Dosa Divas

I'm only posting this as negative because I want to gently critique this for people considering buying, and for the devs. This game has a lot of potential but doesn't quite get there. The narrative of food and family is mostly solid and lands, but the gameplay is so mechanically shallow that it's hard to praise. We see repetition of movesets so early. Characters only have 2 moves for the majority of the game. The moves that you learn later are carbon copy asset flips of the other characters. It's really almost embarassing to have 4 moves and 2 of them copy the other 2. For a game that's so short and that borrows so many ideas from Sea of Stars and Octopath, it runs out of ideas on how to implement them so quickly that I question why they are there in the first place. I also wish the game had focused a lot more of its aesthetic and recipes around actual South Indian elements. I don't need a rock guitar battle theme, use South Indian instrumentation. I don't need Noodle Soups, where is the Sambar and Rasam? This would have been a great opportunity to expose more people to South Indian culture, something Venba does better in it's 2 hours than Dosa Divas does in its 9 hours. All that being said, I'm glad I bought and supported these devs and played the game - but I really hope they learn from this one and improve further with their next project. Their games have great style, but I think the unfocused vision of gameplay and culture really needs to be examined. Still, worth playing..mostly.

Another situation where I would prefer to give a "meh" rating as opposed to a positive or negative, but I have respect enough for the game not to go negative. Having been excited from the demo, I have been somewhat let down from the full release. This mostly stems from how uninteresting the loop ends up being for the actual gameplay without much changing from early to late game. Every character pretty much has the same skills, level ups are ultimately unappealing, and the cooking ends up feeling like a chore if you want to get through all the requests. Combat tends to rely on a break gauge type mechanic, but requires x amount of hits on y weakness which lacks consistency a lot of the time and forces specific skill use that just gets bland. I like some parry mechanics for sure so I won't say anything bad about the enemies really. It is strange after playing E33 earlier this year that I find this system so much less appealing. I do feel it boils down to certain aspects of sound and visual design in fights. This isn't saying I remotely want the game to be some high fidelity UE5 experience, but there's a certain choppiness and lack of refinement to animations and sound feedback. That said, I can see a wonderful foundation of artistic direction. It is a colorful and unique looking world with compelling character designs. The heart of the game is its story which I find appealing. The characters are unique, their individual relationships to one another are compelling, and the overall setup is very interesting to me. It is a love letter to food and cooking with their innate impact on everyone. It is silly at times and serious at others which I find really charming. In the end, it is a very worthwhile experience if you are willing to go through a pretty uninspired and repetitive result of the jrpg format vis a vis gameplay. It's the story with all its heart and passion for the love of cooking and the complexities of each character that makes this game truly special.

This game needs to advertise itself more as it’s wonderful and so full of heart! I only came across it by coincidence, but it’s right up my alley - I mean, it’s a JRPG where you take on a fast food empire with the power of cooking! And it also contains a story of a family which had drifted apart trying to reconnect. I loved every minute of it. My only complaint is that I wish there was more - don’t get me wrong, for the price it was a fair amount of content (and the story was well-paced, so adding more would have needed to be done right to not feel like padding), I just didn’t want it to end and would happily have paid more for the same experience but longer. So really that’s a compliment more than a complaint! Some of the food minigames were a little annoying but I loved that there was a variety and that you could freely select what you wanted to make. The battles were fun and I loved that the loading screens between battles and area transitions showed concept art. The story was great and the twist really hit me hard. I’d never heard of these devs before now. But I’ve now purchased their previous game as I want more from them! I really hope they advertise themselves better in the future though as this game has so much heart and it would be a shame if it continued to go under the radar. [h2]Steam Deck[/h2] Plays perfectly right out of the box, can’t complain. Feels like the perfect game to flop on the couch and play.

As a dad with very few moment to play games, I've grown very picky in the games that I play. I've started so many games just to drop them in less than an hour. In the end, I've sticked to very few games and one of those game is Dosa Divas! From the get go, everything feels interesting : the characters, the gameplay, the world, the music, etc ... And everything feels connected and polished which result in a tight game that respects your time. Still haven't finished it due to dad life, but I've been having a blast. Also bonus point for : flawless steam deck experience and in my 8.5 hour of game time, still haven't encountered any bug. Congrats to the team !!

great lil game, rough around the edges but has so much charm. cried at the end

It's seriously captivating. It's challenging enough but still feasible to get through with practice as I'm not the fastest light bulb. I love the variety of recipes so far!

We all make mistakes, and we all suffer, but at the end of the day, breaking dosa together is what makes it all worth it. Dosa Divas is a fantastic experience that touched me and reminded me why I love indie games. The action-packed battles felt repetitive, but towards the late game, Outer Loop takes those elements and flips them to keep you on your toes. The visuals and soundtrack play so well into the battles and exploration, I didn’t mind gathering resources, and if anyone knows me, I don’t like gathering resources.

A great story driven game with some fun fighting and cooking mechanics. A lovely story of family and forgiveness. I also learned what a dosa was because of this game. Learning is good no matter what anyone else tells you.

Enjoying this so far. As a follow up to their previous game, Thirsty Suitors (which I loved!), dosa divas feels more tightly and intentionally designed, with everything being fun and having a clear purpose to it. But it’s also a bit less “weird,” so far. I like the characters and am curious to see where it goes from here.

The themes and art are Dosa Divas strongest points. If you enjoy stories about family, community and food this game's narrative will resonate with you. If those themes do not sound interesting then sadly there is not a lot here for you. The gameplay is very simple and will quickly feel repetitive. The only enemy variety is cosmetic and almost no player agency in how you approach combat. For those seeking a game with party customization and skill management there are none of those elements here. The game being relatively short and able to be beaten in 2-4 play sessions makes the simple gameplay bearable. For a casual RPG I enjoyed myself and emotional tone of the game resonated with me. I recommend this game if you are looking for something casual to serve as a palette cleanser between games. Ultimately your enjoyment of this game will be determined by your expectations.