I was maybe 14 years old when my father, in his infinite wisdom, introduced me and my brothers to the joy of Monty Python. I remember his anticipation. It was a moment he had been waiting for since he had us. He watched us grow and waited, patiently, until he believed that we are developed enough to grasp the humor. To feel it in our bones. It worked. Oh, of course, it's not like we could've appreciated every nuance of it at such a young age, but by Jove, it worked. The Life of Brian was first. Then The Holy Grail. Everything else followed. And that, dear reader, is how I was shoved, face first, into the world of British Comedy.
I am not going to bore you with my entire life story, but the essence is I love it. The dry wit, the deadpan, the obvious yet elusive punchlines. It's an abstract approach mixed with deadly seriousness of the direct smack to the face with pure silliness. No wonder THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! is such a funny little game. I am not exactly a specialist on the British culture, but I've been told that this branch of humor, this not-too-subtle parody of accents, lingo and behaviors stems from the Northern part of the island? So be it. I'd laugh all the same!
You're a traveling salesman, sent by your boss to the little town of Barnsworth. Your goal? Meet the Mayor and cut a deal. Simple enough for such an industrious little man! The town, however, is a bit zany. Maybe even wacky. Possibly even loony. The colorful cast of its inhabitants are all having their daily struggles, and those struggles are pretty darn funny to observe... and interact with! Because, as it turns out, the Mayor is too busy to see you at the moment, which means you can kill time wandering around the town. And, for reasons unspecified, you're being gently pushed to offer your aid to, well... Everyone. And so your romp around the little tasks commences - fetching items, fixing store shelves right proppa, mowin' the lawn, and the such. Mincin' meat, shopping with the rats, going underground behind a chippy, you name it.
The whole adventure is pretty short and smartly linear. By that I mean that the game has a subtle, gentle way of guiding you between locations in a pretty well-thought-out manner, always giving you space and time to faff about and have your fun. Smack anything with your mitten to show it what's what. Talk to strangers and learn about their goofiness. Jump around, and make a mess. The developers called the game 'slapformer', because you do some light platforming and slap everything. It's a pretty good descriptor.
The game is gorgeous. Fully hand-drawn and animated, every scene is packed with funny little details to find out. Every character is different and has little animations to add life and quirkiness to the unfolding wackiness. Our protagonist might be tiny (and often his scale changes depending on the context, a peculiar superpower), but is made of some real stern stuff, as he will constantly meet hard objects with his noggin to little detrimental effect. Everyone we meet is fully voice-acted, and it is a pleasure to bask in the accents, the goofy voices, the sheer outrageous nonsense they spit out here and there. It's great fun, through and through.
One of the greatest powers of this game is how it handles backtracking. Because, oh boy, there's a lot of it here. There are only a few scenes we go through, back and forth, as the slightly loony town of Bansworth opens up. But the developers made a few brilliant choices how to make this chore into pure delight. First, there's always something new on the scene. The little town is very much alive, the wacky inhabitants shift to new places and talk new nonsense. But most of all, there are unfurling jokes, straight from the books of Pythonesque comedy, which unfold over time in certain locations... Or even follow us around. This makes even the little transitory screens a cumulative effort to deliver a joke, some sort of visual, slapstick punchline. Some others thrive on repetition - and your observation to witness the changes that grow more and more hilariously outrageous. It's pretty reyt, I'm telling you.
I'll admit that the game comedy wasn't a riot through and through as some other reviews I read claimed it to be. Of course, humor is one of those extremely subjective things, but I wasn't tossed into throes of chuckles at every corner. Sure, there were a few guffaws and a lot of little acknowledgments to gentle displays of humorous details. Those, I think, are the best parts of the game - the little signs, the tiny nods, the tidbits of silly conversations. It might not be sketch after sketch, but it builds this whimsical atmosphere of something unreal, funny, and a bit eerie in its lightheartedness. What I certainly appreciated were the occasional and sudden changes in tone! The whiplash they gave me was very real and most enjoyable - I don't want to spoil anything from such a short romp, but be prepared for some quite unexpected imagery and swings in mood, I can tell you that much.
To sum it all up - THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! is a pretty great tiny game. A comedic adventure you can devour in a single sitting, which, to be honest, seems like the intended way to enjoy it. It almost plays like a movie then, and these long-winded jokes that require multiple loops to land do shine then. Need a laugh? Play it now!
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