Food acts as a portal to another culture that transcends language barriers. You don’t have to be fluent in Farsi to eat fesenjān or speak Spanish to enjoy paella. Venba is a cooking-based puzzle game that uses food as a means of giving players a peek into the specific experience of emigrating from India to Canada in the 1980s. It’s not a perspective many have, but even though it can lack depth and be a little too on the nose, Venba uses the multifaceted power of food to serve players a helping of humanity.
Venba’s cooking mini-games aren’t like if Cooking Mama took a trip to Puducherry, they play out more like puzzles rather than straightforward instructions or quick-time events. Legendary recipes may survive for generations, but the papers they are printed on aren’t as enduring, meaning players have to read between the ripped bits and sauce stains to get cooking.
Figuring out the order of adding ingredients and what to do at each step requires some thought, so it doesn’t devolve into something that essentially plays itself (except once when the story calls for it). Some of the prompts can be a little too obtuse, but the obstacles are different every time and keep it from becoming a tired routine.
There’s a lot of trial and error and no punishment for making inedible slop, though, and this limits its depth and goes against some of the tenets of cooking often reinforced by passed-down recipes. It’s impossible to nail grandma’s recipes the first time and similarly unrealistic to not augment them in some way. Expressing the freedom inherent to preparing food or introducing some low stakes would add a bit more of a complex flavor to Venba’s palate.
Many of the spice-rich flavors in Venba are given life through the culture surrounding each recipe. Catchy ambient music inspired from the region plays as wannabe chefs prepare their dishes and short tales tell the personal context behind each dish. Venba, the titular main character, reminisces about these meals and what human memories they are attached to. These dishes are more than just rice, spices, meat, vegetables, and oils jammed together. They’re the ways humans share their time together, and these small flashbacks highlight that.
Venba’s experiences might not overlap exactly with most other people, but the way she ties food to certain places or family members is universal and key to the game’s ability to be much more than a collection of cooking puzzles. It’s disappointing that the recipes aren’t coupled with actual recipes or historical background — games like Assassin’s Creed have shown how fruitful providing in-game history can be — but that doesn’t dull its effect much.
Indian culture plays a big role in the narrative, too, since that part of Venba’s identity is under siege upon moving to Canada. Venba and her husband Paavalan’s journey to this foreign land touches on adapting to unfamiliar customs, bigotry, being homesick, and trying to pass on old traditions in a new land, all of which come into play over Venba’s decades-spanning narrative. None of these are particularly new ideas, but framing them within the context of an Indian-Canadian family is, once again, enough of a novelty.
But as heartfelt as it is, a lot of Venba’s dialogue is overly direct. Emotional states are overtly vocalized, not always just shown, an inelegance that misses what often makes for great writing. Seeing Venba and Paavalan intimately communicate their insecurities before falling asleep grounds them as people, but moments like these are sometimes expedient to a fault. The simplistic (yet vibrant) visuals and animation and its condensed runtime also don’t help since Venba doesn’t have the most emotive characters nor the time to dive into the details. It’s efficient and doesn’t even come close to overstaying its welcome, but that also means its narrative runs through its beats a little too quickly.
Venba Review: The final verdict
All of the delicacies in Venba look filling, so it’s a bit of a shame that the experience as a whole isn’t quite as hearty. But while its puzzles can lack stakes and its story often hastily skips over subtlety, Venba is still a transportive experience that shows players a perspective they are likely unfamiliar with. Using cooking as a central mechanic also makes that experience more poignant since, while the ingredients change, food is a ubiquitous part of life that makes other cultures that much more relatable. It’s less of a meal and more of a snack, but it’s still one made with heart.
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An interesting look at an Indian immigrant's experience in the 1980s
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Heartfelt look at the struggles of being in a new land, which is contextualized through food
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Dialogue often plainly states emotions or subtext
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Cooking lacks pressure and freedom
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No actual recipes in the game
Disclaimer: This Venba review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Reviewed on version 1.000.000.
