Venba serves a taster of Tamil culture that will leave you wanting more

eurogamer.net:

I think it's obvious when something has been created out of love. Maybe it's in the garnish delicately placed atop fluffy, steaming rice. Maybe it's in the subtle differences you see on a living room wall as it reflects the passage of time.

In the case of Venba, it's both. If you've played the demo, the care and attention to detail of the game's opening level is clear. Now I've seen more, courtesy of a preview presentation and roundtable interview with game designer and creative director Abhi. I came away appreciating how Venba wears its heart on its sleeve, regardless of whether or not you pick up on every single reference.

Venba takes place across three decades, and follows the story of a couple — Venba and her husband Paavalan — after they've emigrated from South India to Canada. Venba touches on themes of immigration, family, culture and assimilation, and food is the language it uses to navigate these conversations.

For Abhi, the food of Venba is just one of many parts of this creation made out of love. Abhi researched typical cooking game mechanics, but felt their focus on things such as timing or movements, seen in such games as Cooking Mama, wasn't what he wanted. Instead, he focused on the recipes themselves, leading to Venba's puzzle-like nature, where players have to figure out the instructions for themselves as part of gameplay.

Recipes are presented as a cookbook passed down through Venba's family. Dishes featured in the game are a carefully curated selection of dishes Abhi chose himself, although he told Eurogamer it was a struggle to decide which ones to include.

At first, Abhi had wanted to create an experience which was as «in-depth on Tamil cuisine as possible», before he quickly realised it would be