A flower blooms and a fern-child awakens deep inside a mysterious botanical laboratory. Discover the secrets of this place, eat fruits with surprising effects, solve puzzles, climb, jump, and hoist yourself toward the light of Tjikko.
Essence of the Tjikko is a retro 3D adventure-puzzle game set in a 7-floor underground botanical laboratory — a vertical dungeon of over 30 interconnected rooms, where simple actions combine to offer surprising solutions.
Gameplay is built on basic mechanics: climbing ledges, pushing crates, carrying energy bulbs, swimming. But they combine with 4 seasonal fruits that alter your abilities and appearance — opening the way to emergent puzzle-solving that rewards curiosity (or brute force) :
The plant world functions here like an operating system — roots are cables, sap is data, botanical mechanisms respond like living computers. Nature and technology speak the same language, and the fern-child is bilingual.
Visually, this game recaptures the spirit of 2000s 3D with modern techniques and a deliberate graphic stance. The 4:3 format is an intentional choice: its proportions step away from the 16:9 simulation to evoke more of a fairy-tale feeling. The world fits within the frame like an illustration from a picture book.
Inspired by the dungeons of the Zelda series, but telling its own story — an allegory of childhood, growth, and the instinct that pushes toward the light.
An original botanical fantasy adventure inspired by the early 3D Zelda games. A fern-child awakens deep inside an abandoned laboratory and rises toward the light.
Fully rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, 4 years after the original release. New gameplay, seasonal fruit system, overhaul of assets, character and visual rendering. New interface system, asset optimisation, difficulty balancing and other fixes.
Released on 22 February 2026 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Zelda series.
Essence of the Tjikko was born in Annecy — a splendid city where nature performs on a grand stage. Its crystal-clear water as the set, the mountains as the backdrop, each season unfolding like a different act. Working at Ubisoft in 2018, I began writing the world of Erdeven in my free time, seeking to connect Annecy's topography with biome archetypes and environmental symbolism — a reflection I'd been carrying since reading The Uses of Enchantment during my geology studies.
When the future felt uncertain in 2021, I wanted to start creating something meaningful to me as an artist. I went freelance and gave myself 9 months to release the first version of Tjikko. It came out in February 2022 — shown at small events, introduced to streamers... I was proud of the result but knew it was incomplete, so I set it aside, a bit like a game that's too hard and you come back to it more seasoned.
The years that followed were formative in the industry, to say the least. And when the planets finally aligned in September 2025, I came back to Tjikko with a clear goal: the Remastered Edition for the 40th anniversary of the Zelda series, 21 February 2026.
The remaster reflects everything those years taught me. At least half the game was remade — technically and artistically. The lighting, the textures, the level design details, the difficulty balance...
Looking back, Tjikko and I grew together along this journey, thanks to the support of friends met along the way. Former colleagues lent their eye and instinct to the design and visuals. Native speakers in 10 languages trusted this story to carry it into their own tongue. And the music of my friend Philippe Reinhart gave the world its heartbeat.
Making a game takes time, but watching it grow is a reward in itself. And I can't wait to see the next act.
Essence of the Tjikko — Prologue is the first chapter of a larger adventure. The full game envisions an immense underground world: five dungeons, a central hub carved beneath the roots of the great Tjikko, with underground lakes, temples, jungles and villages — a civilisation frozen in time. The next chapter is in development.
A geology graduate turned game artist, I bring a singular perspective to world-building — shaped by topology, natural systems and the symbolism of landscapes. After contributing to titles like Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and AGOS at Ubisoft, those formative experiences allowed me to begin Essence of the Tjikko.
La Revria Studio is my artistic label, surrounded by a network of collaborators — composer, translators, playtesters — who believe in the project. Friends and former colleagues who lent their eye, their voice and their time so this story could exist.
