Last year, I had the fortune of being able to review the VR game Lost Recipes, a cooking title where you learned about cuisine from ancient cultures by cooking them as they would have been made back in the day. It was a fascinating idea anda good game, but I felt like it didn’t have enough content in the end, especially given the sheer amount of potential a game like that could have as a form of education. I hoped that Visai Games would improve with their game, Venba, a narrative game where you have to figure out the steps for various Southern Indian dishes and cook them, once again providing the opportunity to explore a different culture through the culinary arts.
Getting towards the end of Venba, though, I had started to feel similar disappointments. The main hook is that we play as the titular Venba, a woman who immigrates to Canada in the late 1980s with her husband Paavalan and eventually raising a son, Kavin. Over the course of decades, we check in on various important parts of their life and cook various dishes with the help of a recipe book from Venba’s mother, which sadly got damaged in the move and essentially requires the blanks for certain steps to be filled in. And as culture is an important part of the story, I was disappointed that there were only shaping up to be a few scenes where you actually cook anything, as it feels like an intriguing bit of gameplay that helps serve as a connection to Venba’s home.
And when what appeared to be the final meal started to become rather easy, I began to let out a sigh of disappointment, once again being left wanting more…but before I could let out that sigh, Venba responded by letting loose with one megaton punch to gut, and letting me know in the process that no, things aren’t over just yet. It also served as a reminder that while cooking is a central part to the game, it’s still focused on the story of Venba and her family, and needless to say, that’s where the biggest strengths lie. Via a series of scenes over the years punctuated with the occasional dialogue choice, you get an amazing look at Venba’s life as a mother in a new world and the struggles she faces in this situation.
Given that Venba can be completed in about one to two hours, though, I can’t go into any major details without spoiling the experience. Which is tough, because there’s surprisingly a lot to discuss. We learn over time that Venba and Paavalan were a teacher and a writer, respectively, but whatever success they may have had in India isn’t necessarily going to translate well into a different culture, as Venba talks about how it feels to teach in two different worlds. The decisions to have the game take place over nearly thirty years as we see Kavin grow up is particularly brilliant, especially during one moment near the end that provides a stark contrast to a previous age, while also highlighting a bit of irony in what little has seemingly been learned.
Kavin himself is arguably the most important character here, especially given how we see Venba deal with being a mother at various stages in life. While Venba and Paavalan are having their own troubles fitting in where still having memories of where they came from – both good and bad – Kavin is born in Canada, and as a young child, clearly feels awkward about his roots, not eating his mother’s food at lunch and preferring pizza, finding nothing wrong with his friends calling him “Kevin” instead, and having trouble speaking his mother’s native tongue of Tamil. In raising Kavin, Venba has to work with that classic immigrant struggle of wanting a better life for your family, while still wanting to remember the roots of your old life.
It helps that the dialogue is incredible, easily letting the personalities of the three characters shine through. One of the best parts is when Venba gets a six-year-old Kavin to be interested in puttu, the type of dish your average child might be awkward towards at first, by comparing the making of it to a rocket, given its shape and the amount of steam produced at the end. It’s a quick scene, but an amazing one that perfectly captures a scenario that every mother has likely been in at one point or another. It helps that the art style is nice, colorful and cartoonish in just the right amount, allowing every visual, small detail, and bit of regional culture in the background to pop out (alongside an amazing soundtrack inspired by Indian musicals, courtesy of Venba’s radio), and perfectly showing the characters as they age. Oh, and it shouldn’t come as a shock, but the Southern Indian food that’s presented in the game looks mouth-watering, captured with such a stylish flair that it will immediately have you craving some.
On that note, as mentioned earlier, the actual gameplay bits with cooking aren’t as plentiful as one might have hoped, but they still stand out as another terrific highlight. With Venba’s cookbook damaged, players have to figure out the steps for each recipe on various ways via context, like analyzing the ingredients and utensils at hand, paying attention to the diagrams, or even just using basic logic. During these times, Venba essentially becomes a cooking puzzler, and it’s truly impressive stuff, especially as you learn about dishes such as biriyani and Chicken Rasam through decoding each step (and via a dialogue option located in the hint menu, which felt annoying that it was tucked away like that). These bits even get some clever spins on the end, but again, that might be giving away something important. Just try it out and see for yourself.
Closing Comments:
Through a exploration of Southern Indian cuisine and the preparation of it that’s been given a slight puzzler twist, Venba manages to serve up a captivating story about culture, motherhood, immigrant life and more, spiced up with likeable characters and great dialogue, and topped off with eye-catching visuals and an ear-pleasing soundtrack. It’s a short feast, but a filling one, so it would be wise to give it a shot. Would it help if we said that it might remind you of a rocket somehow?
