Every once in a while, gamers come across games that are interesting for reasons they can’t fully grasp or explain, and the word “interesting” just becomes one of those words to use because it’s hard to determine whether the subject matter is good, bad, or even appealing. This is what came to my mind when I was pitched Thank Goodness You’re Here! for review and even after rolling the credits, it’s tough to say whether or not this is an experience I’d recommend.
One thing that’ll definitely catch eyes with Thank Goodness You’re Here! is its hand-drawn visual style. It’s one part “Captain Underpants” and another part “Ren & Stimpy.” That being said, I never read any books in the former, nor did I really enjoy the animation or crude content in the latter. Preferences aside, the game isn’t bad to look at (though a lot of it is gross and purposefully “ugly”), but I couldn’t pull my own screenshots because at least on the PlayStation 5, whenever I tried to screenshot, it went to the pause screen. I don’t know if it was intentional, but I guess it makes sense to keep from spoiling its story despite there not being much to go over.
The game begins with a bunch of commercials promoting various local businesses in the fictional town of Barnsworth. You play as this little yellow salesman, ordered by his boss to head to Barnsworth for a meeting with their mayor. Unfortunately, the mayor isn’t available, so the salesman goes out to explore the town and get to know the people and solve their problems.
One of the funniest parts of the game was mowing down these loving flowers. You get a trophy for it too.
Dubbed a “slapformer,” Thank Goodness You’re Here! is mostly played from a top-down 2D perspective, and all you can really do is walk around, jump, and hit things. That’s all there is to it. Despite having a button to punch things, there isn’t any actual combat in the game. You’re really just there to solve puzzles as you traverse. The first such instance in the game actually takes place in your boss’ office after being told you’re off to Barnsworth. You can’t exit through the door, so you walk around the office, punch the water cooler, and use the fallen water bottle as a platform to jump out the window, and then fall out that building and into the bus on its way to Barnsworth.
Once you’re out and exploring the town, the most interesting thing about the gameplay is that moving forward is all about experimentation. You don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t know who anybody is. You just walk around aimlessly, jump, punch, and eventually you’ll meet people, they say “Thank goodness you’re here!” and you figure out that that everybody greeting you has some sort of problem they’re assuming you solve which can be big, small, or absolutely absurd.
Problems include a nearby convenience store being closed because of a lost key, and it turns out the locksmith is at a local pub, so you head to that pub and find that some of taps aren’t working, so you dive into the sink through the pipes, give every keg a slap, and all of a sudden you’re sprayed into a pint glass. The locksmith has his beer, and then comfortably goes back to work to solve that initial problem. Another problem involves a fryer at a fish and chips place not working, and the mechanic asks you to look for his hammer–which inconveniently is submerged at a lake and the only way to get it is to use yourself as bait for someone fishing’s rod, solving yet another problem.
Solving problems opens up more of Barnsworth to explore, and you’ll find yourself understanding the town layout better to perform the tasks you need to do. The beauty of all this is that the game does just enough to keep you invested once you’ve started, and while I never really knew what to do, somehow I just figured it out by continuing to play by hitting everything I saw or interacting with new characters I hadn’t noticed before (most likely because they weren’t there initially). At no point does the game ever tell you what to do or where to go, you just need to figure it out by trying whatever you can think of with what you’re given, and more often than not–it’ll work.
Nothing like punching a bunch of fresh fish and seeing cigarettes pop out of their mouths. I guess that’s where the M-rating came from.
This approach, in and of itself, leads to more jokes that can hit or go over your head, though unfortunately it was the latter for me. Thank Goodness You’re Here! is undoubtedly one of the weirdest and most unique games I’ve ever played, and it’s also quite clear that it goes for the jugular with its humor, but it just didn’t work out like that for me. I can definitely see a lot of people enjoying the experience and enjoying the humor way more than I did, so I’ll understand if people think I’m being harsh.
Luckily for me, the game ended right when I thought it was about to overstay its welcome. I took a little over three hours to roll credits on the game, and aside from maybe attempting to get the Platinum once the full trophy list comes out since a lot of the trophies I got were really easy to get, I have no intention of ever going back to it.
Every once in a while, gamers come across games that are interesting for reasons they can’t fully grasp or explain, and the word “interesting” just becomes one of those words to use because it’s hard to determine whether the subject matter is good, bad, or even appealing. This is what came to my mind when I was pitched Thank Goodness You’re Here! for review and even after rolling the credits, it’s tough to say whether or not this is an experience I’d recommend.
One thing that’ll definitely catch eyes with Thank Goodness You’re Here! is its hand-drawn visual style. It’s one part “Captain Underpants” and another part “Ren & Stimpy.” That being said, I never read any books in the former, nor did I really enjoy the animation or crude content in the latter. Preferences aside, the game isn’t bad to look at (though a lot of it is gross and purposefully “ugly”), but I couldn’t pull my own screenshots because at least on the PlayStation 5, whenever I tried to screenshot, it went to the pause screen. I don’t know if it was intentional, but I guess it makes sense to keep from spoiling its story despite there not being much to go over.
The game begins with a bunch of commercials promoting various local businesses in the fictional town of Barnsworth. You play as this little yellow salesman, ordered by his boss to head to Barnsworth for a meeting with their mayor. Unfortunately, the mayor isn’t available, so the salesman goes out to explore the town and get to know the people and solve their problems.
One of the funniest parts of the game was mowing down these loving flowers. You get a trophy for it too.
Dubbed a “slapformer,” Thank Goodness You’re Here! is mostly played from a top-down 2D perspective, and all you can really do is walk around, jump, and hit things. That’s all there is to it. Despite having a button to punch things, there isn’t any actual combat in the game. You’re really just there to solve puzzles as you traverse. The first such instance in the game actually takes place in your boss’ office after being told you’re off to Barnsworth. You can’t exit through the door, so you walk around the office, punch the water cooler, and use the fallen water bottle as a platform to jump out the window, and then fall out that building and into the bus on its way to Barnsworth.
Once you’re out and exploring the town, the most interesting thing about the gameplay is that moving forward is all about experimentation. You don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t know who anybody is. You just walk around aimlessly, jump, punch, and eventually you’ll meet people, they say “Thank goodness you’re here!” and you figure out that that everybody greeting you has some sort of problem they’re assuming you solve which can be big, small, or absolutely absurd.
Problems include a nearby convenience store being closed because of a lost key, and it turns out the locksmith is at a local pub, so you head to that pub and find that some of taps aren’t working, so you dive into the sink through the pipes, give every keg a slap, and all of a sudden you’re sprayed into a pint glass. The locksmith has his beer, and then comfortably goes back to work to solve that initial problem. Another problem involves a fryer at a fish and chips place not working, and the mechanic asks you to look for his hammer–which inconveniently is submerged at a lake and the only way to get it is to use yourself as bait for someone fishing’s rod, solving yet another problem.
Solving problems opens up more of Barnsworth to explore, and you’ll find yourself understanding the town layout better to perform the tasks you need to do. The beauty of all this is that the game does just enough to keep you invested once you’ve started, and while I never really knew what to do, somehow I just figured it out by continuing to play by hitting everything I saw or interacting with new characters I hadn’t noticed before (most likely because they weren’t there initially). At no point does the game ever tell you what to do or where to go, you just need to figure it out by trying whatever you can think of with what you’re given, and more often than not–it’ll work.
Nothing like punching a bunch of fresh fish and seeing cigarettes pop out of their mouths. I guess that’s where the M-rating came from.
This approach, in and of itself, leads to more jokes that can hit or go over your head, though unfortunately it was the latter for me. Thank Goodness You’re Here! is undoubtedly one of the weirdest and most unique games I’ve ever played, and it’s also quite clear that it goes for the jugular with its humor, but it just didn’t work out like that for me. I can definitely see a lot of people enjoying the experience and enjoying the humor way more than I did, so I’ll understand if people think I’m being harsh.
Luckily for me, the game ended right when I thought it was about to overstay its welcome. I took a little over three hours to roll credits on the game, and aside from maybe attempting to get the Platinum once the full trophy list comes out since a lot of the trophies I got were really easy to get, I have no intention of ever going back to it.
by Danreb Victorio
