Venba

Very nice and fun!! I had a great time learning to cook al these recipes.

I went in not knowing what to expect but the story was great! It isn't the usual cooking game - although I enjoyed the little "puzzles" it is more the story you get to live through. All in all a great cozy game to calm down (and maybe cry a little)

Very short game, simple gameplay, but the writing is actually great and it explores lots of themes, conveying a beautiful message. The Indian culture is depicted very well and the game surely has its charm. For something to a Saturday afternoon, between other AAA games, I highly recommend.

I picked this up mostly because I love to cook, and some new recipes sounded enticing, though I'd be lying if I said the artstyle didn't help draw me in, too. It was a little confusing to start, mostly because I was using tools I'd never seen before right out the gate; that might be more of a me problem, since I'm not big on kitchen gadgets and like to just make things work with what I've got. Eventually, I was able to figure things out, and I'm not sure that came with a newfound familiarity so much as better instruction as the story went on. If you don't care that much about cooking, you'll probably do fine, since what you'll be doing isn't completely from scratch; if you do, the full recipes are available right from the main menu. The story itself is short, but emotional, and centering a story about culture around food works fantastically well. It does a good job telling a lot of hard truths, as well. If you're into shorter narrative experiences, I'd definitely recommend checking this out.

The story is charmingly relatable and the art style is vibrant. The protagonist is a Tamil woman from India emigrated to Canada along with her husband. You follow her through the stages of her life and whenever there is a eventful change, it's spiced up with a cooking mini game featuring real recipes. It's rather short, but the atmosphere is great. She does not have an easy life, so in that sense the subject matter can be considered mature. I had hoped for a bit more cooking lore, but I did enjoy a taste of a culture I'm not familiar with. The recipes are included with the game as an extra from the menu, which is a nice touch. One star deduction for sometimes having to guess during cooking and I would love it to be a bit longer.