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Make delicious food in this short but heartfelt narrative cooking game - Venba Quick Review

3K View2023-08-01

Venba

9.3

CinematicRomanceInteractive FictionFamilyCraftingVisual NovelCasualAdventure

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it if you’re a fan of visual novels or cooking games, or just want to see some amazing-looking food. Venba is a game about food, but it puts just as much care into its narrative as it does into its dishes. It follows Venba and Paavalan, an immigrant couple struggling to adjust to life in Canada. Venba uses her mother’s old recipe book as a way to stay connected to her culture. Later on, as their family expands, Venba uses cooking as a way to share Tamil culture with her son, Kavin. The narrative is brief, but it’s beautifully told, and the cooking segments feel like a key part of the game’s storytelling.

TIME PLAYED

I spent less than two hours with Venba, which was more than enough time to complete the game. Venba splits its story into seven chapters, seamlessly mixing dialogue and story sequences with cooking segments. I was a little disappointed by its brief length, but I still had a fantastic time playing through the game and tackling different recipes.

WHAT'S AWESOME

• Unique cooking mechanics. Venba had me prepare traditional dishes while following an old, well-worn recipe book that wasn’t always easy to read. Sometimes, the instructions were smudged and not fully legible. Other times, I was working from recipes that weren’t fully translated or overly vague. Figuring out how to turn a pile of ingredients into a delicious meal felt like a puzzle that was incredibly rewarding to solve.

Venba also changes its approach to cooking based on who’s in the kitchen. When I was making a dish that a character was familiar with, it felt like I was preparing the dish on autopilot. If I was playing as a character with limited cooking experience, every step felt like a struggle. The cooking scenes were fun to play through, but they also felt like a key part of the game’s narrative.

• A full sensory experience. Venba has stylized visuals, but it felt like I could actually smell each dish as it cooked. The audio and visuals are absolutely fantastic, from the way the chili peppers crackle and sizzle when you toss them in oil to the way steam pours out of your pot when you take off the lid. Even pulling leaves off fresh herbs produced a satisfying snap.

While the cooking sounds were a big part of Venba’s appeal, I was also delighted by the soundtrack. Tamil music plays in the background during cooking segments, and each track felt like the perfect complement to the dish I was preparing. I found myself settling into a rhythm while I cooked, doing my best to complete steps in time with the music.

• It’s okay to make mistakes. I don’t know much about traditional Tamil cooking, but Venba never expected me to be a culinary expert. When I screwed something up, the game would let me start over while it gently pointed me in the right direction. I liked trying to puzzle things out myself, but if I ever felt totally lost, I could always request a hint and get some extra guidance.

• Moving story. Venba manages to tell a decade-spanning story in under ninety minutes. The dialogue is excellent, but some of its best storytelling doesn’t use words at all. I loved the way background details shifted with the passage of time or how dialogue bubbles looked different based on whether someone was speaking in Tamil or English. Venba touches some challenging topics, like generational rifts, language barriers, and the struggle to hold onto your culture after immigrating. It’s a deeply moving story that feels very close to the heart of its writer.

WHAT SUCKS

• It’s really short. Venba’s narrative doesn’t feel incomplete, but it still felt like it wrapped things up much too quickly. Its economical approach to storytelling is mostly effective, but it could have used another chapter or two. Kavin goes from a small child to a teen heading off to college in an instant. I would have loved to see him and his family during those in-between segments.

Not only does the story feel a little too brief, but the game doesn’t have enough cooking segments. I learned a lot from the recipes I prepared, but I never had a chance to put that knowledge to the test. I wish I could have tackled some more complex recipes so that I could have built on the skills I learned. If Venba had been an hour or two longer, it could have been a five-star game, but as is, it feels like a good dish that’s still missing an ingredient or two.

💬 Will you be tackling traditional Tamil recipes in Venba, or do you prefer to stay out of the kitchen? Share your thoughts in the comments!