Being from the North, you’ll notice that most major British fiction tends to focus almost exclusively on Southerners. Unless you’re seeing local theatre, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever even get a whiff of an accent similar to your own, unless it’s a cheap joke made at your expense. How delightful, then, to play Thank Goodness You’re Here!, a video game created by and for Northerners, and one that has most recently gained the moniker of being one of the funniest games ever made.
Thank Goodness‘ premise is pretty average: you, playing as a travelling salesman, explore the fictional Northern town of Barnsworth while waiting to speak with the mayor. Your character is, however, decidedly not really the point of this game: it’s the town itself that is the real main character here. You’ll meet with a whole host of quirky characters, many of whom are struggling with something and demand your help (hence the game’s title). Help pour someone a pint, locate some missing tools, and attempt to clear out a rat infestation only to discover a whole rat society, complete with a rat church devoted to worshipping cheese.
Arguably, the game’s most immediately striking feature is its sheer amount of Northern quirk. Each townsperson you’ll come across will natter local dialect in various flavours of the Yorkshire accent, featuring some truly excellent comedic voice work (including the vocal tones of Matt Berry). The use of dialect is prevalent across the game’s dialogue – unless you opt to play a translated version with more standard dialogue – and extends even to its user interface – the pause menu provides the two options ‘keep gu’in’ (resume), and ‘faff’ (go into the options menu).
None of this is meant in bad faith, either. Development duo Coal Supper are Yorkshiremen themselves, and have stated that their vocal work on the game led to “drawing out characters that just sounded more and more like us, because we’re doing it in our voices”. The authenticity of this approach allows the game to dig its heels into reality, even as it grows increasingly surreal as it progresses. Adding to this is the occasional use of live-action footage, interspersing real videos of God’s Own County across the game – a reminder to players that, despite how weird the game may be, it’s parodying a real place with real people in it.
There’s also plenty of smaller Northern English details scattered across the town, including graffiti on the concrete walls reading ‘milk snatcher out’, and, in a moment that got a real cackle from me, a slight view into someone’s house revealing a lovingly decorated Lady Di memorial plate. And it’s these small details that make Thank Goodness such a delight front to back; while the game itself is relatively short, the environments you’ll be exploring are densely packed with jokes and hidden details. It’s also worth mentioning that, despite its art style harking back to classic British children’s animations, Thank Goodness‘ humour and content is pretty adult.
My only criticism of Thank Goodness is that it’s more of an extended piece of absurdist sketch comedy than a game. It’s delightful to just run around Barnsworth and find yourself in the most ridiculous scenarios, but the gameplay is pretty light – the majority of actual playing you’ll be doing is mostly slapping various people and objects in the environment around you, and occasionally engaging in some light platforming. This is, however, pretty light criticism – just don’t go in expecting much on the gameplay side of things.
Perhaps I’m biased towards this game, being born and raised in the North, and bred on a healthy diet of The Mighty Boosh, and, well, anything involving Matt Berry. Nevertheless, Thank Goodness is decidedly one of my favourite releases thus far this year, and an absolute must-play for fans of alternative British comedies.
