Chris Livingston: I love open world games, but such a familiar formula has been established that so many of them wind up feeling predictable. Collection quests, treasure hunts, minigames, gliders for getting around… these things aren’t bad, but they’ve grown a bit stale. Tchia has these elements too, but puts such a fresh spin on them they feel brand new.
Soul-jumping is the highlight of the traversal system, and means that in addition to the gliding every other game has you can also leap into a nearby bird to go from drifting to actual soaring. Tchia can fling her soul into everything from fish to deer to rocks, making each trip across the island an exercise in kinetic improv. Its minigames are wonderfully inventive and original, too: rock stacking, cliff diving, totem carving, and elaborate musical challenges using her playable ukulele.