By: Elizabeth Hambleton
Looking to expand your Asian American & Pacific Islander Month offerings beyond books and films? Consider adding Tchia to your library’s video game collection. Available digitally on all major platforms, with physical editions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, Tchia offers players an interactive and culturally rich experience rooted in Pacific Islander traditions. Details come primarily from The AAPI In Gaming Resource List, The Family Gaming Database, Nicole Carpenter’s Polygon article on Tchia’s release, and Nahlia Bonfiglio’s We Got This Covered article preceding the release.
Tchia floating down from an island mountain with her trusty handwoven glider. Screenshot by Awaceb.
Released in 2023, Tchia is an action-adventure game set in a fictionalized version of New Caledonia. The story follows Tchia, a young girl whose father has been kidnapped, as she journeys across an island archipelago to rescue him. Players explore this open world by sailing between islands, gliding, and climbing, while also using a unique mechanic called “soul-jumping,” which allows Tchia to inhabit animals and objects—soaring as a seagull, swimming as a dolphin, or taking on other forms to solve puzzles and navigate the environment.
Map showing New Caledonia’s relative position in the Pacific.
Music also plays a role in the game. Tchia carries a ukulele, which players can strum freely or use in rhythm-based minigames. These musical moments are woven into the narrative, allowing Tchia to perform songs she shared with her father or play new melodies to summon friendly animals and influence the world around her. This emphasis on music reinforces the game’s grounding in lived cultural practices rather than treating them as background aesthetics.
Tchia holding out her ukulele, waiting for player input to play a tune. Screenshot by Awaceb.
The development studio Awaceb is largely composed of New Caledonia natives, including all department leads, and the game’s voice actors are also local. Co-founder Phil Crifo has spoken about balancing fantastical gameplay with grounded cultural representation. While Tchia draws inspiration from open-world titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Crifo cites Grand Theft Auto as a key influence in how the team approached worldbuilding—specifically, its ability to capture the essence of real places within fictionalized environments.
When starting the project, the Awaceb team asked centered the feeling of New Caledonia in their development pillars. They strove to address, “What’s the vibe? What’s it like living there? What are people like? What are the nitty gritty details that give it a smell, a taste?” In the end, many of these questions are answered broadly in the visual aesthetic and soundscape as well as in even the smallest details. For example, in Tchia, climbing coconut trees (a common practice in New Caledonia that everyone has different techniques for) reflects that individuality, and the player has a sense of weight and motion as branches sway under Tchia’s climb.
Tchia with traditional face paint and indigenous flowers, enjoying the sunset. Screenshot by Awaceb.
All told, Tchia offers an exquisite example of how video games can function as cultural storytelling tools, and beautifully celebrates an AAPI culture. It introduces non-local players to Pacific Islander landscapes, languages, music, folklore, and traditions, while offering those from the region meaningful representation. Physical copies are available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 through GameStop and Amazon.
General specs:
POV:
Third-person perspective
Number of players:
Single-player
Genre:
Action-adventure
Content rating:
PEGI 12 (bad language, violence)
Skill level:
9+
Play time:
8-11 hours to complete main story; 20 hours to 100% game
Reading level:
14+
Accessibility features:
button remap; save any time; subtitles and speaker indicators