Venba is a fantastic indie game that is a tablespoon of comfort game, a few sprinkles of a cooking game, and a good few pinches of family and the importance of it. With a strong cultural theme and message, Venba is something you should play especially if you are from the South-East Asian culture, as this one hits home and the old frying pan. Here is my review for Venba, and the experience it offers.
Story
You play Venba, a housewife who moves to Canada with her husband Paavalan in 1988 in hopes of starting over a new life and leaving behind the problems of their home country of India. Showing the struggles of getting a job and raising a son, the game tells the story of Venba over the years as she comes to terms with how raising her son in a country different from her own heritage creates a divide between them and it dives into a lot of stuff that I do not wish to spoil.
The focal point of the story is the cooking book that Venba uses. This has been passed on to her by her mother, and throughout the game, you explore Venba’s memories with her. Although she doesn’t fully understand the instructions at the time, piecing together her memories with her mother, and using the book is an important aspect of the game.
It’s an empathetic journey if you are familiar with the old lesson of “appreciate your parents while you have them”. From showing all the struggles she and her husband go through, to a very somber ending, Venba is a touching game about family, understanding your roots, and the importance of appreciating what you have when it’s available to you, not when it’s gone.
Gameplay
The game is equal parts cooking with instructions. The hint system practically tells you what to do step by step if you are unfamiliar with the cooking book. Its instructions are there for you to follow with great ease. The gameplay here is mostly watching scenes, choosing a response to a dialogue occurring on the screen between the family to progress the story.
There is very little gameplay here in terms of places where you actually have any influence on the outcome except for the cooking. It’s nearly impossible to fail a dish once you leverage the helpful hint system. You can progress through the story with relative ease. After which you will have to choose between some dialogue choices and see where the story goes from there.
Presentation
Venba is a beautiful, vibrant, and yet simplistic game. Similar to Coffee Talk, the visual aesthetic is simple, clean, and most importantly, can run on any modern-day computer. You don’t need a fancy dedicated GPU to play this lovely title. The graphics look like a combination of crayons mixed with color pencils and the composition is beautiful.
From the colorful backgrounds to the food dishes you make, Venba is a visual delight in all of its forms. Adding in a strong atmosphere with the help of Hindi music playing in the background whenever you cook, is another feather in the cap for this wonderful game that aims to deliver a strong and powerful meaning about the importance of family.
The visuals and audio design are the strongest aspects of this game. This helps make Venba a game that you can strongly appreciate for a long time. It’s a game that for the right people, will make them homesick, or feel the emotions the developers wanted to convey by the end of the game.
Conclusion
Venba is not just a game but a beautiful story about love, sacrifice, family, and more. Through the beautiful visuals and the well-placed music queues, it’s a game that every person who lives away from home should experience. The heartfelt story here is something worth visiting, and maybe worth giving a call to your parents by the time you reach the credits of the story.
You can get Venba on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PS4, and PS5.
What do you think of our Venba Review? Share what you think about it in the comments below.
This review is based on the PC version of Venba. The key was provided by popagenda PR.
