Venba

An absolutely beautiful and touching experience that can be played in one sitting (1.5 hours).

At its face, it's a visual novel about a family of Tamil immigrants to Canada, but it manages much more. The tone is subtle and positive, delicately scratching the surface to reveal the pain of raising children, growing older, and clashing cultures and values.

Interspersed with the story are cooking mini-games. They involve some guesswork and trial and error and there are plenty of hints if you get stuck.

Food and cooking provide the binding between the story, its emotions, and the gameplay, and they are treated like royalty. As short as it, considerable care has been given to the recipes and ingredients, and even the excellent sound engineering joins in to perfectly capture the sizzles and scrapes.

The soundtrack is chef's kiss.

Just lovely.