X
- Visai Games
- Visai Games
- Visai Games
- Visai Games
Venba
Released On: Jul 31, 2023
79
6.4
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
79
60% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
25% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
79
60% Positive
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
25% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
An exploration of the immigrant experience straight from the horse's mouth, Venba tackles a Tamil family's struggles of a loving and living in a strange land, and the turbulence that follows, with a heartwrenching flair.
Venba is a heartfelt tale of an immigrant mother doing her best to raise a son in Canada while passing on her Tamil culture. It’s a story not often told, and it will stick with you long after the credits roll. Learning about this culture is a ton of fun and done through inventive puzzles having you cook traditional dishes. It’s a gorgeous, passionate game that gives you a glimpse into another culture.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 78 User Ratings
6.4
37% Positive
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
49% Mixed
38 Ratings
38 Ratings
14% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 78 User Ratings
6.4
37% Positive
29 Ratings
29 Ratings
49% Mixed
38 Ratings
38 Ratings
14% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
Venba beautifully depicts the struggle of the first-generation immigrant experience — fighting to give your family better opportunities while holding true to your roots. It’s a golden example of how games can give players an authentic peek into underrepresented cultures when the right people are in charge. With the game being beatable in a sleek two hours, it’s impossible not to give Venba an incredibly high recommendation.
Venba’s portrayal of the complex diasporic family dynamic is spot-on. It’s a perfect portrait of the challenges and wistfulness that come with trying to live a life while being torn between two completely different cultures. I’d like to think that Venba is ultimately a hopeful narrative in the end, an emotional, cathartic celebration of it all. But whatever the interpretation, Venba is an essential depiction of the immigrant experience.
While the specificities of lead developer Abhi's lived experience give Venba its distinctive flavour, they serve a story with which anyone can identify. [Issue#387, p.123]
Though I genuinely loved my time with Venba, I could not swallow the steep asking price for the short, one-hour experience that you will have. It's a great, tear-jerking story that immigrants will resonate with, but there isn't enough here to justify the entry fee.
Pretty colours, smell of spice, they couldn’t dull my senses enough to not notice all of Venba’s imperfections. The characters aren’t very nice, the conversations tend to say nothing of substance, the story never reaches the required depths. But it’s short enough for it to be a cute visit of Indian culture and cuisine.
Lovely visual novel with cooking puzzles, all its parts fit together perfectly, making it entertaining from beginning to end. A solid 10/10 and must-play experience.
Report
PC
Don't mistake a negative review for saying that you shouldn't play it but we really need to drop expectations here. It is a very short (takes about an hour to beat) game in which you explore a short story of a couple that immigrates from India to Canada from the pregnancy of their son to his adult life. The story is fine but predictable and cliche at times. Gameplay mechanics are simple (just dragging ingredients together) as you work through a cookbook that has been passed down from generation to generation.
All in all, It's fine but it's nothing we haven't experienced before.
Report
PC
Summary Cook delicious South-Indian food and experience the journey of an immigrant family in Venba! Venba is a narrative cooking game where you play as an Indian mom who immigrates to Canada with her family in the 1980s. Players will cook various dishes and restore lost recipes, hold branching conversations and explore in this story about famil...
Platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
- Xbox Series X
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date: Jul 31, 2023
Developer:
- Visai Games
Publisher: Visai Games
Genres: