Tchia

In the game, the player assumes control of the titular character as she explores a fictional archipelago inspired by New Caledonia. Tchia has the ability of "soul jumping", which allows her to possess and assume control of animals and inanimate objects found in the world, and uses their power to travel to new areas, solve puzzles, and defend herself against opponents. According to developer Phil Crifo, players can soul jump to more than 30 animals and "hundreds of" objects. Tchia can also explore the archipelago in her human form. Tchia is also highly acrobatic, as she can quickly slide down a mountain, climb up trees and use it to catapult herself across the canopy, and ascend nearly all types of surfaces. Players can also play "‘Soul-Melodies", which allows Tchia to perform feats such as summoning animals for soul jumping, altering the time of day, or changing the in-game weather. Tchia's appearance, as well as her glider and her raft, can be extensively customized. Tchia is currently being developed by a team of 12 people in Awaceb, an independent game studio based in Montreal. While the setting of the game was entirely fictional, it was heavily inspired by New Caledonia, a Pacific nation where the founders of Aweceb, Thierry Boura and Phil Crifo, grew up. One of the goals for the studio was to "show what it was like exploring New Caledonia" when the two were still kids. Most members of the studio travelled to Lifou for two weeks to conduct research for the game, as well as showing a demo of the game to the indigenous population. Similar to the natives in New Caledonia, the characters in the game spoke both French and Drehu; as there were no professional voice actors who spoke Drehu, the studio had a difficult time recruiting people to record lines for the game.