This month’s Humble Choice featured a myriad of interesting titles and among them was Venba, a game whose demo I checked out a while ago, but that I never got to play because my backlog’s just too big.
Anyhow, I got it now, I played through it and I loved it. I knew it would hit close to home, especially as a second-generation immigrant, but I didn’t think it would hit this close to home… So, I wanna talk a bit about my experience playing it and why I liked it so much.
Developer: Visai Games
Publisher: Visai Games
Genre: Stylized Indie Narrative-driven Cooking-Puzzler
Release Date: July 31st, 2023
Reviewed on: PC
Available on: PC, PS5, Switch, XBS, XB1
Copy was acquired through Humble Choice.
Venba is a short narrative cooking game where you play as the titular Indian woman, Venba, who immigrates with her husband Paavalan to Canada in the 1980s.
Times are rough, however, with the worries piling up as you and your husband struggle to find work and risk homelessness before even thinking of returning to India since nothing keeps you in Canada yet… but then you turn up pregnant. The soon-to-be Kavin would be just that, a reason for them to stay, to enable opportunities and a different life for their son.
It’s a story about family, love, homesickness, loss, and staying in touch with your roots or letting go of them. I think it handles these matters very delicately in quite a clever and succinct way.
As you play through the game, you’ll cook various dishes and restore lost recipes from your ma’s recipe book. You’ll know the ingredients, some of the steps, and you’ll figure the rest out on your own, in a way. The puzzling is adorable and really lets you experience a part of their culture, the South Indian cuisine, as if you were there yourself.
During my playthrough, I found myself smiling a lot at how adorable the game was as a whole with the stylized art and the attention to detail, the visual and sound effects while cooking, the ingredients that were mostly recognizable (I say mostly because some of it was new to me, too), and I even got quite hungry just hearing the seeds, leaves and spices sizzling in the oil.
The story-telling through cooking puzzles with dialogue intertwined into each steps and flavour text to give you more insights into the process and the ingredients, the stories of this culture…
It’s all really well-made and I felt a connection to the characters. I recognized a lot of the story beats and got to reflect on my childhood and growing up learning German. In Kavin, I saw my siblings whose names never got pronounced correctly but who didn’t mind at all. My siblings who understood Albanian but didn’t know how to speak it.
It was touching. The game has a lot of soul. It made me cry. When the later story beats about family (both close and far) make their way into the narrative, when topics like loss and love, independence and closeness, authenticity and one’s roots or blood, I couldn’t help but tear up. Perhaps it was the onions sizzling in the oil. Who knows.
Just like the Idli’s batter that dripped through the steamer before I added the cloth towels, the way I grew up and the struggles I had to deal with made their way into my blog posts over time. Venba made me feel heard and understood. It’s a beautiful game that really manages to encapsulate my personal struggles (and surely the struggles of many others like me) into a poignant narrative.
By the end of the game, I didn’t feel hungry or left wanting more. I was full. It is a short game, sure, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome and certainly isn’t left to overcook or anything.
Personally, I do wish that the story had simmered a bit longer though. I can’t help it! I would have loved to see just a bit more. It doesn’t need it by any means but I hope we get to see more tales like this from the devs.
The game, however, is complete as it stands. It’s a full-course meal with authentic music, a very well-written narrative, unique stylized art, a lot of attention to detail, and endearing characters. There’s humour here and there that reminded me of my parents. I called my parents just earlier. I was already looking forward to visiting my family next week but this one made me look forward to it even more than before.
Venba is a beautiful experience that can be played through in one sitting. I ended up playing through it in one go, at least, with two breaks to let the tears flow.
The general flair and panache the game has and the fact that it just hits so close to home… I highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet!
Oh, and the game also features a recipe book. It’s not as much of a cooking game as it is a narrative game with puzzles in it… but you can cook the recipes in real life which I found amazing. I love that. Truly.
To the devs, thanks for making this game. Genuinely.
This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
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