Summary
Thank Goodness You’re Here!is hilariously absurd journey through an eccentric English town that blends light puzzling and platforming with longer-form comedic cutscenes and conversations. Dubbed a “slapformer” by developer Coal Supper, the unique title is the second release from the studio, which previously produced the incredibly surrealThe Good Time Garden, and is published by Panic, known forUntitled Goose Game. It’s clear from past releases that both companies have a real penchant for silliness, and that certainly rings true for this game.
Thank Goodness You’re Here!opens with archival footage of the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley, the inspiration for the in-game Barnsworth, setting the tone immediately for an adventure in a Northern English town. The title’s nameless protagonist - a salesman, whose sold product is never defined - has been sent off by his boss to meet with Barnsworth’s mayor. After arriving before the mayor is available, he sets off to explore the town, withthe entirety of the game taking place in the few afternoon hours spent wandering helping various citizens with their problems until meeting time.
The World of Barnsworth Is Colorful & Bizarre
The town of Barnsworth is so incredibly British in the best way, and is filled with a myriad of delightful tiny details. There are sight gags everywhere - signs like “Police Notice: Hello” and a parked van for the business Tony’s Parked Vans Limited, labeled with the slogan “Never Caught Moving” dot the world, and the residents evolve as the player progresses. There’s a driver’s ed car that winds up stuck in different locations, a budding romance between two extremely awkward people, an argument about trash bins that wildly escalates, and several other things that change over time.
The residents and other discoveries to be found in Barnsworth are deeply, hilariously strange: there’s a man with pamphlets to bring back asbestos, a produce merchant haunted by the massive size of his head, a secret mice supermarket, and so much more than can be discovered throughout the town. The overall aesthetic ofThank Goodness You’re Here!is wonderfully colorful and distinct, with character designs that are just over-the-top enough, andthe world is packed to the gills with funny finds and malleable elements - almost everything around town can be hit and will change in some way.
Helping The Residents Of Barnsworth Makes Up The Whole Game
The protagonist can only do two actions: jumping and punching, but that’s all he’ll need as he goes about Barnsworth. He’s also incredibly small, allowing him to fit through pipes, chimneys, and other tight spaces, leading to lots of interesting traversal. Part of the game’s light puzzling is figuring out how to get to new places, though it’s never too much of a challenge; the other main mechanic is the townsfolk’s tasks, as seemingly everyone has decided the protagonist has the oeuvre of a selfless helper, verbalizing the titular exclamation at first sight.
These requests start strange and only get weirder over time. One of the first, for example, revolves around getting a man’s arm unstuck from a grate. This requires lubrication, and luckily there’s a store that sells just the thing: Mother Megg’s Buttery Goods. However, an employee’s lost the keys, and they can’t open for the day until a locksmith arrives, who’s currently tied up at the pub. I went to fetch him at the pub, and was quickly recruited for more help, this time to go downstairs and get the broken tap working again.
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After going down through the sink to the basement and kicking all the barrels, traveling back upstairs was done via one of the keg lines in a surreal swimming sequence, where I waded through beer as the locksmith and barkeeper’s faces appeared on bottles beside me and talked about the joys of morning drinking until I was spat out into a glass.Thank Goodness You’re Here!constantly shifts between differing levels of surrealism in this way- one moment you’re walking the streets of a small town, and the next you could be exploring the astral plane.
This variance and the general way that the narrative is plotted out keeps things feeling inventive and unexpected, and no sequence ever feels like it goes on too long. Some favors are more multipart sagas, like retrieving lost tools for repairman Jasper - which he’s convinced have been maliciously stolen by various other townspeople, whom he ruthlessly tells off whenever one is recovered - sometimes split up with smaller tasks for others in-between. Others are shorter, and a bit more reminiscent of something like aWario Waremicrogame, just without a time limit.
The Comedy Of Thank Goodness You’re Here! Mostly Shines
Thehumor in the gameranges from surreal, absurdist bits to some that are more outright filthy - the game’s M rating isn’t without cause.However, even in its weirdest, dirtiest moments,Thank Goodness You’re Here!almost never really misses the mark with its jokes, and I laughed out loud several times during my playthrough. Though it can be extremely stupid, it’s the kind of stupidity reminiscent of things likeMonty Python, that was clearly made by intelligent people indulging their ridiculous side.
Thank Goodness You’re Here!sets itself apart from other walking sim games with its slapformer style, but to me that’s not the most important distinction the title cultivates. Rather, it’s the fact that it captures the feeling of a sort of game and cartoon hybrid, alternating seamlessly between active participation and cutscenes that could easily be part of a standalone show. The voice acting is top-notch, leaning very hard into Northern England accents and slang, with a standout performance fromWhat We Do In The Shadows' Matt Berry.
It’s a game that’s unapologetically weird, much to its benefit, and presents an incredibly fun blend of absurdist and outright stupid humor.
The game does a great job of building comedic suspense over the silliest things, like very, very slowly pushing a giant bowl of soup onto someone’s face, and recurring gags like a poor man who is constantly tormented by the protagonist unintentionally covering his living room covered in ash just get funnier over time. The title as a whole doesn’t overstay its welcome, only taking a couple of hours. However, it also rewards the player for taking a bit of extra time to listen to the townsfolk’s ramblings and hit things around Barnsworth with amusing extra tidbits.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
4/5 - “Excellent” By Screen Rant’s Review Metric
It’s easy to draw comparisons in some ways betweenThank Goodness You’re Here!and other games that fall under the umbrella of narrative platformers and walking sims - I found myself reminded at some points of titles likeThe Artful Escapeand evenWhat Remains of Edith Finchin terms of things like having a distinctive aesthetic and deep-seated eccentricities.However, it’s very much its own entity with no real comparable contender. It’s agame that’s unapologetically weird, much to its benefit, and presents an incredibly fun blend of absurdist and outright stupid humor.
It’s particularly impressive the way the game manages to subtly corral the player by changing areas slightly over time, creating a largely linear experience that still feels like it offers some level of free exploration. The very short length of the title and the fact that the overall gameplay is never that complex may be a drawback for some, but it’s the sort of title that’s more about the overall experience.Thank Goodness You’re Here!is a wild, clever ride that’s incredibly unique, and a great way to spend an afternoon.
Screen Rantwas provided with a Nintendo Switch code for the purpose of this review.
