propelled myself through the water, shooting out and up into the air above to do a flip, then back down into the stream. I eventually ran out of stamina to possess the fish, so I returned to human form and recharged while jogging toward a small settled area, where I resumed possession by leaping into an empty beer can and flinging myself all over the place. Later, I possessed a cow and was able to drop a large turd on the ground, before hopping into a bird and soaring through the sky.
These are the contrasts of Tchia, which swings elegantly between Prop Hunt-like sandbox and Wind Waker-like island adventure. Set on an archipelago inspired by Pacific island nation, New Caledonia, Tchia follows the titular young heroine in pursuit of her father, who is kidnapped by a tyrant wielding an army of animated paper warriors. Tchia herself isn’t a fighter, but she’s both resourceful and spiritually powerful. Her most potent ability is soul jumping, which she can use to possess any animal or most objects, tapping into their powers to reach new areas, solve problems, or ward off enemies.
Soul jumping was by far the best surprise of my time with Tchia. Every animal I saw, from fish to rabbits to birds to deer, was controllable if I wanted, and so were random objects littering human settlements. Every target has its own unique ability alongside its specific movement mechanics, which can open Tchia up to some pretty wacky scenarios.
Some soul jumps were more useful than others, admittedly, since flying allowed me to reach places I couldn’t otherwise. On the other hand, I haven’t found a good reason for the cow to take giant poos every few seconds. But I’m reassured that there is a purpose for everything, and with over 30 animals and hundreds of objects promised, I imagine I’ll spend an inordinate amount of time happily experimenting with different soul jumps in the full game.
If soul jumping made Tchia feel more like prop hunt, then it was prop hunt set in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Much of my time outside of other creatures’ bodies was spent exploring a beautiful island, leaping off cliffs and drifting down with my glider, climbing palm trees, and sailing about on a raft that I (clumsily at first) controlled by physically swapping Tchia between unfurling the sail and adjusting the rudder to steer. Dotted across the island, I found chests with collectible cosmetics and other little trinkets, minigames, and other points of interest worth going out of my way for, though oftentimes the view from the top of the cliff I had climbed to was enough to warrant the journey up. And with soul jumping, movement around the island was easy and free flowing, which enticed me to explore even more.
At the end of a path through a canyon I stumbled upon an encampment of the paper enemies that kidnapped Tchia’s father. Tchia herself doesn’t use weapons from what I can tell, but paper enemies are fortunately susceptible to being burned. I leapt into an oil lantern in the middle of the camp and immediately set one of three foes ablaze, but the other two were alerted to my presence and eventually chased me out of the lantern. We played a few rounds of cat and mouse before I took over a coconut, rolled it into the still smoldering blaze from my initial incendiary endeavors, lit myself up, and rammed into the remaining two enemies. Problem solved. It’s a fun combat trick, and while I’m curious if the fiery focus will wear out its welcome over the full course of Tchia, there’s enough going on in terms of soul jumping variations that I have reason to expect there’s more to this unusual combat system than what I’ve seen.
After exploring and burning my foes to cinders, the third main highlight of Tchia was its musical moments. Tchia plays ukulele, and can pull it out anywhere and play a little tune that isn't unlike Link’s ocarina, with specific combinations of buttons corresponding to different songs. There are songs to change the weather, to summon animals you can use for soul jumping, to shift the time of day, and more. But beyond that, Tchia will also play in rhythm game segments for key story moments – in one moment, she played along with her friend singing. There’s an option to autoplay these if you want, and there’s no scoring or penalty for playing poorly, but I enjoyed both the beautiful moment of the two friends making music together as well as the pace and challenge of the rhythm game that went with it. The handful of notes I dropped felt more authentic than jarring or messy.
What I saw of Tchia this week was joyful – a world of people, creatures, and nature seen through the eyes of a child. Though I can’t personally speak to how well it pulls off its representation of New Caledonia, Awaceb’s studio founders are originally from the region, and it’s voiced by local talent in traditional languages with subtitles – so there’s plenty to be confident about there. What I’m most curious about is how the lighthearted sandbox island world will ultimately play with Tchia’s story, which seems somewhat at odds with bouncing around the island as a beer can. But perhaps not – it’s a coming-of-age story after all, and there’s something refreshing about walking in the shoes of a jubilant heroine who still sees everything in front of her as an opportunity for a new adventure.