Thank Goodness You're Here For My Review of One of The Best Indie Games of 2024

Coal Supper's latest 2-D indie video game is one of this years best games set in the fictional British town of Barnsworth. A place where you slap your way around town assisting with odd jobs.

Aug 15, 2024

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Game Lobby Review. Thank you for your support and for subscribing to the newsletter. If you want to read more reviews like this and haven't subscribed yet, make sure to subscribe below.

"Thank Goodness You're Here" is a 2-D comedic Slapformer developed by Coal Supper and published by Panic. The visual style feels like a cartoon that has crossed into the world of gaming, and the gameplay introduces a wild new genre they call a "Slapformer." What's a slapformer? It’s a platformer where you slap!

Thank Goodness You Slapped

The gameplay of Thank Goodness You're Here offers an engaging and immersive experience. Okay, lets get right to it. You slap stuff. You straight up just slap things willy-nilly. You have two actions: jump and slap. You might jump up on a shelf and slap a tin can out of the way to progress, or jump into a chimney and get pushed through into an unsuspecting man's living room, leaving him covered in soot. Then, you walk over to his window, slap it open, and jump out—slapping him and everything in his house on the way.

Everywhere you walk, you can slap every item, resulting in a slight dent or some form of destruction. For example, you might rip open a trash bag, causing rats to spill out and sing, dent a lamppost, or slap a mailbox, causing a door to open and spill out all the town's mail. And yes, you can slap people too. You can smack anyone to start their dialogue, and if you continue to slap them afterward, you'll just hear them grunt or groan with each slap.

Slap Sticked

This game is hilarious. Almost every interaction with the fine folks of Barnsworth has some oddball goofiness or naivety that plays into the absurdity of someone walking around slapping everything in their path.

Playing the demo during Steam Next Fest was just scratching the surface. Odd things were happening, but it wasn’t as vulgar as the full release. In the complete game, there are scenes like Marge Chips and the handy repair man discussing a disgustingly sexual experience together, or a homeless man who is nude from the waist down asking you to find his pigeons around the town. The innuendos are vast and litter the conversations you eavesdrop on.

One of the best gags involves a guy just trying to eat his fish pops or cake. When you slap him, it explodes in his face. You see him multiple times, and each time he’s holding some new delicacy, ready for you to slap and for it to pop in his face again to his shock.

Thank Goodness You’re Here GIF by Coal Supper

Welcome to Barnsworth

The story is that you are a salesman and ready for your first assignment. Your boss tells you to head to the town and speak directly to the mayor. When you arrive, the mayor is unfortunately in a meeting and will be late, so you need to spend your time doing odd jobs for the citizens.

You progress by helping out the townsfolk, such as freeing their arm from a sewer drain, slapping some kegs of beer to get them bubbly and ready to serve, or mowing the lawn in the park for the well-known voice actor Matt Berry of "What We Do In The Shadows," "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace," and more.

It’s worth mentioning that the gaming industry is currently in a fight for better deals for voice actors amidst concerns about AI taking over their work. The cast is filled with many amazing voice actors whose work shines through each unique character's accent or backstory. I will leave a link below about the SAG AFTRA Interactive Media (video game) Strike so you can read more.

You revisit some locations where jokes may repeat, but each time something new is added to keep it fresh and funny. Like the poor man and the chimney mentioned earlier

Buttery Smooth

I want to move onto the graphics of Thank Goodness You're Here. Visually, it is straight out of a cartoon, and with how game graphics and the engines studios use to make them have progressed, it’s tough to see the difference between Thank Goodness You’re Here and something like Bob’s Burgers, or anything you might see on Adult Swim. The only difference is the frame rate, as this game looks buttery smooth.

The cutscenes don’t feel like a huge departure from the gameplay because the look is already like a show. They seamlessly integrate with the game to keep things fresh and progress the story.

The Slap Heard Around The World

You slap anything and everything, so the sounds you hear vary depending on the object—a light slap for softer items or a clank for metal objects. The audio design work of A Shell In The Pit is perfect, whether it's the sound of slapping a lamppost, a bum, a flower pot, or a pint glass. Each one sounds exactly as it should and gives you a great feeling hearing it. They have a fantastic website and have worked on many great indie titles like Pacific Drive and Night In The Woods. I'll link the site below.

I loved the audio detail, like the sound of getting kicked out of a store, the door violently hitting you as you fly out, the ringing of a bell, and the deep thud of hitting the ground from a great height. It made me laugh far more than I would like to admit.

The soundtrack has an old-timey speakeasy vibe, reminiscent of the 1920s. It perfectly complements the slapstick comedy of the game, akin to a modern Chaplin routine. Here’s a special clip of the co-creator James playing music from the soundtrack with Fraser Parry on double bass and Joe Rodwell on trumpet. It’s so relaxing and delightful. Check it out and enjoy:

Yelp Review of Barnsworth

Thank Goodness You’re Here was a delight. I started it with the intention of playing it in two sittings to prolong the experience, but I couldn’t stop playing. With each new character I met, I kept wondering, "Where the hell is this going? What is the point of all this? Why doesn’t anyone get mad at this little guy slapping the shit out of everything in his path?"

Just as I thought I was getting the hang of it, I was introduced to an area where rats were running their own convenience store. At that point, I stopped trying to make sense of it all and just immersed myself in Barnsworth.

And that’s where the deeper story began. A cop is investigating a criminal in the neighborhood who is selling everyone faulty products, like the watering can or, as the police discover, a "no watering can." Each new item sold to an unsuspecting resident gets funnier and funnier.

"Where the hell is this going? What is the point of all this? Why doesn’t anyone get mad at this little guy slapping the shit out of everything in his path?"

"Thank Goodness You’re Here" is easily one of the best games of the year, with its comedic gameplay and voice acting bringing this small British town to life. The beautiful hand-drawn cartoon style and the ability to slap everyone and everything make it a must-play for everyone—except maybe not for kids. Definitely not for kids.

It took me roughly 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish, and I reviewed this game on a Rog Ally, which ran beautifully with no hiccups at all. I don’t rate games on a scale at Good Game Lobby, but this is easily a 10/10 for me. Even if you aren’t a fan of platformers, I recommend checking this out if you have a funny bone in your body.

Thank Goodness You’ve Read This Review

That's my review! I'm curious to know what you think. Will you pick up this game? If you already have, let me know your thoughts in the comments. Subscribe to the newsletter below to get notified when new reviews come out on the latest indie games and weekly recaps.

The Good Time Garden

In the meantime, I am going to check out their first effort The Good Time Garden by Coal Supper. It’s free to play and you can get it now on Steam or Itch.

It has a similar vibe of oddness, but on a much more sexual fueled bender. I added the GIF below for context. Definitely not suitable for kids either. Haha!

The Good Time Garden | Steam | Itch

Good Game Lobby