Venba (XS) - Review
by Lee Mehr , posted on 09 September 2023 / 4,425 Views
Reviewer's Note: Given how intertwined the story and gameplay are, to make certain insights I will have to bring up SPOILERS. Read on at your own risk.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Visai Games' lead writer, designer, & programmer Abhi noted how immigration stories tend to focus on second-generation children; it's not a bad thing per se, but rather there's untapped potential in examining the original migrants' perspective – the ones who "...leave their country at age 40 or 50, and move to a brand new place." That different generational emphasis is immediately felt with the title character, Venba, dragging herself to the kitchen to make idlis for her husband, Paavalan, before he runs to work. Assisting her is one of the few belongings this Indian couple brought with them to Canada: Venba's mother's cookbook.
This heavily-worn collection of Tamil recipes also marries with the couple’s circumstances. Due to the cookbook's condition, one or two steps are completely illegible. So, your mission is two-fold between mechanically repeating basic instructions and figuring out the rest. Likewise, with the wonderful announcement of Venba's pregnancy, these two have to navigate parenthood with an incomplete manual; unlike these cooking intervals, there's no simple reset.
Exploring this dynamic through interwoven cooking segments is an ingenious way to communicate this family's trials and tribulations. The mere mention of the couple's boy, Kavin, is a sore spot for him when "Kevin" is more convenient for his schoolmates. Even his prepared lunches cause some embarrassment, since opening his lunchbox launches an array of wild aromas. There's this underlying tension between wanting to fit in and holding onto important cultural markers. A couple of the early dishes highlight that by emphasizing the craftsmanship required to prepare them.
One early thought I had was how… alien certain foods felt to make. That's not to denigrate Tamil cuisine, but rather to appreciate how some of the unorthodox methodologies to make their food could be perfectly translated into a sci-fi backdrop. Little tactile tricks, like properly adjusting vent holes so the built-up steam can evenly heat every idli, give a tiny dopamine hit in learning a unique cooking trick. It's also reinforced by great audio-visual design too. The intense crackling from cooking fish, straining flour, and more authentically capture a slice of Little India. One of my worst (or perhaps best?) ideas was playing through on a near-empty stomach.
It's a shame the experience only left me half full though. I don't strictly mean a dollar-per-hour weight either – though ~90 minutes for $14.99 creates some uncomfortable tension too; no, I mean the tightrope between a hurried or succinct pace. There are some nice storytelling 101 spices blended in – little visual staples communicating the couples' ups and downs – but the menu promised something more than one of those courses from a pretentious restaurant.
Past those negatives, part of Venba's design also walks that uncomfortable tightrope of a tonal mismatch. It's funny because for all of the wonderfully warm colors (especially when cooking) and Alpha Something's animated soundtrack, something's off in placing Venba in cooking scenarios where she – i.e. the player-character – can continually mess up. The established premier chef of the family needing a hint system seems to get the wrong point across, especially with certain story beats. I get how odd it seems to discuss potential "ludonarrative dissonance" within cooking challenges, of all places, but that also highlights why the latter-half's obstacles feel more thematically cohesive. When someone else has to wear the apron, that character's narrative obstacles and connected gameplay tempo find truer harmony.
In the end, Venba is a special case of over-relying on flavorful spices – music, art design, etc. – to compensate for paltry servings. Which is a shame to say because so much modern media likes to overindulge us with content slop for its own sake. But this complaint extends beyond a consumerist mindset for me; here, it's more about how undercooking limits the impact of otherwise well-meaning themes while exacerbating what some may consider design naan-issues. Since the overarching immigrant tale only has time for familiar tropes, it winds up feeling – ironically – a touch too stale when the credits roll. An easy way to curry favor with any chef is loudly hankering for seconds; in Visai Games' case, I'm still left pleading for firsts.
Contractor by trade and writer by hobby, Lee's obnoxious criticisms have found a way to be featured across several gaming sites: N4G, VGChartz, Gaming Nexus, DarkStation, and TechRaptor! He started gaming in the mid-90s and has had the privilege in playing many games across a plethora of platforms. Reader warning: each click given to his articles only helps to inflate his Texas-sized ego. Proceed with caution.
VGChartz Verdict
5.5
Acceptable
This review is based on a digital copy of Venba for the XS
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I think this game was featured in a Nintendo Direct not too long ago. One of a few examples of Nintendo adding games seemingly for PR purposes rather than actual quality or promising ideas. Of course Directs are glorified commercials, but it still leaves a sour taste.
The review reads like someone wanted to make money off the woke crowd who preaches inclusiveness among many other things, because the value proposition is very, very weak here. Gullible people will be exploited, that's just how the world works.
A score of 5.5 along with the word "Acceptable" is too gentle. This game is bordering on scam with more than just one foot in the scam area.
But it does have promising ideas; they're just not fully realized. I don't really see why Ninty wouldn't want to briefly showcase a colorful indie game either. It's a perfect fit for their Directs imo.
For the "woke crowd" assessment, well... I guess I don't see it. For one, I wouldn't keep writing here if $$$ was my main focus. I suppose the main struggle will be different internal definitions on what "woke" means in this context. You don't have to look far into my record to see I don't easily fawn over the next hot inclusive game for its own sake. My mental framework is less about having inclusiveness in mind than how much I like "fish out of water" plots in general. Immigrant stories are a natural fit for that.
Yeah, I've shared a similar sentiment before. It wouldn't be my first choice for what a 5/5.5 means either; that said, it is a loose synonym of "mediocre."
You misunderstood the woke part. I wasn't suggesting that the reviewer (you) belongs to the woke crowd, but rather that the information in the review suggests that the hook of an immigrant story was used to sell an underdeveloped game to the people who nowadays seemingly care more about the messaging of a game than its actual substance.
Oh I see. That makes more sense. With that in mind, I think you're being too presumptuous against the team. Even before seeing that Eurogamer interview, I'd figured Abhi had a personal immigration story that potentially mirrored certain events in the game, so the hook makes sense. It's less about replacing substance with a message and more a deliberate creative decision.
That's why 'scam' comes off as too harsh to me - although I completely understand the consumerist "price per hr" POV. I think in their mind, it's more effective to filter out the most interesting meals to prep and only capture the pinnacle family moments. They're trimming out so much fat in order to hone in on the one big idea: the turbulent time of a couple seeing their child slowly lose and subsequently regain their culture of origin. Who's to say there's no substance in quicker pacing? That's what informs my main issue: it feels like they trimmed away too much qualtiy meat along with said fat.
Your review is the best one out of 52.
Thanks, beau! :D
(Give me a few days to Venmo that $8)
Not to rudely invade an exchange that didn't invoke me, but I can't resist making the point that a game's themes ARE part of its actual substance.
While this is a game I must confess I've not played myself (though I did glance at a trailer at one point and had some mild curiosity about it), Lee's review makes an argument about the game's brevity resulting in excessive time jumps that fundamentally makes sense to me from the outside as a real possibility here. Like the dev's ambitions for the game's narrative being greater than what there were resources available to build out and so perhaps a Cliffs Notes version that feels inadequate was chosen instead, something like that. If the game's duration on a beginner's playthrough is just an hour and a half or so then I can see how that could indeed happen. The critique sounds like a sensible one (made even more sensible by the decision to helpfully link to a Wikipedia definition for this review's esoteric term of choice this time around ;) ).
At the same time though, I have to urge caution here about basing your own opinions of the game strictly on this review because Lee seems to be very much alone in scoring Venba this low. On Open Critic, its average review score is 81% and Lee's 55% is literally the absolute lowest one out of the 52 professional scores included thereon, as you can see at the link below. And frankly, when it comes to a game of this subject matter, I'm inclined to consider the opinions of those with south Asian-sounding names the most strongly.
https://opencritic.com/game/15302/venba/reviews
-"...the point that a game's themes ARE part of its actual substance."
Fair point too. I don't want to give the impression it's an either/or situation, but there's a balance to it. I think Rol's suspicions make more sense with a hypothetical: let's imagine a new walking sim that wholly focused on an atrocity like the Holocaust. The game is basically Xeroxing Dear Esther's template but has incredibly deep themes about the human condition. Let's say the lead dev argues that "we didn't enable you to do anything but walk so as to signify how no one can alter the past." I mean... okay... but that can also give appearances of not putting in the work to build out a game that feels more substantial, given how walking sims have mechanically expanded since then. And then there's the added layer of a hypothetical $25 retail cost too.
-"...so perhaps a Cliffs Notes version that feels inadequate was chosen instead, something like that."
I'm kinda annoyed now b/c I feel like there was a better way to capture Venba's odd predicament. Because it's not as though I haven't liked super-short games before. The best phrase I can think of is "event-driven storytelling" here. You can have nuanced themes, which Venba has and incorporates with gameplay, but the story beats themselves feel like topics written on note cards: my son is less enthusiastic about his authentic name, he's not excited about Tamil cuisine, etc. etc. Ironically, it feels like punching out a grocery list. That's why the finale makes logical sense - the design & story have built up to this scenario - yet left me a bit empty emotionally.
-"...when it comes to a game of this subject matter, I'm inclined to consider the opinions of those with south Asian-sounding names the most strongly."
Well... if that's your prerogative, but I'd personally aim towards a more generalized/neutral viewpoint. I appreciate any praise, but I shouldn't be someone's only perspective. I've been on my own "critic score island" before and I think anyone would be doing a disservice to not - at least - check out what someone else has to say on the opposite end (big or small critic).
I'll use your template of paragraph abbreviations to respond for ease of viewing:
"Fair point too. I don't want to give the impression it's an either/or situation, but there's a balance to it. I think Rol's suspicions make more sense with a hypothetical..." ETC.
I find virtue signaling (transparently superficial corporate appeals to social justice are what I mean by that) intrinsically annoying myself, though it's more the ritualistic superficiality of the exercise than the fact that I might not agree with every idea that a game happens to advance that I take much bigger issue with there. I don't need to "agree with a game" per se to enjoy it a lot, just as I don't need to agree with other people on much at all in order to appreciate their intelligence or their character. To that end, I guess you could say that I'm part of the natural market for Tamil immigrant stories in the same vein that I'm part of the natural audience for Jubilee debates: I'm a curious person who enjoys gleaning new perspectives on life. It's not because I'm part of the open borders movement (I'm not) or a student of Ibram X. Kendi (also not).
"I'm kinda annoyed now b/c I feel like there was a better way to capture Venba's odd predicament. Because it's not as though I haven't liked super-short games before. The best phrase I can think of is "event-driven storytelling" here. ..." ETC.
Mm. Well that makes sense. ...And I'd comment further on the matter if I'd actually played the game myself. :P But I completely get what you're arguing here and find it a believable case.
Now let me ask you this though: speaking of Asian-American / immigrant type stories, have you had the opportunity to play the Butterfly Soup games by chance? Now design-wise they're pretty straightforward visual novels, not the most interactive gaming experiences you could find (both games were created by one person and are available for free, to contextualize that), but they're both among my top 10 favorite gaming experiences like ever. If you haven't, I just wanted to take a moment to throw that out there as examples of what I consider in-depth, specific, fully honest, and just all-around masterful storytelling that deals with themes that seem similar to Venba's (or at least includes them in its milieu of subjects a lot anyway). They'd be the metric against which I'd personally measure a game like Venba's success or failure. The first installment is mainly about establishing the four main characters and their relationship to each other. The parents aren't actually in that game much, unfortunately, and the relationship of the girls thereto is broadly negative. But in the recent sequel, we get to meet the parents and they're pretty thoroughly fleshed out and the relationships between the girls and their parents becomes much more complex and interesting. Noelle's family visit to Taiwan is a chapter of that game that I found especially moving in that connection. I suspect you might just too. Just thought I'd put it out there since we're on this topic.
(Sorry to keep doing this to you, by the way. I know I'm fairly often passing on game recommendations to you when you've already got a massive backlog of titles to play and simply don't have the time. Probably the case here too. But these two are such strong, and pertinent, recommends that I couldn't resist the opportunity to mention them.)
"Well... if that's your prerogative, but I'd personally aim towards a more generalized/neutral viewpoint." ...ETC.
This is an area where I tend to concur with the purveyors of identity politics. In my own experience, for example, games made by lesbians (like the Butterfly Soup games) tend to portray lesbian characters more accurately than others do. It's not that other people never try earnestly or anything, it's just that there are limits to what academic knowledge of lesbian culture alone can convey. The same principle I strongly suspect applies across the board to all sorts of different groups. When we're talking about the experience of Tamil immigrants, I can't help feeling like perspectives adjacent to that experience would tend to be the most informative because they're naturally coming from the most informed place there is. Not that I don't consider other perspectives too (including yours!), but I do weight them differently.
-"Now let me ask you this though: speaking of Asian-American / immigrant type stories, have you had the opportunity to play the Butterfly Soup games by chance?"
Sadly, I haven't had the opportunity. I know you've brought up those and Perfect Tides, and I want to get to those in the near future, but I also want to go nuts and review a bunch of other new-ish games. They definitely sound interesting though. Going only on how you've described them here, they certainly seem more filling than Venba.
-"Not that I don't consider other perspectives too (including yours!), but I do weight them differently."
I appreciate that. I think my snag with your first reply was more of the emphasis in "Asain-sounding names." Given that many Asian descendants in America, Europe, etc. could be 3rd, 4th, etc. generation immigrants, said hypothetical Asian reviewer may have less direct experience being a 'fish out of water' than me (who moved to a different region and then a different state in my youth). I still follow and agree with the broader point about special cultural knowledge though.
I still 100% agree with your main sentiment on this part: don't limit yourself to one source. I'd absolutely HATE to be someone's sole outlet in their games criticism diet (or just this site, for that matter).
To wrap this up with some final thoughts:
"I know you've brought up those and Perfect Tides, and I want to get to those in the near future, but I also want to go nuts and review a bunch of other new-ish games."
That sounds like a pickle for sure. (Har. I'm nacho average jokester!)
"I appreciate that. I think my snag with your first reply was more of the emphasis in "Asain-sounding names." Given that many Asian descendants in America, Europe, etc. could be 3rd, 4th, etc. generation immigrants, said hypothetical Asian reviewer may have less direct experience being a 'fish out of water' than me (who moved to a different region and then a different state in my youth).
Eeh, that seems like a bit of a reach for a counterpoint to me. :P
"I still follow and agree with the broader point about special cultural knowledge though.
I still 100% agree with your main sentiment on this part: don't limit yourself to one source. I'd absolutely HATE to be someone's sole outlet in their games criticism diet (or just this site, for that matter)."
I think we're on the same page here. That's a good place to wrap this up. Lettuce move forward!
And why does the game have an 81 on metacritic and opencritic?
1) Because reviewers typically don't have to pay for the games they review. Sadly, this fact constitutes an inherent flaw of game reviews in general, because the people who read reviews usually do so to learn if a game is worth paying for.
2) There are outliers of games being scored too high or too low on a regular basis, especially because the collective of game reviewers does not happen to be representative of the gaming population as a whole.
-"Because reviewers typically don't have to pay for the games they review."
That's also a fair point I'd - ironically - glossed over when I was responding. Although I didn't get a review code, I did skirt around buying it thanks to Game Pass.
i agree!
