Venba Reviews
A spicy blend of story and delicious South Indian cooking, Venba is a unique indie tale that deserves to be savoured. As developer Visai's debut game, this is stellar stuff.
Venba is a sweet, short-lived episode that presents the place held by food and cooking within our lives and cultures as near-on divine. It explores familiar relationships, as well as the ones we keep, for better or worse, with food itself, and left me with plenty to ponder as the credits rolled.
Through a exploration of Southern Indian cuisine and the preparation of it that's been given a slight puzzler twist, Venba manages to serve up a captivating story about culture, motherhood, immigrant life and more, spiced up with likeable characters and great dialogue, and topped off with eye-catching visuals and an ear-pleasing soundtrack. It's a short feast, but a filling one, so it would be wise to give it a shot. Would it help if we said that it might remind you of a rocket somehow?
Venba is an interesting and thoughtful experience that lasts as it should and that, in about a couple of hours, is able to make you feel attached to its characters and themes.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Venba is a tale about an Indian immigrant family in Canada that does most of its storytelling through cooking and leaves you wanting seconds.
There's more to this narrative and this family that deserves to be included in the experience, and while the cooking segments definitely sing, I'm ultimately left feeling like I've been served an appetizer rather than a main course. It's beautiful in its colorful but minimalistic presentation and has a fitting musical score. I'm just longing to spend more time in Venba's charming kitchen and to be invited to share in more of the moments in her life.
Venba is a short, impactful, and beautifully presented look into the lives of an immigrant family that'll likely stay with you for a long time.
Venba presents a totally unique experience for players, with a touching story about the struggles of immigrants and the importance of culture, held back only by its short length.
Venba is an adventure that seeks to value the simple habits passed from one generation to the next. The title is especially suitable for those who want a touching and short experience. However, its short duration also leads to the feeling that it could do a little more with its narrative and mechanics.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Visai Games' narrative-cooking debut is a special case of over-relying on flavorful spices – music, art design, etc. – to compensate for paltry servings.
A story full of color and flavor, which will allow us to live an interesting narrative experience with great attention to detail.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Venba is a real joy to play with its awesome art style highlighting representation in Indian cuisine, along with a heartfelt story and amazing soundtrack to boot. Like any new food, you just have to try it.
Rarely have I felt so many emotions when playing a videogame. I love the story of Venba, how the story is told and how Indian food is presented.
Review in German | Read full review
Venba is a great game and has an even more remarkable story. It gives us a brief glimpse at what an immigrant family goes through, the hardships and the joys. Venba also gives us an idea of how difficult it is to find the balance between adapting, fitting in, and still hanging on to your culture. It also touches on the universal idea that our children will not lead the life we do. This game has much humanity in the interactions between Venba and Paavalan, them and Kavin, the family, and the outside world. There are also simple moments of humor and love that feel so real that they could be someone’s memory. While Venba is short, it is also long enough to do what it sets out to do: tell us a story and make us want to hug our parents.
Venba is a gorgeous-looking, sonically-rich game with minimal gameplay but a heartfelt and nuanced story about cultural identity, parenthood, and self-acceptance that more than makes up for it. A couple of omitted accessibility features and the short length aside, Venba is a beautiful representation of the immigrant experience, messiness and all, thus cleverly avoiding glorification in favor of authenticity.
Venba is ultimately over quite soon, but I’d rather have a beautiful but small experience that will stay with me than one that lingers too long and wears out its welcome. There are a few parts of its story that could perhaps have been explored with more depth, but its story comes together to span a generation in the blink of an eye and leave players feeling satisfied with the experience. This is a game well worth experiencing, which even the busiest players should be able to fit into a free evening.
Venba is a triumph. Its representation of a culture rarely seen in video games is refreshing and sorely needed more. The story is both heart-warming and heart-breaking in equal measure and covers several scenarios that families with a similar history will no doubt resonate with on a personal level. Visai Studio has loving crafted a stunning recipe of puzzles, story, music and art that blend together in a rich, well-rounded dish that’s not to be missed.
Venba is a game which explores cooking and eating as rituals used to form and access our memories.
Venba is not only an excellent video game, but a powerful sociocultural message. At one point, characters discuss how a piece of art had the potential to make a stronger impact with an audience in the way than a protest or traditional statement. Venba meets this potential, and then some. I'm hungry for more.