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Thank Goodness You're Here!

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Not to be confused with Thank God You're Here.

Thank Goodness You're Here!
Developer(s)Coal Supper
Publisher(s)Panic Inc.
Designer(s)
  • James Carbutt
  • Will Todd
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
Release1 August 2024
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Thank Goodness You're Here! is an adventure video game developed by Coal Supper and published by Panic. Players take the role of a travelling salesman who performs odd jobs for the residents of a bizarre town in Northern England. It is available for macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows. It was released on 1 August 2024. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its absurdist humour.

Plot

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The player character, an unnamed and very small balding salesman, is sent by his employer to the fictional northern English town of Barnsworth for a meeting with the town's Lord Mayor. The mayor's receptionist explains that the mayor is in a meeting and won't be done for hours, so the salesman explores the town and solves the eccentric residents' problems—such as helping a man get his arm unstuck from a sewer grate or delivering meat from a ham butcher's to a pie shop—in order to pass the time. As the story progresses, the residents' antics gradually become more bizarre and unhinged. At the end of the game, the salesman is overwhelmed by the residents' demands for help and returns to the mayor's office, only to find out the mayor wants his help with an errand as well.

Alternatively, the player can choose to wait in the reception area for the full duration. After 15 minutes of waiting, the mayor finishes his business early and allows the salesman to meet with him, upon which he asks for help with the errand.

Development and release

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Thank Goodness You're Here! was developed by Coal Supper, a two-person Yorkshire-based indie studio composed of programmer Will Todd and artist James Carbutt.[1] The pair had met as children in their home town of Barnsley in northern England, and after university developed The Good Time Garden (2019), a free, surreal adventure game.[2] After its release, they decided to work on a larger game as a full-time endeavor. The initial concept for Thank Goodness You're Here! was a series of "sketch comedy" vignettes,[3] with plans to include "deeper puzzles, non-linear elements, more complex controls" but no main character or specific setting.[1][4] The pair approached a large number of publishers with the concept in order to fund the project, and after being rejected by several and not convincing others of the vision, selected Panic as the publisher.[2]

As they continued designing the game, however, the pair grew concerned that without a stronger vision that they were going to end up creating a "bad puzzle game", which could not be saved with humor.[4] Taking inspiration from Vic Reeves Big Night Out, a 1990s comedy show,[2] they decided to focus the game instead on the comedy rather than the gameplay, limiting the gameplay choices to a single "interact" button.[4] As the gameplay was limited, they wanted the "interact" button to have an external effect for the player, and chose a "slap" as simple and funny.[1] The game was also given the setting of a town to provide a place for the vignettes, and the question of how the player moved between them was answered as "maybe you're just a little guy who wanders around".[3]

The writing process for the game began with Todd and Carbutt inventing voices and characters and trying to make the other laugh with jokes.[5] The pair would then work out how to make the jokes into gameplay. They also brought on a contract animator, Pip Williamson, and derived jokes from the way she animated the characters.[2] As the duo's natural accents and comedic voice was based on Northern England, the characters they invented were from there, and the town then became the specific town of Barnsworth, based on Barnsley.[4] Todd and Carbutt recorded most of the voices themselves, but some characters were voiced by others, such as Jon Blyth and Matt Berry.[2][6] Originally the town was intended to be an open world, or have branching paths, but they found that players would get lost and miss jokes.[3] The scope of the game changed greatly over the course of development, as the pair had no experience with developing a larger game; originally they felt the game would be complete by 2021 after a year of development, but went three years over time.[2][3]

Thank Goodness You're Here was announced in August 2023 at the Gamescom trade show.[3] Prior to release, it was shown at the May 2024 London Games Festival and June Tribeca Festival.[7][8] It was released on 1 August 2024, to coincide with Yorkshire Day,[9] for Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. A physical edition for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 was published by Lost In Cult in 2025.[10]

Reception

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Thank Goodness You're Here! received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregator Metacritic. It was ranked as the twelfth-highest rated game of 2024 by aggregated score for Windows, and in the top 25 for Nintendo Switch.[11]

Eurogamer and GameSpot praised the game's absurdist humour.[12][13]

Awards

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Thank Goodness You're Here! won the Britsh Game award at the 21st British Academy Games Awards, and was nominated for five other categories, including Best Game, Animation, and Debut Game.[21] It also received nominations and honorable mentions at several other awards, such as Best Indie Game at the 42nd Golden Joystick Awards,[22] Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction and Story at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards,[23] and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 23rd Independent Games Festival Awards.[24]

Awards and nominations
Ceremony Category Result Ref.
21st British Academy Games Awards Best Game Nominated [21]
Animation Nominated
British Game Won
Debut Game Nominated
New Intellectual Property Nominated
Performer in a Supporting Role (Jon Blyth) Nominated
Performer in a Supporting Role (Matt Berry) Nominated
28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Nominated [23]
Outstanding Achievement in Story Nominated
25th Game Developers Choice Awards Innovation Award Honorable mention [25]
42nd Golden Joystick Awards Best Indie Game Nominated [22]
Best Supporting Performer (Matt Berry) Nominated
23rd Independent Games Festival Awards Seumas McNally Grand Prize Nominated [24]
Excellence in Audio Nominated
Excellence in Narrative Honorable mention
Excellence in Visual Arts Nominated
14th New York Game Awards Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game Nominated [26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Couture, Joel (28 March 2025). "'We write good stuff in the pub:' the comedy first approach to Thank Goodness You're Here". Game Developer. Informa TechTarget. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "A delicious interview with Coal Supper". Game Republic. 3 March 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e Foster, George (29 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here's Creators On Accidentally Making The Most British Game Ever". TheGamer. Valnet. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d Kerr, Chris (1 August 2024). "'Humor is all we've really got': Championing absurdity in Thank Goodness You're Here!". Game Developer. Informa TechTarget. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  5. ^ Dowd, Trone (1 August 2024). "Gaming's Wackiest Adventure of 2024 Lets You Slap Anything". Inverse. Bustle Digital Group. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Thank Goodness You're Here! How 'the most northern game' got made". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Thank Goodness You're Here!". London Games Festival. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Thank Goodness You're Here!". Tribeca Festival. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Press Kit". Thank Goodness You're Here! (Press release). Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Thank Goodness You're Here!". Lost In Cult. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d
  12. ^ a b Wales, Matt (30 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here! review - a proper comedy gem". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Limited. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  13. ^ a b Wakeling, Richard (29 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here Review - Propa Bri'ish". GameSpot. Fandom Inc. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  14. ^ Marshall, Callum (5 August 2024). "Review: Thank Goodness You're Here". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  15. ^ Olney, Alex (29 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here! Review (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  16. ^ Hilhorst, Willem (29 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here! (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  17. ^ Tailby, Stephen (29 July 2024). "Review: Thank Goodness You're Here! (PS5) - an Utterly Ridiculous English Excursion". Push Square.
  18. ^ Denzer, TJ (29 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here review: Positively bonkers". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  19. ^ Stuart, Keith (31 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here! Review – sheer vivacity and dark charm". The Guardian.
  20. ^ Foster, George (29 July 2024). "Thank Goodness You're Here Review - Reyt Good". TheGamer.
  21. ^ a b Szalai, Georg (8 April 2025). "BAFTA Games Awards: 'Astro Bot' Tops Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  22. ^ a b West, Josh (4 October 2024). "Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth lead the shortlist for the Golden Joystick Awards 2024, nudging out Helldivers 2 and Balatro for the most nominations". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024.
  23. ^ a b Welsh, Oli (10 January 2025). "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a GOTY front-runner at the DICE Awards". Polygon. Archived from the original on 6 February 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  24. ^ a b Colantonio, Giovanni (15 January 2025). "The 2025 Independent Games Festival nominee list features some shockers". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on 16 January 2025.
  25. ^ Yang, George (28 January 2025). "Game Developers Choice Awards 2025 Nominees Revealed". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 28 January 2025.
  26. ^ Maas, Jennifer (7 January 2025). "New York Game Awards 2024 Nominations". Variety. Archived from the original on 7 February 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
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