Thank Goodness You’re Here is one of the most complete and well-constructed visual gaming experiences I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in many years, but unfortunately it’s also a shining example of how complex it is to design and build games. In addition to everything else that makes a gaming experience satisfying, there also needs to be memorable and engaging interactivity.
Make no mistake: this cartoonish, almost dreamlike depiction of a small, closed mining town in 1980s England, Monty Python-style, is one of the most imaginative and unique settings I can remember for a game. The visual opulence of this hand-drawn setting never fails to impress throughout the four to six hours of gameplay, and everywhere you look there are stops full of little details. Barnsworth is the name of the town, and you’re a quirky little man who turns up early for a meeting with the town’s mayor. You’re encouraged to explore the town while you wait, and end up becoming something of a tinkerer and delivery boy, helping the local chip shop get the day’s fish and chips production up and running, and helping the town’s greengrocer realize that, since he has a comically large head, it’s not so bad. That’s the premise, and there’s not much actual story. Thank goodness you’re here! He bases his cartoon on the setting, not on the direct narrative, and that is both a blessing and a curse.
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Okay, structure time. Barnsworth is divided into different sections, and while some are only visited once to complete the aforementioned humorous tasks for the town’s wacky residents, there are three or four that you return to in a circle. You see the game from a number of different perspectives, mostly isometric but sometimes sideways, and with only two mechanics: a jump and a kick, you interact with your environment somewhat half-heartedly.
The incredibly simple gameplay formula and the loop that builds from it is extremely satisfying, but thank goodness you’re there! It’s not particularly fun to play out of the box, and it really lacks the mechanical and structural versatility that matches the visual and aural ingenuity that developer Coal Supper has created. Their previous game, The Good Time Garden, also had a limited selection of mechanics, but at least you can learn things. Here, all of the central key points of the game are activated by jumping or kicking, rather than in that cool Mario way.
This isn’t helped by the patchwork identity, where the tasks given to you by the townspeople are only loosely connected and there seems to be no logical progression towards a real solution. You’re told that a townsperson has stolen a mechanic’s tool, but the way you find the item seems unearned, random and unappealing. You always stumble through the solution as if every stop along the way was planned in advance, but while some games can easily be presented as an organized rollercoaster ride, this doesn’t fit with the slightly open-ended structure, let alone the cyclical way you navigate, of Barnsworth.
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Among the main complaints, we unfortunately have to mention our protagonist. There are so many colorful characters in Barnsworth that half would be enough, and they all ooze personality, wit and creativity. Except for one. And that’s you. Here you play a quirky little man, and while the fun comes from not talking, gesticulating or reacting to all the crazy things happening around you, it’s a little misguided. Yes, in many slapstick comedies you have a slightly logical and measured person in the room who acts as an anchor and reference for all the nonsense, but here it’s a missed opportunity that makes you not recognize yourself with… well, just with something.
Even though interaction is so limited that it loses some of its entertainment potential, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a truly unique experience. It’s hard to place developer Coal Supper’s aesthetic frame of reference, but there’s a bit of old Mad Magazine, there’s 2000s Cartoon Network, there’s Monty Python, there’s modern Adult Swim. It’s a visual cornucopia like no other, and from the first minute to the last, the game finds ways to surprise and impress you. Add to that a scandalous soundtrack and combine it with some truly fantastic humor, and it’s… so, so funny.
The game’s soundtrack, graphics, humor, voice acting, and setting are all top-notch. That also means I can recommend the game to you now, but with one pretty serious caveat. If Coal Supper had developed a game model that was both mechanically interesting and great to look at, experience, and hear, then it would have been one of the best games of the year. But that’s not the case. But that doesn’t mean this unique rollercoaster ride isn’t worth the price of admission.
