Venba explores home and heritage through the pages of a cookbook

The pitch for Venba is solid. Cooking games are a great time, and that alone would've at least piqued my interest. But where Visai Games' Venba secured my attention wasn't just the cooking itself, but what the cooking represented: history, family, home, and a connectio??n to your roots, even in the unfamiliar.

I got to play a short demo as part of the Tribeca Games selection this year. It was just one chapter, a short cooking session bookended by narrative sections that set up the recipe creation. Venba follo?ws Venba hers??elf, who's immigrated from India to Canada along with her husband.

The pair is nervou??s, wondering if the move was the right choice. Venba is tired and a bit frazzled, but when her husband suggests he'll simply live off the coffee machine for lunch, she insists on getting up and cooking him a quick to-go meal. It's a very relatable moment.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3E4mZey1EU

Venba started me off with idli, and this is where I will fully admit that I'm not very familiar with the Tamil cuisine showcased here. In some ways, this made me a perfect test subject for the puzzles in Venba; when it put a stove, racks, a batter, and other cooking ??accoutrement in front of me, it took me a ?moment just to gather my bearings. I like to cook, but I've never tried anything like idli.

The key is to use Venba's recipe cookbook to figure everything out. It starts off with a simple recipe from her mother, which Venba says always turn out a little better than hers. The puzzle is to solve how, using her instruc?tions.

Feel free to cue up a mental montage of me flailing about, concocting some harebrained a??ttempts until I finally locked in the answer. (No spoilers, but it involves steam.) It was a fun, enjoyable puzzle that I enjoyed solving. But I was also taken in by what the p??uzzle represented.

Food for thought

There's a particular feeling of trying to figure out just how someone, a paren?t or loved one, cooks food in that oh-so-particular way. Maybe it's the way your dad grilled burgers. It might be your mom's spaghetti. Possibly even a particularly delicious cupcake from a friend.

Piecing it all together is a process, as you try to figure out the right ingredients and steps to perfection. And for Venba and myself, the answer was simple. But it resulted in ??a little taste of home, amid all the chaos of life.

That's the other thing that a good cooking game, and especially Venba, nails: that tactile feeling of cooking. It's a cru??cial part of why cooking can car?ry so much emotion.

Making something with your hands gives you a richer connection to it. And when, like Venba, you're feeling lost and homesick, it provides a tangible connection to that part of you. It's something I feel when I'm having a rough day ?and cook up some stroganoff, or chocolate-chip cookies like my mom made. (Mine are still not as good as hers.)

Then you share it with someone else, and get to spread that feeling. It's wonderful. And in a short, single-chapter demo, Venba captured that feeling incredibly well.

I've come up with a new recipe

In the full game, it seems like Venba will have to contend with more than just my own personal lack o??f knowledge. Her recipe book has been damaged, and so it seems like part of the gameplay and cooking segments will revolve around piecing together the right order-of-operations for making each dish.

That extra layer feels like a fantastic way to carry these ideas from the demo forward. Even when the past seems hazy, re-establishing your roots and restoring a slice of home, ??while sharing it with family, seems like a beautiful concept for a game. And I'll get to learn some delicious-looking new recipes al?ong the way, too.

Venba doesn't have a release date locked in quite yet, but you can wishlist it on Steam here.

The post V?enba is a delightful puzzle cooking game about family appeared first on Destructoid.

Where is my camera?

One of the most compelling things a game can do in my eyes is have a clear artistic vision and go balls-to-the-wall in order to execute it. American Arcadia is one of those games. From the very first trailer I saw, I knew it was going to be one of those titles that delivers on aesthetic and concept, which can either be spectacular, or flop on its face. After playing a preview of American Arcadia for the Tribeca Games Fest, ?I have a feeling it will be lea?ning toward the former.

Sometimes a game can bite off more than it can chew with a bunch of different elements �more complexity isn't always better. There's certainly much more game than what I got to play of American Arcadia, but from what I did get to see, it looks like a really fun balance of different styles of art and gameplay. It's got a little bit of retro-future '70s flair, a little bit of voyeuristic, capitalist dread, some platform??ing, some puzzles, some snarky dialogue �and yet somehow, it all works together.

Premise is everything

The story follows Trevor, a man who thinks he's living a normal life, but it turns out he and all of the other citizens of Arcadia are being broadcast live 24/7. Sound familiar? It's inspired by The Truman Show, but actua?lly gives the concept an interesting new twist ins??tead of resting on its laurels. That's one of my favorite movies, so seeing a game take the conceit and run with it is really cool as a fan.

The twist is that a hacker on the outside, Angela, has taken an interest in Trevor, and wants to help him escape. American Arcadia's story cuts between the two character??s as they try to navigate the escape, with Angela using the camera feeds ??and controls to clear the way for Trevor to get the hell out of dodge.

Let's talk gameplay

Trevor's portion of the game has 2.5D side-scrolling gameplay with platforming, chases, and puzzles, while Angela's perspective is first-person with exploration, stealth, and hacking. At first I thought that these two halves ?of the game would feel too disparate and detached from one another, but like I said, from the ??section of the game that I played, they actually seem to balance each other out quite nicely.

To be frank, none of the gameplay elements seem to really be reinventing the wheel here, but the real magic comes from how all of the different pieces and sequences fit together to create the overall experience. There's a certain lack of control in Trevor's section that you don't really notice until?? you play as Angela, and that makes for some pretty powerful stuff.

Aesthetic, color, and theme

Art style is more important to me than I care to admit when it comes to games, and American Arcadia has one of the prettiest aesthetics I've seen in a while. It's a visual feast that knocks its retro-future '70s visuals right out of the park. Walking through the office building that Trevor works in was something out of ??a groovy capitalistic fever dream, and I love it �never in my life did I ever think I would see a conversation pit for cubicles. What a fun, campy detail that actually demonstrates these characters' relationships to their work, and if that's any indication of what the rest of the game is going to be like, I th??ink we're in for a treat.

What I think is most impressive about American Arcadia and its use of so many different elements is how well it uses its d?ual protagonist/dual gameplay styles to reflect on the story's main themes. We don't get to see the world through Trevor's eyes (at least ?as far as we know at this point), but instead through the voyeuristic perspective that others have been seeing him through his entire life.

While Angela is trying to get Trevor to a place where he will have his own autonomy, she is still controlling everything he does in order to get him there. This game raises a lot of interesting questions just on prem??ise alone, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how they address those plot elements in the full experience. Just as how the contrasting perspectives make for some compelling gameplay, they also make for a compelling story as well.

It's on the wish list, for sure

As a narrative-lover, American Arcadia is at the very top of my list of games to look forward to. Out of the Blue Games knows how to deliver on style, as we've seen with their first release Call of the Sea, so I have nothing but confidence that Arcadia will be one of?? the most enjoyable and refreshing interactive narrative experiences of the next few years.

The game doesn't have a release window yet, but we do know it's getting a release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC th??anks to publisher Raw Fury. For now, this is one I'll just have to be patient for.

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Character-driven story with a supernatural twist

Since I played it back in 2018, Oxenfree has been one of my favorite games. It's one of those stories that's character-focused on top of everything else it has going for it, like a gorgeous art style, amazing VO performances, and one of the best implementations of a dialogue system in a game I've ever seen. I even found the gameplay, which mostly involves walking and climbing around Edwards Island, to be really engaging, mostly because of the conversations the characters had. For me, it captures the coming-of-age magic that something like Stranger Things season one had, and it's one of the best narrat??ive games of the last decade.

As one would expect, I'm pretty stoked for the sequel. I had been following any news surrounding Oxenfree II: Lost Signals since it was announced last year, and during the Tribeca Games Fest, I was fortunate enough to play a preview of the upcom??ing title. I am pleased to report back that this experience has only increased my hype for the release.

If it ain't broke...

Here's the thing �the team at Night School knows what made Oxenfree work the first time, and they're not straying t??oo far from that. The focus on "walk-and-talk" gameplay is still there, the climbing-through-creepy-caves exploration is definitely still there, and you're still gonna use the radio to check out some creepy ghost signals, et??c.

That's not to say the games will be exactly the same �on the contrary, the story focuses on Riley, who is in her 30s, as opposed to the teenage characters of the first game. Now there are tears in the space-time continuum that players will enter and explore, and there's a whole new group of antagonists who are a more active part of the story than in the first game. Basically, they've kept the heart of Oxenfree as they move forward in the series, but the entire scope of Oxenfree II has been blown up a bit.

And I respect the hell out of that choice. Sequels can be so hit or miss regardless of the medium they are, but the key to a good sequel is an understanding of why people were drawn to the original in the first place. Even with little context of who the characters were and what they were doing when I dropped into the preview, everything felt so quintessentially Oxenfree that I knew the overall experience was going t?o give me exactly what I'm asking for.

//youtu.be/pv82YytSYCY?t=2995

Characters first

While you play as Riley, the aforementioned 30-something who is quick-witted, pragmatic, and self-assured, her old friend from high school, Jacob, is also along for the ride. There's an innocence to him that I found really charming even from a short bit of gameplay, so I'll be looking forward to seeing how his character fully develops over the course of Oxenfree II. He's a lot more laid back and plays off of Riley's character nicely, but it never feels like we're rehashing any of the relationship dynamics from the first game. It's? yet another area of the game that feels familiar, yet still entirely new and intriguing to explore.

That shiny new feeling also extends to a large piece of the story: the supernatural phenomena that plague the island. In the first game, you only got to briefly ??interact with people from the past who were harmed by what had happened at this place, but now, players will be actually going back in time and seeing it for themselves.

The devs also let?? on that in the same way that Riley and Jacob can enter a previous timeline, things from previous timelines can come into their present as w??ell, and that they will have to deal with the repercussions of that.

Unanswered questions

Something else I'll be looking forward to is seeing how Lost Signals' story ties into the first game. During the Tribeca Games Showcase, Night School's lead writer Adam Hines actually let on that Jacob has a connection to Maggie Adler, the woman who lived on Edwards Island and who helped kick off the events of the first game. Of course, there's also the possibility that Riley and Jacob will get close to figuring out what exactly is causing all of these strange, supernatural occurrences, which is a mystery I think many of us would love to see solved in Oxenfree II.

My only reservation is that the devs might play it a little too safe by relying on the precedent of the first game, but that's much more of a hypothetical than it is based on anything I've seen of the game so far. I've been sorely disappointed by sequels in the past, so I'm trying to stay realistic here, but honestly, everything I've seen of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals only reinforces its place at the top of my "most anticipated games" list. Of all the games on th??e docket this year, I think I'm looking forward?? to this one the most.

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Telling stories through the dishes we love

Food. It's o?ne of the most quintessential part??s of being alive, so it only makes sense that we would find a way to include it in a medium like video games that often tries to replicate real life.

Ever since the early days of gaming, food has been a way to get health or energy back. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about video game food has to be the meat you find in the walls of a spooky castle in Castlevania, or the hilariously anachronistic gyro and fries you can pick up in Hades. It's something that can seem really silly on the face of it, and the way we use food for health in video games has been memed and parodied to death. Admittedly?, it is very funny to imagine your character in a game stopping in the middle of a scuffle to shove fourteen wheels of cheese into their fa?ce before diving back into the fight.

But when you think about it, is there any ot?her analogy that works better? I don't think so. Food is our fuel, it's what gives us energy to do the things we need to do �a simple, given fact of life?? that is still somehow easy for me to forget on an almost daily basis.

Cooking is the name of the game

[caption id="attachment_256206" align="alignnone" width="1280"] _{Cooking Mama: Cookstar.}[/caption]

While food remains an important mechanic to most games out there, we also have games that place their entire focus on food. Take the classic and beloved Cooking Mama series for example �there's literally nothing else to do in those games except make food. You'd think it ??would get too repetitive or boring af??ter a while, but Mama always finds new ways to keep it just as interesting and challenging as trying to make food in real life.

As someone who has had varied success on their journey to learn new recipes and make nutritious-enough food so as not to drop dead one day as an adult fending for myself, it's interesting to have games that turn what is usually a struggle for me into an enjoyable gameplay loop. Although, any Cooking Mama connoisseur can attest that the game can be equa??lly as challenging, so maybe it's a little too ?true to life there.

Tell me a story...with food

[caption id="attachment_321519" align="alignnone" width="1280"] _{The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.}[/caption]

My absolute favorite, though, is when games use food as a storytelling mechanic. This is less common than just using food as a health supplement, but we still see it fairly often in games. One of my favorites includes Stardew Valley, where food becomes the center of multiple holidays in the game, and is also a core way to "get to know" your favorite villagers and endear them to you.

Another game that comes to mind is Breath of the Wild. Some of the adventures I go on in that game have nothing to do with saving Hyrule, but instead finding the ingredients I need to make the perfect, most de????licious-sounding meal. There are even quests that involve bringing someone food they like, or gathering ingredients for a favorite recipe.

These stories may seem small up against the epic, heroic backdrop of saving the world, but I think t?hey reflect on our humanity in a really sweet way. I'm sure there are tons of other games out there that have equally engaging storylin?es surrounding food, I just need to search them out. Food is in many ways at the heart of how we interact with each other and the world, so having characters interact and bond over food reminds me of how special those interactions can be in real life.

Venba: a story of food and family

[caption id="attachment_321582" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _Venba.[/caption]

That's what gets me so excited for games like Venba, an upcoming narrative cooking game that is being featured at this year's Tribeca Games Festival. It centers on an Indian mother who immigrates to Canada with her family in the 1980s, and "will cook various dishes and restore lost recipes, hold branching conversations and explore in this story about family, love, loss and more," according to the game's website.

The cooking gameplay makes it look like a spiritual successor to Cooking Mama in certain ways, but the addition of the narrative in parallel with that cooking mechanic is what has me the most excited about Venba.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about Indian culture, but what I do know is that food is a very important factor. I'm not only looking forward to playing Venba, but also learning more about food from another culture, and how that food ties into the family dynamics of first-generation immigrants. Of all the games coming to Tribeca this year, I think it's safe to say that Venba will be one to look out for.

If the goal of telling stories is to help us all connect and understand what it means to be human, food is a natural extension of that. It will always be fun to consume foods in-game t??o replenish health or receive a buff, but I love the idea of highlighting our relationship to food within game stories, ??rather than always using it as a means to an end. We have some great games out there that incorporate food into their narratives, but I'm looking forward to seeing more food-centric stories in games.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

The post Video game food: more than just some extra health appeared first on Destructoid.

The only way forward is down, way down

If you're anything like me, the first thing that g?rabs you about Signalis is its look. Gorgeous pixel art portraits of its main c?haracter segue into a pseudo-isometric camera angle, and almost angular shapes for?m shadows in the eerily quiet vessel you've woken up in.

Peering into a room, it might transition to a first-person view, and now you're point-and-clicking through interfaces and around environments. It's eerie, made all the more unset?tling by the horrors happening around you. I got a chance to demo Signalis as part of Tribeca's Game Festival, and for the duration of my playtime, I was kept on my toes by every camera c??hange, right up until the dread-filled end.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz1FA6J3tMg

The setup of Signalis is fairly sparse to start. Your playable character wakes up on a ship, and clearly something has gone wrong. It's dead quiet. And as you walk through the halls, trying to figure out just what's gone down or even who you ??are, you notice some monsters lurking in the shadows.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say Signalis wears some of its inspiration on its sleeve. Its isomet??ric exploration, along with the way your character?? aims their weapon—once you find one—and even the menu interface all feel very Resident Evil. But rather than the undead, these horrors are twisted silhouettes that scream and shamble at you once you've been spotted?. An early tip from a user instruction manual advises you to preserve ammunition by physically stomping on an enemy you've kn??ocked down with bullets; and yes, this aggressive strategy works.

Every new room offers opportunities to figure out what's going on, and how to proceed forward. It became clear the ship wasn't going to fly again, so I set off in search of a suit that would protect me against whatever environmental hazards were present on the planet we had landed on. I say planet, and we, but all of these are left very ambiguous�/span>Signalis' demo is more abo?ut atmosphere and dread than giving any direct answers. 

Logs and notes are the only scraps you hav?e, as you start to piece together id?eas about "Replika," or some sort of synthetic human. Are you one? And were those aggressive, screaming creatures ones too?

Though it feels very Resident Evil, there's also point-and-cli??ck inspir??ation in some of Signalis' interactive areas, where you need to fiddle with dials and controls, or look around the contents of a room to find the bit ??of info you need. You can further examine items in your very retro menu interface, the kin??d you might expect to find in an Alien movie. Rotating objects can be fun, but also pro?vide certain clues that the game doesn't always signpost. It's up to you to do what you can with what you have, combining and inspecting items to move forward.

After about 20 or so minutes I reached the demo's end, in a finale that I won't discuss too much. Suffice to say, it was absolutely terrifying and immedia?tely had me wanting more. It lea??ves a lot open for where this could go moving forward, and also introduces some really neat visuals and ideas. And of course, as shown in trailers prior to now, it references The King in Yellow, paying some homag?e to another supernatural work.

Of the many demo??s I've played over th??e last couple of weeks, Signalis is easily the most enigmatic, showin?g me just enough of the game to feel like I've grasped its core concepts, while also wondering about all the places it can go. One thing's for sure: Signalis has rocketed up my list of ??indies to keep an eye on.

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