Your first process in Thank Goodness You are Right here! is to reply the query, “A’tha from Tarn?” Relying in your response, the sport’s menus and subtitles will both show in English or the native dialect, altering phrases like “Choices” to “Faff” and “Proceed recreation” to “Preserve gu’in.” If this somewhat odd alternative hasn’t already given it away, Thank Goodness You are Right here! is probably probably the most quintessentially British recreation ever made–specifically, northern England and the city of Barnsworth, a fictional city proper close to the very actual city of Barnsley. Developed by Coal Supper–a two-person group who grew up within the post-industrial town–this absurdist comedy “slapformer” is a genuinely hilarious romp. It will not enchantment to everybody and could be completed over just a few cups of tea, however there aren’t many video games which have managed to plaster such an enormous smile on my face.
The sport’s mouthful of a title is uttered by just a few of the sport’s characters, together with a younger fan of Barnsworth’s native soccer membership. “Thank Goodness You are Right here!” he exclaims as you leap by way of an open window and right into a kitchen adorned with purple and white scarves and framed footage of the group’s gamers. Sitting on the eating desk with a cup of darkish tea, he pleads with you to acquire him some milk. He’d go himself, however he is terribly “milk shy.” So off you pop to the native farm, the place Bessie the cow requires a bag of chips–wrapped in newspaper, of course–to perk her up earlier than she will produce any milky goodness. The native chip store, Marge’s Chippo, is the place to go, however after just lately fixing the deep fats fryer, the queue is much too lengthy and you do not have time to attend. This results in one other trek throughout city, with extra whimsical hijinks abound earlier than you ultimately get your arms on that treasured, treasured milk.
That is the overall gist of Thank Goodness You are Right here! If it sounds such as you’re merely working round performing a sequence of fetch quests, it is really way more concerned than that. You play as a tiny touring salesman who’s arrived on the town for a gathering with the mayor. As an alternative of sitting within the ready room till they’re able to see you, you resolve to enterprise out into city the place the locals are all too keen to provide you a sequence of more and more odd jobs. As you discover the streets of Barnsworth and assist out its wacky denizens, your antics depart an indelible mark on the place, opening up new areas to probe as you are given increasingly more zany duties to finish.
There’s some mild 2D platforming concerned, and that is combined with bigger 3D environments that you simply’re free to wander round as you actually slap every little thing and everybody in sight. The time period “slapformer” rapidly is smart, then, since slapping and leaping are the one methods to work together with the world. Hitting somebody upside the top normally will get them speaking, however there are additionally postboxes, pigeons, doorways, greens, and site visitors bollards to slap as properly. Typically you may merely destroy no matter you are slapping. Different instances you may reveal a gag or the trail ahead. It is a bit like Untitled Goose Sport on this regard, albeit extra structured with particular quests to undertake as you trigger chaos on Barnsworth’s streets.
Getting from one space to a different does really feel a bit of clumsy at first. Development is all the time achieved by shifting to the precise, however this additionally places you in a circle so that you simply wrap again across the city. Basically, you must transfer ahead with a purpose to additionally go backward. This initially feels unintuitive however finally begins to click on into place by way of repetition (like leaping down a properly to achieve the fish store), particularly when you begin noticing how every location modifications on repeat visits. I do, nevertheless, want there have been a pair extra areas simply to flesh out the city even additional and enhance the sport’s longevity a tad.
It is onerous to argue with the sport’s construction when it is as humorous as it’s, although. Absurdism and surrealism are widespread avenues for its humor, whether or not you are swimming by way of beer whereas a drunken bottle talks about downing a morning pint earlier than getting off the bed, or going buying on the native Value Shaggers grocery store with a speaking hand that is stretched out for miles as a result of its proprietor is bedbound. It is ridiculous, nevertheless it works as a result of all of it begins someplace grounded: a small Yorkshire city.
A variety of British comedy transcends borders. A variety of it does not. Thank Goodness You are Right here! exists someplace within the center. When you’re not from the UK or have by no means lived within the UK, a few of its jokes are going to go over your head because it delves into widespread info of British life and even Yorkshire-specific folklore. But for each specialised gag, there are dozens extra that may tickle your humorous bone no matter your background. It is a recreation full of outlandish euphemisms, drawing from Wallace and Gromit’s cheeky method to humor with a decidedly extra grownup spin. It may be gross, but additionally unabashedly foolish and darkish. And it is all dropped at life with a vibrant artwork model that resembles a mashup between Journey Time and traditional British comics like The Beano, The Dandy, and Viz. The sport’s character designs are sometimes simply as comical as its writing, to not point out the entire visible gags.
Your entire voice solid can be glorious, respiratory additional life into every of Barnsworth’s residents. There’s Herbert, a hapless gardener voiced by the ever-brilliant Matt Berry. “I have been sucking this pipe for days,” he shares with you if you stroll in on him twiddling with a hose. “Virtually accomplished, then I can get house to my puzzles,” says a litter picker in a hi-viz jacket. “I really like puzzles,” he provides. There’s additionally Jasper the Scottish handyman, who’s all the time shedding his instruments and claiming they’re stolen. You are witness to a clumsy romance between Florence, the meat-counter woman at Massive Ron’s Massive Pie store, and the supply boy from Mom Megg’s Buttery Items. After seeing the pub proprietor struggling to consider what to placed on the “right now’s particular” signal, you come again later and see that he finally settled on “Drinks.” From the voice appearing to the writing to the characters and environmental designs, Coal Supper has crafted an unimaginable sense of place that persists even when issues go off the rails.
It could be on the brief facet at round two hours in size, however Thank Goodness You are Right here! barely wastes a single second of its absurd journey. Not solely is it constantly humorous, nevertheless it additionally made me really feel extremely heat and nostalgic for the period of cartoons and comics I grew up with, even when it feels fairly singular in its method to each surreal and intimately acquainted humor. It isn’t a recreation everybody will vibe with–such is the divisiveness of comedy specifically. However those that click on with it are unlikely to seek out one other recreation this 12 months wherever close to as joyous.