As protestors confronted off towards ICE brokers and regulation enforcement in Los Angeles, sport builders gathered just some miles away for Summer season Recreation Fest. They’d come to the annual present in early June to point out off their video games and make skilled connections. The group at Outerloop Video games was no totally different. However the studio, led and staffed by brown and Black builders, lots of whom are immigrants themselves, had further precautions to think about: “In case of an ICE raid,” says sport director Chandana Ekanayake of the group’s plan on the time, “we’re gonna keep collectively.” Whether or not that meant on the occasion itself, and even dinner after, the group stored observe of one another for your entire occasion.
Outerloop, creator of Thirsty Suitors and Falcon Age, had been on the occasion to point out off their latest mission, a “spicy” narrative turn-based RPG referred to as Dosa Divas due out in early 2026.
Because the Trump administration carries out mass deportations, targets visas, disappears migrants right into a overseas megaprison, and tweets “ASMR” movies of individuals being deported in chains from the official White Home account, Outerloop is making video games that discover methods to attach folks to totally different cultures by way of meals. “That is probably the most accepted model of ourselves or of tradition, is meals,” Ekanayake says. “Individuals are undoubtedly prepared to strive meals earlier than they’re prepared to simply accept the those that make it.”
Outerloop’s video games have all the time featured meals in some capability, and Dosa Divas solely ramps up its significance. Named for dosas, savory crepes fashionable in South India, the sport stars two sisters combating towards an evil quick meals empire, actually; characters in its turn-based fight have distinctive skills related to totally different “taste profiles,” like candy, spicy, or bitter. To assault successfully, you’ll want to match strikes to the enemy’s taste craving.
Dosa Divas facilities round three sisters—Samara, Amani, and quick meals entrepreneur, Lina—the final of which has turn into estranged after their household restaurant closes down. Lina’s fast delicacies has turn into so widespread that no person actually cooks anymore.
Ekanayake says that a part of the sport’s story is about reconciliation and reconnection, particularly by way of meals. Gathering substances and cooking performs an necessary function within the sport. By sharing meals with villagers, gamers can assist restore communities and construct their very own fame.
Very like Thirsty Suitors, Outerloop’s earlier sport, Dosa Divas is ready in a colourful, vibrant world that mixes fantastical parts with the on a regular basis. In Thirsty Suitors, heroine Jala battled her exes in over-the-top battle sequences, skateboarded, and tried to make peace together with her mother and father. Dosa Divas provides a large mech to the combo who helps the sisters beat up legal professionals.
Early reactions to the sport are constructive, with critics praising the sport’s humor, esthetics, and flavor-themed battles. Summer season Recreation Fest had “many video games set in spooky or dystopian locales that made for a weekend crammed with plenty of darkish, shadowy worlds that felt largely devoid of coloration,” wrote ScreenRant. “After a lot grey, to come back throughout a vivid coloration palette and such a visually-appealing artwork type within the sport felt so inviting.” RPGFan stated “its fight felt intuitive, its writing was witty.”
