Venba Review

During my first time covering the Wholesome Direct, I fell absolutely head over heels for Venba; I hadn't ever witnessed so much passion for a project before, and the story of a family struggling due to differences in cultures really resonated with me. I loved it so much, in fact, that I even went out of my way to interview the developers!

Unfortunately, when I finally got my hands on the demo, I was quite disappointed by the little bit I got to play. Venba, the main character of the story, displayed a nasty attitude during the short preview, and I lost a lot of interest and hope for the project since I didn't want to spend a whopping $45,900 COP on a painfully short title with a cast I didn't connect with. Thankfully, I recently got access to three months of the Xbox Game Pass, and to my surprise, the one-hour-long game was there, and I got to play it with no guilt about using nearly 50 bucks in my currency.

Now, as I said earlier, the game is not very long at all, so I won't go into any details aside from giving the premise and my thoughts and feelings about it and the characters as someone who grew up in America while coming from a Colombian family. I'm sorry if it's a bit vague, but this is definitely a title that is worth experiencing by yourself, considering the length.

Whilst I usually am not the biggest fan of short titles — especially not ones that don't even get to four hours — I think Venba is a perfect length. This short little game has one mission, and it's to tell the story of a couple from India who end up staying in Canada despite the grim situation in hopes of raising their incoming baby with a better future. This narrative journey uses only two gameplay mechanics — cooking and occasionally choosing dialogue. Through this, we are put into the shoes of the characters in a way to connect us to their story and their struggles.

I was surprised that, despite the short runtime, the narrative has a nice pacing; I never felt like important moments were skipped over or that we lingered on something longer than we should. Quite the contrary — I can only think of praise for how smoothly it felt to go from moment to moment as I connected deeper and deeper with the three characters that make up the family. 

Between unravelling the family's story, you'll spend your time cooking various Indian dishes by following the broken recipe book left behind by Venba's mother. Although there's not much outside of following the steps and making a meal, it fits nicely into the overall theme of the game, and it does a surprisingly good job of remaining a core part of the experience. Unfortunately, because I don't know how to cook very well, I just spent most of my time giving up and using hints. That being said, despite how mundane it sounds, I found it relaxing and even looked forward to it at times. 

One of my favourite aspects of the game is that I was able to empathise with every member of the family and their struggles; this was particularly satisfying as I (regretfully) don't know too much about Indian culture, yet even through the bits and pieces that were added, I was able to connect my own story coming from a Colombian's perspective.

This leads me to another one of my favourite aspects: the culture. One of the main things that caught my attention when I first found out about the game was the effort the developer put into bringing India's culture through the sounds of the kitchen. The audio design is definitely great, even satisfying at times, but surprisingly, it wasn't the main appeal for me as I played — it was the emphasis on Indian culture. Whilst I'm not familiar with their food or music, having exposure to it through a nostalgic and homely setting really added an element of human connection I didn't anticipate. It's always refreshing to be reminded of how different all the people and cultures around the world are, and through these little moments, I could see my own shining through — the loud, excited Colombian tunes accompanied by the sounds of a proper bandeja paisa (a favourite breakfast here) being made.

Truth be told, I leave Venba behind very satisfied and happy; the game is everything I had expected it to be. Unfortunately, the price is a bit steep for the experience, even if I was left feeling satisfied; for £12.79, an hour or two of gameplay, even for a touching story, feels too hefty.