Venba is a fantastic experience. In its short run time of 1-2 hours, this narrative cooking game takes you on a journey in the life of a family that immigrated from India to Canada looking for a fresh start. Filled with ups and downs, the story of Venba has you primarily playing as the mother in this small family as she cooks dishes from a damaged cookbook that her own mother left her when they immigrated.
And this story is far and away her star of Venba. Everything about the title is in service to the story which really helps it pack an even deeper emotional punch. Those that have fond food related memories will likely be hit hardest by the story as it unfolds. Playing through this will also show various difficulties that immigrant families have as they attempt to find a foothold in a new country. I don’t want to give too much away as I feel this is a story better experienced than detailed. Though one thing I will mention are a few dialogue options. These don't feel like radical departures from one another, but more about a choice in attitude, like the difference between "Ok, that's fine" and "Fine, I'll do it". The implementation of these choices is perfectly fine, yet it also feels secondary. These succeed in making a stronger connection between player and story, and I can't really ask more of them.
The cooking puzzles represent the core gameplay in Venba and they are alright if simple puzzles to solve. While some may balk at the lack of difficulty on offer, it feels as though the gameplay exists to bolster the story and give the player a sense of “Hey, I made this, please come to the table and enjoy it.” For my experience at least, this worked as a supplement to the story, but if they were not tied so closely to the narrative they likely would’ve fallen short for me.
Sound design is positively superb throughout. Cooking sound effects like herbs and vegetables sizzling in oil are captured beautifully, while the musical score from Alpha Something feels authentic to the Tamil culture on display throughout Venba. I will hope for a streaming release of the tunes to add to my own game music rotation. However, one thing I felt was missing was voice acting. On one hand, I think I understands that having voice acting would've required a bit more patience on the player in that I don't expect many to be familiar with the language of Tamil (myself included). While it would've been nice to hear the family and their emotions, I also get the artistic choice in making the story written.
The art style employed throughout reminds me of classic children’s books that appeared to use handcrafted techniques to make a popping and colorful showcase. This serves the characters and especially the food really well, save for moments where the camera zooms in. At that point, the edges of characters can appear chunky. That isn’t to say they appear pixelated by any means, but as though those edges were not being redefined as you get closer. This isn’t distracting to the presentation, but it did feel out of place when intended close-ups had better definition. While the art style feels fitting the animation work feels of two worlds.
With the characters, they appear and walk stiffly, which I suppose is fitting given my children’s book comparison. However, in the cooking segments animation is fluid as ingredients fall into pans, or dosas are flipped. I would’ve liked to see more of a uniform animation quality throughout the game.
Lastly, the achievements (though at the time of writing I have not yet completed them all) are simple to finish. A single playthrough can take care of the majority of them, while an included chapter select option allows for the replaying of specific segments to capture any that were missed, such as the second method of building a puttu.
Your mileage of Venba will depend a lot on your own expectations. This is not a difficult game, nor is it a game with breakthrough gameplay. What it is though is a story waiting to be told and to move you. As a Game Pass title, I recommend playing this as a (pardon the pun) palette cleanser to heavier titles. However, as a $15 title I think only those ready for a story about the length of a movie should pay full price. But in both instances, I recommend playing and giving this story of an immigrant family and their food a chance.
4.0