Tchia's PlayStation Showcase 2021 trailer showcased gameplay reminiscent of other influential titles, such as a gliding mechanic comparable to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, there is a featured mechanic at the beginning of Tchia's latest trailer that would appear quite similar to a much more unique mechanic. In a recently deleted post, Jason Schreier had noted an undeniable coincidence when making a sarcastic nod to how alike Tchia’s ukulele system looks to The Last of Us 2’s guitar system.
From a visual standpoint, anyone who has played The Last of Us 2 would be remiss not to compare the two designs since they are staggeringly similar to one another. Of course, with The Last of Us 2 having released much sooner, it would make for an easy assumption that Tchia’s ukulele system was designed after The Last of Us 2’s guitar system as an inspirational blueprint. But since Tchia’s trailer and Schrier’s mention of its similarities to The Last of Us 2, developers from each game have spoken candidly about their respective design processes.
John Robert Matz, the composer writing Tchia's score, insists that work on the system had been underway long before The Last of Us 2 had released. Indeed, each instrumentation system features the same circular UI layout presenting different chords that the player can then strum. The character's fingers are arranged proportionately to the respective chords that players select, making it an immersive user experience with authentic finger placement.
Kurt Margenau, Co-Game Director on The Last of Us 2, suggests that their games' features only share similarities in a coincidental nature. Margenau explains that the UX design is perhaps the only logical or feasible means that either developer could find to produce an instrumentation design that would function the way it does. Matz playfully expresses that they had the wind cut from their sails a bit upon learning of The Last of Us 2’s similar design for strumming on a guitar, but that no honest grievances are held.
The feature is distinctly unique and seemingly the first of its kind in character- or narrative-driven games, put aside from overtly musical games such as Rocksmith, Guitar Hero, or Rock Band that concentrate exclusively upon the simulation of playing instruments. Whether one game’s instrumentation design came before the other is of little regard to the games’ developers, however. Each developer respects the other’s work in its own right considering the purposes that the instrument system design serve for each.
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The Last of Us 2's guitar sequences represent the final tether connecting Joel and Ellie’s tarnished relationship, and players who adored this feature in The Last of Us 2 may be excited to see what impact playing the ukulele has in Tchia next year.
Tchia is expected to launch in 2022 for PC, PS4, and PS5.