Thank Goodness You’re Here! — 38 slizniakov. Review

Played on PC

Hey, how are you doing there! We need to go to Barnsworth and meet with the mayor, cough up some questions. A? Barn-what? Well Barnsworth, man. A place where there are fish and chips, beans, a cow that gives milk only after eating potatoes, fish smoke cigarettes, Big-love-him-much-Ron with huge pies, where there are a lot of caterpillars and slugs and where everyone has fun do you need anything. Well Barnsworth! Why are you looking at me? Let’s! One foot here, the other in the meat grinder!

The publisher Panic seems to have existed for a long time, but somehow very… slowly. He released his first game back in 2016 – and it was the legendary (in certain circles) Firewatch. Four years later – Untitled Goose Game, also, to put it mildly, a notable work. And now, with a bridge in the form of a little-noticed artsy chef simulator Nour: Play With Your Food, another contender for the title of a small masterpiece (of its kind), the unique comedy game Thank Goodness You’re Here!. Panic doesn’t do anything normal.

A considerable amount of humor and pleasure comes from reading the background inscriptions. Despite the high-quality translation of subtitles, knowledge of English for the game is very useful

What’s unusual about this game? Well, in terms of gameplay – nothing at all. That is, you can’t do almost anything in it, that’s what I wanted to say; our hero runs around a three-dimensional (well, isometric) world, where he can jump and hit everything or everyone. Sometimes the world becomes two-dimensional, and the game takes on the character of a more or less classic platformer, but without the slightest challenge to your reflexes and sense of rhythm. That’s all, actually. By the way, the authors stated that they were focused almost primarily on Night in the Woods – supposedly one of the most influential games of our time for independent studios.

Another thing is where you are and what situations you find yourself in. The whole point of Thank Goodness You’re Here! – exclusively in absurd humor and a stream of satire on England in general and Yorkshire in particular, English culture, English habits and traditions, and on Englishness itself. At the same time, the work of the Coal Supper studio has much more in common with “The Benny Hill Show” than with “Monty Python”, for example, although to frankly out-of-touch humor or below-the-belt jokes… well, no, of course, the guys “sink” (if I may say so ), there’s plenty of it here. This is, in essence, a slapstick comedy mixed with a fierce dose of absurdity. And almost without anger and aggression, which was enough even in the supposedly funny “Nameless Goose Game”.

This is what’s unique – it seems like you can hit everyone here and destroy or at least damage everything. But at the same time, the town of Barnsworth and the characters that inhabit it are definitely filled with love. The authors treat everyone and everything with a huge amount of irony, but clearly adore this dirty, ridiculous and strange world with fat football players, hooligans and shops filled with worthless goods at inflated prices. As a result, a game so filled with unmotivated (and not causing any real harm) violence only causes a kind smile.

This scene is a powerful and ruthless verdict on the theme of love as a special feeling (or not)

So it turns out that Thank Goodness You’re Here! can be considered the real successor to the great animated series Monkey Dust, from which they took out all the pain, trauma, darkness and gloom (okay, not all of it – there will be several very dark moments), and in this ruined place a meadow suddenly blossomed with flowers, butterflies, caterpillars and slugs . At the same time, the objects of ridicule are still the same: inertia, stupidity, philistinism and the inevitable fish and chips. But Will Todd and James Carbutt, the authors of almost everything in this game, don’t seem to have anything against it. Moreover, this feeling clearly comes from childhood – the game is accompanied by inserts with newsreels of a small English town during the late Thatcher era, when England remained old, but no longer so “kind”.

Happiness Thank Goodness You’re Here! – in its concentration. It works really well as a comedy, there’s always something going on. You kick everything in a row – and constantly create funny situations, the world is built in such a way that it is impossible to get stuck, get lost, or allow a pause that is too long, because of which it becomes unfunny. The simplicity of the game is its strength. Just as a short duration becomes a strength – it simply does not have time to get boring, which would be inevitable when running a long distance with such primitive input data.

Our hero regularly changes his essence and dimensions – here he is, for example, inside a meat grinder; although it would be more accurate to say – inside the very idea of ​​meat

More power Thank Goodness You’re Here! – in the way it is drawn and voiced. From the screenshots it may seem that this is a particularly sophisticated and high-budget variation on the theme of “hidden objects” like Hidden Folks, but with an acidic riot of colors. And yes, everything except our little traveling salesman hero stands still here. But he moves, talks, makes all sorts of sounds – we travel through static screens, but thanks to the intensity and grotesqueness of the drawing, there is always something to look at. And what to listen too – there are a lot of excellently voiced characters here, and the music is good. Moreover, from some point on, the locations will be repeated, but this is not annoying, but, on the contrary, gives dynamics to the local characters. Almost everyone and everything appears here more than once – and it is precisely in this dynamic that the most funny thing is hidden.

The newsreel does an excellent job of putting you into context at the start of the game.

And now it’s time to talk about weakness Thank Goodness You’re Here! — I just basically just didn’t find it funny. Is it funny to look at all these SHKY-like creatures? Yes. Is it funny? Perhaps. Wild? Of course (the authors’ imagination works just fine). But in a way that really makes you laugh? Not often. Yes, maybe it’s because slapstick is just not my genre (mind you, if it’s not yours either). But to understand a significant part of the jokes, you need to at least be in the context of English comedy, and at most be well acquainted with Yorkshire. However, judging by the reviews, for many this is not a hindrance, so here I’ll just make a footnote about subjective perception.

***

Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a truly rare example of pure comedy in the video game industry. Made with precise rhythm, amazing imagination, special disgustingly funny art, voice acting that works perfectly for the characters (it’s even good that the game is not dubbed – these accents!) and almost no gameplay as such. It is not needed here – we are dealing with an interactive cartoon. Even if, like me, your laugh muscle doesn’t work properly, you’ll definitely enjoy it. Thank God that such games come to us from time to time.

Advantages:

• It is a satirical comedy, but with great love for everything it satirizes;
• Amazing, special drawing;
• Gorgeous soundtrack – both music and voice acting;
• Perfectly balanced rhythm, which is very important for comedy.

Disadvantages:

• It might not be too funny.

Graphic arts

The game, judging by the system requirements, will run on almost anything – there is no need to talk about manufacturability. At the same time, it looks just great – and, what is especially important for a game from a tiny studio, I didn’t catch a single bug.

Sound

Authentic Yorkshire voice acting, the soundtrack is like something out of a 20th century comedy show, when you crush a slug you hear a characteristic sound. There are even singing rats.

Single player game

An interactive cartoon in which all problems are solved with a good kick.

Collective game

Not foreseen.

Approximate travel time

2-3 hours.

General impression

It seems like an absurd comedy that couldn’t really make the reviewer laugh is a condemnation, but in fact, thank goodness You’re Here! I don’t want to at all. It’s just too fun, weird and special an experience to regret spending an hour or two on it.

Rating: 8/10

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