Thank Goodness You’re Here! — Everything We Know

We’ve certainly seen our fair share of unusual video games come to the slate these past few years — namely DEEEER Simulator and, I don’t know, Squirrel With a Gun. But that’s not all, as developer Coal Supper has also chimed in to announce its own weird and wonderful project—a “comedy slapformer” that goes by the name of Thank Goodness You’re Here! Suffice to say, it’s a bit of an oddball as far as indie games travel, so fair warning — things are about to get, well, strange. Still here? Then let’s continue.

To cut to the chase, if you are looking to remediate that post-DEEEER Simulator blues, then be sure to read on for more details on your next big adventure. Here’s everything you need to know about Thank Goodness You’re Here!, which is currently set to launch on consoles and PC at some stage in 2024

What Is Thank Goodness You’re Here!?

Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a single-player platforming adventure game in which players take control of a traveling salesman in a Northern English town known as Barnsworth. The goal, in short, is to shovel through the crags and crevices of the town, and complete odd jobs left behind by the town’s residents. Sounds all rather relaxed and straightforward on paper, for sure — but wait till you get a whiff of said “odd jobs”; it isn’t going to involve planting seeds and doing grocery runs, that’s for sure.

In the words of its creators, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a “comedy slapformer, which unfolds over time as the players' exploration and antics leave their mark on the strange town of Barnsworth. With each completed odd job, new areas of the town open up, stranger and stranger tasks become available, and the clock ticks towards our salesman’s big meeting. The town’s colorful inhabitants are brought to life with vibrant hand-drawn animation, fully voiced dialogue, and wall-to-wall double entendres.”

Story

Going by what’s been posted so far, Thank Goodness You’re Here! will center its world around a traveling salesman—a jack-of-all-trades, if you will, who is on the verge of meeting with the mayor of the northern town of Barnsworth. Along the way, the salesman will need to converse with numerous locals, all of whom appear to have an endless list of odd jobs and requests. According to the devs, the deeper into the town you travel, the stranger the jobs will become — which means you’ll need to prepare yourself for anything and everything. Sure enough, the meeting with the mayor is one thing, but there’s a whole lot of tasks idling between you and the hot seat. No pressure.

Gameplay

From the looks of the footage and in-game screenshots that have been posted to date, a great deal of the gameplay will revolve around completing mini-games, as well as exploring the hand-drawn world of Barnworth and interacting with the citizens and their colorful personalities.

“Bold, beautiful visual design that seamlessly blends side-scrolling action vignettes with top-down exploration in a chock-a-block open world,” boasts the elevator pitch. “Progressively more involved and puzzling odd-jobs to complete: cut the grass, bake a pie, traverse the astral plane!”

In addition to the core gameplay elements, Coal Supper also states that Thank Goodness You’re Here! will feature an “oddly moving original soundtrack”, as well as “hand-crafted animation and [an] original story based on traditional Yorkshire folklore.” So, if you’ve yet to take a stroll through the actual streets of your typical Yorkshire village, then how’s the time to see it in the virtual flesh. Or at least, a certain version of a typical Yorkshire town, anyway.

Development

Hello gamers!

Our brand new video game 'Thank Goodness You're Here!' was just revealed on #OpeningNightLive (thanks Geoff x)

It's an absurd comedy experience set a strange Northern English town, and it's coming to PC, PS5 and Switch next year!https://t.co/kbT4zG4T57 pic.twitter.com/QE4bUwmylr

— Coal Supper is making Thank Goodness You're Here! (@coalsupper) August 22, 2023

In case you missed the initial announcement, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is being developed by Coal Supper, the same studio that created The Good Time Garden—a “surreal” adventure game that cast its focus on a bubblegum-themed realm and a series of “strange naked creatures.” If you thought that was weird, then boy, you’ve not seen anything yet.

If all goes according to plan, then we should be seeing the studio’s next IP hit consoles and PC at some stage in 2024. As for when in 2024 it’ll release is still anybody’s guess, though — so best keep to your guns and hold out for the next major update.

Trailer

The good news is, there is in fact a short trailer outlining a good amount of the game’s gameplay details and mechanics. Need we say more? You can catch a glimpse of the upcoming game in the trailer embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Thank Goodness You’re Here! will be coming to PlayStation 5, Switch, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on an undisclosed date in 2024. Not a great deal to go on there, but given the fact that we’re only a stone’s throw away from seeing in the new year, we currently have every reason to believe that there’ll be a formal announcement at some stage in the next several weeks. Here’s hoping, anyway.

While we can’t exactly comment on the edition side of things, we can say this: Thank Goodness You’re Here! will be available to purchase digitally via the PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. You can go ahead and add that standard version to your wishlist on the respective storefronts today.

Interested in staying up to date with Coal Supper’s latest IP? If so, then be sure to check in with the team’s official social handle for all the latest updates here. If anything changes ahead of its global debut, we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the key details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Thank Goodness You’re Here! when it arrives on consoles and PC next year? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.