Thank Goodness You're Here is a reyt good time

Narrative in video games is always chasing after the prestiege television moment. Games like BioShock put us in the right direction, and The Last Of Us delivered a stunning story that was strong enough to be largely unchanged for it's hit HBO series. Comedy games though? That's a tough ask. Sure, there are plenty of games that have funny moments, laugh-out-loud moments even. But crafting a genuine comedy game is a tough ask, because controlling the actions of your player to ensure your timing lands is not a fun prospect. Thank Goodness You're Here manages to crack the code however, and delivers one of the most genuinely funny games that has ever been released.

Part pont-and-slap adventure, part slapformer (a term coined on the Steam page), Thank Goodness You're Here puts you in the shoes of a silly looking lemon man who is sent to the rural town of Barnsworth to meet with the mayor. Turns out that the mayor is far too busy to meet with you, so you set forth into the streets of northern England to see what the locals are up to.

"Thank Goodness You're Here!" a man exclaims, his hand stuck down a grate as he explains to you that he was trying to get his grubby little mitts on a dropped coin, and it is now your job rescue him. So off you go into the village searching for solutions, being met with the eccentric cast of characters that make Barnsworth feel alive. There's the drunk locksmith who can't start work without a morning pint, the local handyman whose tools are being pinched by various other townsfolk, and many more that I don't want to spoil because interacting with them is an absolutely treat.

The loop of the game is also incredibly satisfying. Walk into a scene, here the fabled "Thank Goodness You're Here!" line from a citizen in need, then jump, and slap your way towards a solution that will unlock the next problem, and keep on going. I say this is a loop because you will often be walking through scenes you have already visited, and the game does a fantastic job of making it seem like Barnsworth is alive. The town changes based on the problems you have solved, the day moves ahead, and it really feels like time has progressed. It's a small thing, but something that I really did love.

Thank Goodness You're Here might only be three or so hours long, but it is incredibly dense. As you walk around the town slapping things to interact with them (including the people mind you), the art is an assault on the senses, with layers upon layers of visual jokes, from stickers on store shelves to graffiti spread across the town. Much like Arrested Development, every time I visited an area for a second or third time, I found another joke or the payoff to something that was hinted at earlier, which made me really appreciate just how heavily crafted the game is.

A lot of those feelings are thanks to the art style, with bright colors and eccentric character designs that feels like you're moving through a Where's Waldo book drawn by the cast of Monty Python, and Waldo never showed it. It's colors and shapes are so lovely to look at, and the way that the game plays with perspective in some scenes is honestly, genius.

While I absolutely can appreciate so much that Thank Goodness You're Here throws onto the screen, for a game that has you walking around town slapping everything in sight to find gags or the next story beat, there sure are a lot of things that bear no result. I felt that the town could have done with some more interactivity, instead of just crumpling trash cans or other random items, I would have liked to see more things to "play" with, because I sure did spend a lot of time smacking everything and being disappointed that nothing happened.

Even though I have spent the review lauding the humor, I must admit that for me personally it wasn't the side-splitting affair that many reviewers are saying. I put that down mostly to the fact that I am from a rural mining town in Australia, that feels A LOT like Barsnworth. We had our own version of a local businessman who couldn't function without his morning pint (I will say, he was far less friendly than the one in the game). We had our small town dramas and rumor mills that bore less comedy, and more just loudly yelling at the McDonald's car park. Also, being Australian I guess the humor is a little less novel, and for that I will say that playing Thank Goodness You're Here was a little like sitting in my country town's pub, shooting the shit, and laughing at old mate Greg who had had waaaay too many pints.

But I appreciate that humor and experience is very personal. And despite that I didn't find the game side-splittingly hilarious, I absolutely enjoyed every second, and think many people will have a very different reaction to me.

Conclusion

Thank Goodness You're Here is a densely packed comedy game filled with comedic gold like no other. It may be lacking action and adventure, but it makes up for that with sharp and witty dialogue, and memorable moments that will have you chuckling to yourself weeks later as you remember a soot covered living room and a very sad man who just wanted to read his newspaper. It is hard to write much about a game that is so short, but if you want to escape the world we live in, and help townsfolk with their problems, you are in for a reyt good time.

Thank Goodness You're Here

Recommended

Developer: Coal Supper
Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch