One thing I’ve come to understand greater than ever is leisure’s potential to introduce us to cultures apart from our personal. It most likely has one thing to do with the truth that I stay in a small, redneck a part of California the place white folks loudly complain in regards to the variety of Mexican eating places on the town. Listening to that crap day in and time out, it’s no marvel I’m all the time leaping on the likelihood to find one thing past my powder-white existence.

That’s why I used to be excited to play Venba, a narrative-driven cooking recreation that takes the concept of Cooking Mama and transports it to an immigrant household’s home within the Eighties. It’s a darling recreation, however it could be onerous to justify the worth, given how fleeting it’s.

Venba (PC [reviewed], PS4, Swap, Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One)
Developer: Visai Video games
Writer: Visai Video games
Launched: July 31, 2023
MSRP: $14.99

Venba is a story-driven expertise the place you witness temporary occasions all through the lives of an immigrant household. Venba and her husband Paavalan moved from India to Canada within the Eighties to begin a brand new life for themselves. As is the expertise for a lot of immigrants, it’s not straightforward for them, even with all that “free” healthcare mendacity round. Throughout seven chapters, you’ll witness snapshots of their lives and struggles, and watch as a pair turns into a household that tries to maintain maintain of their heritage. Heritage is a central thread all through Venba, whether or not it’s the mom asking her son Kavin to talk Tamil or the delightful-looking dishes you’ll assemble.

Whereas the trailers for Venba make it appear to be there’s a substantial amount of cooking to do right here, there are only some meals to create. Venba depends on her mom’s cookbook to make conventional South Indian dishes to maintain her household tied to their roots. However the ebook is previous, light, and ripped. You’ll have to depend on what continues to be within the cookbook or some other hints to correctly make every meal.

This method turns the cooking segments into one thing of a puzzle recreation, and I loved deducing the right way to remedy them. I don’t think about anybody will wrestle too onerous figuring every recipe out. That stated, if you happen to make a mistake, the sport is fast to present you one other shot.

The meals is gorgeous to have a look at, as is the remainder of the sport, however it’s all so temporary. Venba took me about 90 minutes to complete. I felt there was extra of this household I used to be meant to see, extra dishes I used to be meant to make. I like the creativity on show right here, similar to how the speech bubbles turn out to be muddled when Kavin speaks English phrases Venba doesn’t perceive.

Alas, Venba is an train in brevity. I significantly loved my peek into the lives of strangers who uncovered me to a tradition completely different than mine. I simply want I might have gotten an extended take a look at it.