Dosa Divas is a flavourful RPG village roadtrip and a more assured follow-up to Thirsty Suitors

Outerloop speech cooking, anti-capitalism and FF3

If you're fond of crispy South Indian cooking, JRPG-style road-trips that instrumentality you from colony to village, older pistillate protagonists, turn-based combat with a steadfast garnish of QTEs, slapstick satire, and food-themed reinventions of acquainted mechanics... you person astir apt already wishlisted, bookmarked oregon different made preparations to bargain Dosa Divas, the adjacent crippled from Thirsty Suitors developers Outerloop.

In this low-angle diorama-style fantasy, you play Samara and Amani, 2 wandering chefs who are warring a accelerated nutrient corp tally by their estranged sister Lina. Samara and Amani question and conflict by mode of their "spirit mech", Goddess, an ambulatory LEGO forklift successful optional oven mitts, whose tricks see clubbing enemies with her ain unplugged leg, and whipping up caller dosas from gathered ingredients successful a benignant of culinary caput palace.

Cooking is the game's Gundam reactor core. It's however you'll triumph implicit non-player characters who've succumbed to mind-dulling liquid foods, and it's however you'll overwhelm Lina's slimy, briefcase-wielding thugs. They don't person elemental weaknesses. Rather, they are susceptible to definite flavours. Swat them close successful the tastebuds, and they'll melt earlier you similar clueless achromatic Englishmen trying their archetypal four-foot jumbo astatine Chennai Srilalitha successful Harrow, London. (This station was not sponsored by Chennai Srilalitha, but I situation to dream. I'm ever unfastened to offers, adjacent if they aren't 4 feet long. Call me.)

Samara, Amani, and Lina each utilized to enactment astatine the aforesaid locally owned restaurant, the eponymous Dosa Divas, but past they had an argument, and Lina went distant for 10 years and caught Scrooge McDuck Syndrome, returning to turn the household concern into a corporation. As with Thirsty Suitors, this is an overt and chewy portion of societal commentary, exploring the usurpation of communal cooking and eating by mass-produced acceptable meals. "For us, it's a precise anti-capitalist communicative that we privation to effort to tell," workplace manager and co-founder Chandana Ekanayake explains to maine pursuing a speedy hands-on. "The thought that radical don't navigator anymore, and effort to bring nutrient backmost arsenic a mode to mode to link again.

"Our past crippled Thirsty Suitors - there's a batch of household dynamics and drama, and there's solution done conflict and reconciliation," they spell on. "And that's benignant of the benignant of the stories we similar to tell. And nutrient is ever a large portion of that, from a circumstantial taste perspective, and also, arsenic a mode to enslaved and link with family." The game's travel betwixt villages - by mode of elemental platforming routes laced with sportfishing spots, treasures and avoidable battles - hinges connected composing flavour profiles requested by suffering locals, and butting heads with estranged colleagues. "Eventually you volition look disconnected against radical that enactment for Lina who are your erstwhile co-workers successful the restaurant," Ekanayake adds. "Including your parents."

Image credit: Outerloop Games

Ekanayake calls Dosa Divas a "weird hybrid RPG", but it seems little divided than Thirsty Suitors, a crippled that often felt similar 3 travelling successful parallel - skateboarding, turn-based combat and bushed cooking minigame. "Games erstwhile you commencement [making them] they're usually like, oh, this system, this system, this strategy - and past we effort to find ways for the communicative and the gameplay to link arsenic overmuch arsenic possible," Ekanayake notes. "That's what each crippled truly is about. It tin look similar these systems evidently enactment unneurotic - it ne'er starts that way.

"And sometimes you're palmy arsenic a developer, and sometimes you don't truly get that until you vessel the game, and person clip to bespeak connected it," they continue. "With Thirsty, we benignant of got there, but not everything rather worked. Here, due to the fact that we're starting from the aforesaid squad and aforesaid tools, we knew what worked and what didn't - we could iterate connected that faster. We person a squad of 14 connected archetypal development, truthful it's being capable to commencement from a spot of having that experience, with each those radical together."

I similar Dosa Divas astir close present for its Paper Mariobrained battles, which person the aforesaid improv vigor you find successful Thirsty Suitors, but consciousness much of a portion with the bumpy, colourful countryside setting. Weapons see pans, spatulas, and piquant balls of fire, with fastener prompts to summation oregon negate damage. Each determination is an animated skit, sometimes a afloat cinematic; cipher ever does thing arsenic pedestrian arsenic whopping the different broadside with a sword. When idle, characters bounce to the euphony successful scenes that person maine reasoning wistfully of Wakka wiping his chemoreceptor a cardinal times per brawl successful FFX.

Image credit: Outerloop Games

Aside from poking your opponent's gastronomic vulnerabilities, you tin walk finite points to heighten a character's moves, which helps cushion you against the effects of fudging the QTEs without letting you brute-force the system. The mechanics aren't that caller beyond the cook-off theme, but there's a assurance to the knitting of systems I greatly enjoy. I'm not definite if the demo conception was from midway through, but betwixt the 3 leads, their skills and the assorted power-up systems, the crippled besides laid much options astatine my feet than you get to statesman with successful Thirsty Suitors. It's much charismatic for the information that truthful galore of the items, abilities and quest goals impact oregon are derived from recipes. Dosa Divas whitethorn not really thatch you to cook, but it volition surely springiness you the urge.

Being a wizened oldster with galore regrets, I besides similar the committedness of a shorter playthrough by RPG standards. This evidently reflects the smaller squad size, but is besides a question of taste. "I grew up connected a batch of, like, Final Fantasy 3 and 4," Ekanayake told me. "I would similar thing a small tighter and shorter and with higher stakes. I consciousness similar 80 hours oregon 100 hours is simply a agelong clip to get to those communicative moments." Indeed. Still, I don't deliberation I'd caput spending a fewer twelve hours chugging astir the hillsides of Dosa Divas, swatting the suits with my skillet portion mastering the mysteries of batter. It's retired successful 2026, and you tin work much connected Steam.