VENBA
Developer/publisher Visai Studios Format PC Release TBA
One of two games about South Asian cooking in this year’s Tribeca lineup, Venba isn’t taking the kitchen-sink approach of Thirsty Suitors, but rather staying over by the stove, with all its mechanics focused on the details of preparing idlis and vadas. The puzzles stem both from the smeared cookbook that Venba has inherited from her mother and our own unfamiliarity with these recipes, so that keeping the batter from sticking in the steamer is a process of gentle trial and error. Outside the kitchen, meanwhile, Venba tells a broader family story, about a young Indian-Canadian couple asking whether their new home has provided a better life, and whether they should stay, when Venba discovers she’s pregnant. The two aspects – cookery and narrative – are fairly disconnected in our demo, but we suspect it’s those questions of home that will bring them together.