It’s a widely believed fact that comedy is far more difficult than drama. Looking at any gaming platform storefront you’re likely to see wall-to-wall action, and while some of it has a lighter tone, for the most part, it’s full of drama. It’s tough to get a laugh but it’s even tougher to say, “Hey, give me money and I’ll give you consistent laughs for several hours.” Hollywood has clearly given up on trying to make us laugh so it’s left up to the devs over at Coal Supper to give us that dry, yet absurd, English humor. Coal Supper’s first game, The Good Time Garden, was a wildly bizarre, comical, and quick romp through what they describe as a “throbbing pink world full of strange and naked creatures.” Having played The Good Time Garden, it was immediately apparent that Coal Supper has built upon their strange style in Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Developer: Coal Supper
Price: $20
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Reviewed) and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS5 code for review
Not immediately apparent from simply playing the game, the player takes on the role of a traveling salesman whose size varies depending on their room. Sent by their sales manager, I assume, to the Northern English town of Barnsworth, your first task is to meet with the mayor. Placing Thank Goodness You’re Here! in a genre box does little to describe what happens in this game. Our traveling salesman is capable of two actions, jumping and punching. With only two actions he’s able to resolve many of the woes carried on the shoulders of the people of Barnsworth.
As an American, I get most of my understanding of the British from television, movies, and music. So truthfully, I don’t know dick about the UK. However, I recognize many tropes and humor devices used in Thank Goodness You’re Here! In fact, I was laughing throughout the entire game. And it all started when I got to the Mayor’s office. The receptionist told me he was in a meeting and it’d be a few hours before she slammed the receptionist’s window closed and went back to her game of solitaire. By solitaire, of course, I mean she was using a real deck of cards to draw from and would occasionally lick the card and slap it on her computer monitor with the program open.
Though I guess I was tasked with selling something to the people of Barnsworth, I didn’t do anything of the sort. Most of my time was spent going through pipes, having fever dreams, baking enormous meat pies, and helping an old man fix up the fryer at Marge’s Chippo. Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a game full of interesting characters just living their lives in the most astonishing way possible. From the grocer with the misshapen head that’s affected him his entire life to the food truck vendor who would close every time I slapped his giant ass, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is about hilarious, sad, and ultimately earnest characters.
The humor is assisted immensely by the art work and I want to make it very clear that Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a stunningly beautiful game. With so many scenes and full of beautiful bright colors and intricately designed objects that bring to life the world of Barnsworth. So much of what makes Thank Goodness You’re Here! shine is how full of life the scenes and character animations are, and bring to each moment. Entering a new scene and not smiling would be a herculean task I refuse to take part in, I simply couldn’t stop while playing.
It’s difficult for me, as a neophyte, to discuss the game’s soundtrack. There are lots of big horns and voices making noises to back them up. Musically, Thank Goodness You’re Here! was a lot of fun, every single track enhanced each scene along with a musical number that ended up being kind of a banger.
While an overall shorter experience, there’s plenty to do around Barnsworth that was optional. Revisiting, I already found several things that I had missed on my first playthrough. Playing through Thank Goodness You’re Here! had me wondering why more comedy games of this ilk don’t exist and I believe I answered that question at the beginning of this review. Comedy is hard. Humor is tough to nail down and get right and when it’s done poorly it really falls flat. As much as I’d love more comedy games out there, it just makes that much more of a splash when one comes out that hits.
The Final Word
Thank Goodness You’re Here! is an incredible experience in both humor and execution. This is what a game looks like when it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s a tour de force of art, music, platforming, and puzzle solving.
MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
