Venba

Cooking games rarely touch on tough subjects like generational diasporas, but not all cooking games are like Visai Studios’ Venba. Interwoven between multiple South Indian cuisine-based puzzle games is a deep story about an immigrant family wrestlings with how to maintain their cultural identity. While the outside world of Canada beckons them to assimilate into Western culture, the family of three finds refuge in their kitchen where they recreate dishes from their beaten-up family cookbook.

Read more: Don’t Miss This Moving, Mouthwatering Cooking Game Now On Game Pass

Venba’s dishes—which are mouthwateringly appetizing to prepare, aren’t the main dishes ; it’s the stories behind them. Throughout the game, characters will call upon formative memories from their childhood to help fill the gaps of the water-damaged cookbook’s faded instructions. These moments serve as a way to solve the Venba’s tricky puzzles and as a means of understanding the family’s innate desire to cherish the meals that brought their family together. —Isaiah Colbert

Playable on: Steam, Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One

Rough average playtime: 1.5 hours