Food will tear us apart, again – Venba Review
Developer: Visai Games | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 1:40 | Platinum: 3:05
Everybody loves food. The more food they love, the better. Different peoples and cultures around the world put more significance in their food and the traditions that come with it. That’s the basis for Venba, which follows the characters of Venba, her husband Par and son Kevan as Indian immigrants in Canada in the 80’s following through to modern day.
What you have here is a game split reasonably down the middle into its two core mechanics – the dialogue and the cooking. Dialogue is linear and commits the cardinal sin of seemingly offering branching narrative choices which only result in one or two changed lines. None of the lines are voiced which is a shame, especially because the game only has three or four characters that would require voices. I understand an indie team has an indie budget but I feel like it would have really added to the authenticity. There are times where characters are speaking Tamil (one of apparently 22 languages spoken in India) but with the English text it’s hard to tell what is spoken in Tamil and what is in English. Lack of voice over doesn’t take away from the games vibrant atmospheric soundtrack and it’s beautiful art style which manages to convey emotion through simple animation.
Presentation of the story is only a small facet, the actual beat to beat of the story is incredible. As stated, the games chapters span over a lifetime, from Venba being pregnant up until their son Kevan being a fully grown adult. The game tackles the themes of an immigrant family very well (I can assume from an outsider perspective). They deal with trying to balance their son’s westernisation with him learning about and appreciating his cultural heritage, from his attitudes to the growing language barrier between Parent and Child. A scene in the game that didn’t click with me until after I finished playing is a scene where Venba uses Kevan to ring the dad’s office. At first I didn’t get why until I realised it’s because Kevan’s English is better than his mothers. The game is full of little bits like this which take a moment for me (A white, British born individual) to understand but must elicit such vivid memories for those in similar positions to Venba and her family. The game does also touch on the darker side of what an immigrant family face, with one particularly heart-breaking scene in the first act. No spoilers but it’s unfortunately not hard to guess from the context. The stories end is a happy one thankfully, but one that is definitely presented as hard won. For a narrative that only lasts an hour roughly, it manages to fit in a whole family saga.
Of course the main gameplay aspect of Venba is the food. In most of the games chapters, you will be tasked with making one of many traditional Indian meals. Your ingredients and utensils are displayed in front of you, and all you have is a smudged family recipe book as your guide. In that sense the cooking sections are like puzzles. They’re certainly not reaction based or anything like that – as long as you’re doing things in the right order, the time it takes you doesn’t matter a smidge. Some recipes are more complex than others but there’s no real fail state, the game will just reset you until you get the recipe right. A relief in some aspects, but in others it just feels like maybe the game could adapt to your poor cooking skills. I suppose that wouldn’t be very fitting with the story I suppose.
If you go into the game knowing it is not a cooking sim, rather a story about cooking and its importance in the lives of Venba and so many other immigrant families both fictitious and real, then you’re bound to find a meal that’s a little sweet, a little spicy, a little sour but bite size enough to make you not want to leave a single crumb.
