Eeh Bah Gum, I'm well chuffed! Thank Goodness Thank Goodness You're Here, is here! It's reet grand! If you struggled to read that, then get used to it because this game is apologetically Yorkshire and I absolutely love it! This is the most I have laughed whilst playing a video game since South Park: The Fractured But Whole! Although it only takes around 2 hours to complete, Coal Supper packs a lot of laughs and a lot of surprisingly beautiful animation into your short visit to the town of Barnsworth.
So the 'plot' (to use that term incredibly loosely) is that you play as a traveling salesman who just arrived at the northern town of Barnsworth. The locals will ask you to do various different tasks for them, which normally involves slapping everything and everyone in sight! The actual stories come from watching the locals as they go about their weird and wonderful lives in this fever dream of a town! Throughout the game you basically go around Barnsworth on a loop, passing the same locations multiple times. Each time you pass through the loop though, there is so much environmental storytelling happening and you can see visual gags that keep ramping up each time. For instance, the first time you pass through the town, you see a toast-loving man grilling bread on the BBQ. The second time the bread is burnt, the next time the entire BBQ is on fire, and then the final time it is just a charred mess. Or the old lady who draws a face on a giant sausage with a marker pen and thinks it is a dog. Then each time you pass through the sausage becomes more and more dog-like, until in the end when it is just a weird hairless dog.
Coal Supper are unapologetic with their unique sense of humor, and I love how much they commit to what they find funny. I grew up in Yorkshire myself and the characters in the town of Barnsworth made me laugh so hard because they are such accurate caricatures of people you would meet in a small Yorkshire village. For instance, there is a lady who is gardening and passionately hates snails. I literally had a neighbor many years ago, in Yorkshire, who was exactly the same and would often patrol her garden with a kitchen knife at 3am murdering slugs and snails to save her lettuces...we are proper insane 'us Yorkshire folk' and Coal Supper has exposed are insanity to the world! Also, there is A LOT of sexual innuendo and a few gross-out moments, so if you are a sensible, well-adjusted person, don't play it...but if you are as immature as I am, you will love it!
The writing is where much of the humour comes from but the animation is what really elevates this game. Every single character looks funny and moves funny. The salesman you play as, for some unexplained reason, randomly changes sizes. This allows for sections where you are the size of a worm on the end of a fishing hook, or (easily the most disturbing part of the game) when you go inside a piece of ham and meet various different 'meat-based' characters - truly it was funny but I am definitely having nightmares tonight! The game is weirdly beautiful and lovingly animated and reminds me of the care and attention you would see in classic Looney Tunes.
The voice acting is great! Matt Berry lends his very unique voice to one character in the game but the entire cast of characters is acted perfectly. Walking up to random people and repeatedly slapping them to hear their response never gets old and I would get excited each time I passed through the village to see what weird things these bizarre characters would say this time!
The gameplay is described by Coal Supper as a 'slapformer' - basically you walk around slapping people and things. However, there are several moments where there are fun mini-games introduced that change things up nicely. The only real criticism I would give this game is that there really is not much of a challenge. I never really found myself having to think my way around anything, or being challenged as a gamer. But, on the other hand, I know that pacing is key with comedy so I imagine it is important to keep things moving forward nicely to allow the humour to hit better. It was more of a cartoon that you actively moved through rather than a 'video game' in the traditional sense.
Overall I think that Thank Goodness You're Here is a really fun time and left me wanting more games in the comedy genre! It is hilariously written and performed and the animation is lovingly crafted. I won't spoil the end, but the final sequence had me uncontrollably laughing. If you have a friend over and you want something that will make you both laugh for a couple of hours, get this game! I played through it in one 2 hour sitting and I would recommend it as the best way to play.
I give Thank Goodness You're Here a 9/10
Join the Discord Here
Like what you see? Why not support me financially? Donate Here
Want me to draw something for you? Get in touch on Instagram
Comments
Post a Comment