This caught my eye when it was announced, but I only thought to buy it 'cause it was highlighted by the Game Awards. Never say that the system doesn't work.
This is essentially a short visual novel exploring the experiences of a Tamil immigrant couple and their Canadian-born son, largely told vicariously through the context of family recipes. I'd picked it up with the hopes that I could take away a recipe or two, but while a lot of it is laid out, there's a fair amount of "yadda yadda yadda"ing for the sake of narrative flow (but the team is hoping to put out a cookbook, so maybe I'll look into that). So while you can mess up a recipe, the game's quick to let you try again until you succeed; Cooking Mama this ain't. But again, the focus is on the story, with the recipes being used as conversation points and narrative devices to guide the player along.
This game feels very authentic. Being a White American with distant German/Irish heritage, I have no real claim to authority in the overall cultural authenticity of this Tamil narrative, so I must take a lot as given. But there is a lot that resonates with even a know-nothing like me. I of course love the recipes and music; I'm afraid the significance of it changing genres over time is a nuance lost on me, but I very much love that it's paying that much attention to detail. How it represents the Tamil versus English languages is really fascinating - stuff like how Kavin's text boxes get muddier to Venba the more quickly he speaks English is more transparent, but I also like the detail of how Kavin's dialogue in Tamil appears more slowly than Venba's or Paavalan's. Also that bit where Kavin finds himself playing cultural ambassador for a well-meaning but ignorant White showrunner, and writes a whole block of text that he eventually walks back without sending - I think anyone who's been in a position to explain their heritage to people who don't know has felt that.
(also, like, the bit where Kris asks if Chicken Tikka Masala would be a good fit for his show's Tamil character - I'm not at all well-versed in different Indian regions, let alone regional cuisine, but even I could tell that was off. Sometimes all you need is context)
I think the narrative overall is very smartly-paced. I like how the devices used to justify the game's puzzles shift over time. That one chapter in the middle, where Venba doesn't have any commentary to offer the player and simply cooks, is a great understated beat of character development. The game gets away with a lot of its storytelling through subtext like this, like how Paavalan's worker ID has a completely incorrect name, or how Venba and Paavalan never once replace their beat-up bed over the course of 26 years.
And, like, I love the art. Do I even need to say that the art is good? Very fun, simple, expressive character models.
I don't think this game was made for me, in that way that a lot of stories about immigrant experiences and world cultures aren't made for me. Playing through this, I felt like I was listening in on a conversation actively being simplified so someone like me could understand it. I don't mean that as a negative, and I honestly think that sort of narrative treatment is perfectly fair. I don't know that I should necessarily be the target demographic for this type of story, and I think of the act of presenting it in a way I can understand and empathize is a courtesy more than an obligation. That such an effort was made is very much appreciated, and makes it an easy recommendation for me.
This is essentially a short visual novel exploring the experiences of a Tamil immigrant couple and their Canadian-born son, largely told vicariously through the context of family recipes. I'd picked it up with the hopes that I could take away a recipe or two, but while a lot of it is laid out, there's a fair amount of "yadda yadda yadda"ing for the sake of narrative flow (but the team is hoping to put out a cookbook, so maybe I'll look into that). So while you can mess up a recipe, the game's quick to let you try again until you succeed; Cooking Mama this ain't. But again, the focus is on the story, with the recipes being used as conversation points and narrative devices to guide the player along.
This game feels very authentic. Being a White American with distant German/Irish heritage, I have no real claim to authority in the overall cultural authenticity of this Tamil narrative, so I must take a lot as given. But there is a lot that resonates with even a know-nothing like me. I of course love the recipes and music; I'm afraid the significance of it changing genres over time is a nuance lost on me, but I very much love that it's paying that much attention to detail. How it represents the Tamil versus English languages is really fascinating - stuff like how Kavin's text boxes get muddier to Venba the more quickly he speaks English is more transparent, but I also like the detail of how Kavin's dialogue in Tamil appears more slowly than Venba's or Paavalan's. Also that bit where Kavin finds himself playing cultural ambassador for a well-meaning but ignorant White showrunner, and writes a whole block of text that he eventually walks back without sending - I think anyone who's been in a position to explain their heritage to people who don't know has felt that.
(also, like, the bit where Kris asks if Chicken Tikka Masala would be a good fit for his show's Tamil character - I'm not at all well-versed in different Indian regions, let alone regional cuisine, but even I could tell that was off. Sometimes all you need is context)
I think the narrative overall is very smartly-paced. I like how the devices used to justify the game's puzzles shift over time. That one chapter in the middle, where Venba doesn't have any commentary to offer the player and simply cooks, is a great understated beat of character development. The game gets away with a lot of its storytelling through subtext like this, like how Paavalan's worker ID has a completely incorrect name, or how Venba and Paavalan never once replace their beat-up bed over the course of 26 years.
And, like, I love the art. Do I even need to say that the art is good? Very fun, simple, expressive character models.
I don't think this game was made for me, in that way that a lot of stories about immigrant experiences and world cultures aren't made for me. Playing through this, I felt like I was listening in on a conversation actively being simplified so someone like me could understand it. I don't mean that as a negative, and I honestly think that sort of narrative treatment is perfectly fair. I don't know that I should necessarily be the target demographic for this type of story, and I think of the act of presenting it in a way I can understand and empathize is a courtesy more than an obligation. That such an effort was made is very much appreciated, and makes it an easy recommendation for me.