Thank Goodness You're Here!

Thank Goodness You're Here is one of the most complete, well-constructed visual gaming experiences I've had the honour of looking at in many years, but unfortunately it's also a shining example of how complex games are to design and construct, as there needs to be memorable, engaging interactivity alongside everything else that makes a satisfying gaming experience.

Make no mistake; this Monty Python-like, cartoonish and almost dreamlike rendering of a small, cramped mining village in what looks like 1980s England is one of the most inventive and unique settings for a game I can remember. The visual opulence of this hand-drawn setting never ceases to impress throughout the four to six hours of gameplay, and there are always stops crammed with little details everywhere you look. Barnsworth is the name of the town and you are a bizarre little man who has arrived early for a meeting with the town mayor. You're encouraged to explore the town while you wait and end up being a handyman of sorts, helping the local chip shop kick-start the day's fish and chip production and helping the town greengrocer realise that having a comically large head isn't all that bad. That's the premise, and there's not much of a real story. Thank Goodness You're Here constructs its caricature around its setting, not its direct narrative, and that's both a blessing and a curse.

Okay, structure time. Barnsworth is divided into distinct sections, and while some are visited just once in the course of solving the aforementioned humorous tasks for the town's wacky residents, there are three or four that you return to in a circular fashion. You see the game from different perspectives, mostly isometric but sometimes from the side, and with just two mechanics; a jump and a kick, you interact slightly half-heartedly with your surroundings.

The impossibly simple gameplay formula and the loop constructed through it is hugely satisfying, but, Thank Goodness You're Here doesn't feel particularly good to directly play, and really lacks the mechanical and structural versatility to match the visual and auditory ingenuity developer Coal Supper has created. Their previous game, The Good Time Garden, also had a limited range of mechanics, but at least you can pick things up. Here all the game's central key points are activated by either jumping or kicking, and not in that cool Mario way.

It also doesn't help that the whole mosaic identity where the tasks the townspeople give you are only loosely connected, and it doesn't feel like there's any logical progression towards an actual solution. You're told that a mechanic's tool has been snatched by a townie, but the way you find the item seems unearned, random and unengaging. You're always stumbling into the solution as if every stop along the way is pre-planned, but whereas some games can easily present themselves as an organised rollercoaster ride, it just doesn't mesh with the slightly open structure, let alone the cycle-based way you navigate Barnsworth.

Of the key complaints, we also have to mention our protagonist as well, unfortunately. There are so many colourful characters in Barnsworth that half would be enough, and they all ooze personality, ingenuity and creativity. Except for one. And that's you. Here you play as a bizarre little man, and while the point is that you don't speak, gesture or react to all the crazy stuff going on around you, it's a bit misguided. Yes, in a lot of slapstick comedy you have a slightly logical, measured person in the room who acts as an anchor and reference for all the silliness going on, but here it's a missed opportunity that you don't acknowledge yourself with... well, just something.

Even though the interaction is so limited that it really drains some of the 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 Cartoon Network from the 00s, there's Monty Python, there's modern Adult Swim. It's a visual cornucopia without equal, and from the first minute to the last, the game finds ways to surprise and impress you. Add to that a slam dunk of a soundtrack, and combined with genuinely fantastic humour, this is... so, so funny.

The game's soundtrack, graphics, ingenuity, voice acting, and setting are top notch. It also means that I can recommend the game to you now, but with a rather serious caveat. If Coal Supper had ended up with a gameplay model that was as interesting to engage with mechanically as it is downright magnificent to look at, experience and listen to, then this would have been one of the best games of the year. But that's just not the case. However, that doesn't mean that this unique rollercoaster ride isn't worth the price of admission.