Dosa Divas is a touching exploration of the healing power of food

“Nobody wants to cook anymore — they want convenience,” says one of the heroines of Dosa Divas.

It’s a statement that succinctly sums up the game’s premise of siblings and former restaurateurs Samara and Amani reuniting to rebel against an evil fast food empire led by their estranged sister, Lina. But it also encapsulates the deeper themes that developer Outerloop meaningfully unpacks in its follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed Thirsty Suitors. Beneath Dosa Divas‘ zany turn-based combat and tasty cooking mechanics lies an unexpectedly powerful family drama about the difficult journey towards reconciliation. After years of running away, the sisters are forced to confront deep-rooted pain, and it makes for a profoundly emotional journey.

But before that catharsis arrives in full, Outerloop serves up more of that quirky over-the-top charm and loving South Asian representation that made Thirsty Suitors such a delight. When Samara and Amani return home, they ride atop a “ancient spirit-mech” food truck named Goddess that transforms into a mini Optimus Prime-esque robot. As they run around in Goddess, they’ll come into contact with Lina’s various underlings, from goofy gadget-wielding corporate lawyers to mech-wielding rivals, who are hassling the local communities.

You’ll fight them through a turn-based combat system that smartly builds on the foundation of Thirsty Suitors. This means that you now have a three-party team instead of a solo character, and each of them has a gloriously wacky moveset that emphasizes their colourful personalities. The younger and more hot-headed Samara has loose and scrappy attacks with a wok, the older and more mature Amani fights gracefully with a spatula and the ever-expressive Goddess is a nimble heavy hitter thanks to her sturdy mechanical limbs.

And like in Thirsty Suitors, you can take advantage of Super Mario RPG-esque timed inputs to increase your attack damage or reduce incurred damage. Your skills, meanwhile, are more involved Quick Time Events (QTEs), like holding down X and letting go at the right moment to charge a ball of energy as Amani or tapping X at increasingly high speeds to repeatedly ricochet Samara’s pan like Captain America’s shield. All of these moves are used to exploit enemy weaknesses, which are represented by different types of flavours: Sweet, Spicy, Sour, Salty and Savoury. Hitting an enemy’s weakness enough will cause them to be “Stuffed,” a stunned state in which they’re much more susceptible to damage.

Another feature, which is a major welcome addition, is an Octopath Traveler-like Boost system that lets you expend charges to boost the potency of attacks, abilities or healing items. It’s a clever ace-in-the-hole mechanic, encouraging you to consider when to conserve Boosts and when to let some (or all) of them loose. As in Thirsty Suitors, combat here isn’t all that challenging, but the expanded party size and Boost mechanic, as well as a team-based supermove you can unleash once a gauge is filled, makes it all feel more involved and dynamic. (Special shoutout as well to composer Ramsey Kharroubi’s exciting and catchy score, which frequently had me head-bopping as I fought Lina’s goons.)

It also helps that the gameplay between each battle can be surprisingly addictive. As you explore one of a few large town areas, you’ll come across NPCs who are hungry for certain dishes. You’ll then have to collect ingredients throughout the world to cook for them and, once you do, you’ll receive money, which can be used to buy better ingredients and character upgrades, and what’s ostensibly XP to “level up” the town. That latter system is especially interesting, as you’ll receive even more upgrades for raising this metre. It’s a clever way to marry the theme of reconnection through food with rewarding progression, and it was even enough to encourage me to obtain the Platinum trophy.

With all of that said, the cooking minigames themselves can be tiresome at times, as there are only a handful of them and the dialogue between the sisters, while initially quite insightful in how it fleshes out their dynamic, starts to repeat after a while. Likewise, it can occasionally be tedious to run around the map to get that one missing ingredient, especially if it hasn’t regrown yet or you need a bit more money to buy the (eventually unlockable) item that speeds up that process.

But overall, it’s easy to forgive these gripes considering the sincerity of what Outerloop is conveying through all of the game’s mechanics. Where Thirsty Suitors‘ focused on psychodramas depicting protagonist Jala’s efforts to make up with her exes, Dosa Divas’ examination of the struggle between heartily cooked meals and mass-produced fast food feels decidedly timely. After all, it can easily double as a commentary on producing art in an age of soulless AI slop and, on a deeper level, reconnecting with cultural identity amid homogeneity.

That message would be meaningful enough on its own, but Outerloop commendably unpacks it with much more nuance throughout the roughly 12-hour campaign. Across a series of cutscenes of flashbacks, you slowly see all of the baggage weighing down not only Samara and Amani, but Lina as well — the failures not only in their relationships with one another, but also in those with their parents and others in the community. (One particular standout subplot is a surprisingly thoughtful look at how corporate malfeasance can cause serious harm and even corrupt otherwise decent people.)

All in all, Dosa Divas is an earnest examination of the slipperiness of memory, how pride can keep us stuck in our ways and the importance of being patient, attentive and empathetic. I won’t spoil how it all ends, of course, but suffice it to say that it all comes together in a remarkably touching way. While I enjoyed the oodles of personality throughout the combat and cooking mechanics, it’s the heartfelt story about reconciliation and community that will ultimately stick with me. Sometimes, all it takes is a good meal.

Dosa Divas launches on April 14 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 and PC.

Image credit: Outerloop Games