Tchia

Self-described as a game “inspired by New Caledonia”, a collectivity of islands to the east of Australia that are a part of France. Finding a trailer for a video game that foregrounds a sense of cinematic narrative is, perhaps understandably, difficult: most game trailers tend to focus on spectacle—graphics—and the gameplay experience, which necessitates a layer of narrative abstraction to be inserted between the audioviewer and the trailer. In other words, games are generally more about the player’s construction of their own narrative, and trailers as such are more of a demonstration of that possibility than the promise of a crafted story.

Still, games and their trailers exist along a continuum in terms of just how much the story—and a cinematic experience—matters; Tchia manages to weave gameplay into a broader narrative experience. Music, naturally, plays a critical role in accomplishing this. It helps that musicianship appears to be a core part of _Tchia’s _gameplay, as well—at 0:07 we see the player character pulling out a ukulele and a fairly sophisticated interface for playing chords appear beside it. A moment later, a swell in the strings complements her.

As this French song continues, a montage of different scenery from the game is played. Around 0:33 it segues to what is pretty clearly a gameplay portion, with a single heads-up display of elements to help signal that it’s gameplay. At 0:38 the first verse of the song ends in synch with the character transporting herself into the body of a seagull. In this next instrumental section, we see the character presumably playing as an array of different animals, including a crab, turtle, and dog. At 1:01 the ukulele element of the arrangement returns to the in-game sound world, with the player’s ukulele showing up on screen again.

Now midway through, the soundtrack shifts its arrangement, with a choral element and folk singing, presumably indigenous to New Caledonia. A bit of plot development occurs with some off-screen dialogue; however, the main purpose is clearly to demonstrate gameplay. The song plays continuously throughout in this second half of the trailer, through to the date and title cards.

Ultimately, it is a game trailer, and gameplay understandably comes to the fore. Still, Tchia features unique soundtrack elements that play uninterrupted in this trailer. In addition, the way the edit facilitates dynamics between diegetic and non-diegetic sound permits for an unusually cinematic feel, while also cleverly conveying and incorporating features of the gameplay that use music.

Tchia comes to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 in 2022.

— Curtis Perry