One of the more unique surprises announced during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live 2023 showcase, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a new indie title being published by Panic Inc. – the folks who bankrolled Untitled Goose Game and Firewatch and brought us that quirky little Playdate device.
The trailer for Thank Goodness You’re Here! quickly caught my attention in the barely-morning Aussie hours that Geoff Keighley’s trailerpalooza ran across with its absurd, cartoonish visuals and what I thought was Matt Berry talking to me through my computer immediately waking me from my semi-lucid state. I don’t think it’s Matt Berry, but this game definitely looks British enough to feature him.
The official description calls Thank Goodness You’re Here! a “slapformer,” and kind of paints a picture of something not all that dissimilar from Untitled Goose Game in its bare premise of causing mischief in an unassuming community but also unlike anything I think I’ve seen before:
“After arriving early for a big meeting with the mayor of a bizarre Northern English town, a traveling salesman takes the time to explore and meet the locals, who are all very eager to give him a series of increasingly odd jobs… 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.”
Check out the trailer for Thank Goodness You’re Here! blow, complete with musical numbers, beans, meat, sticky-out ears, giant tomatoes, hoses, fart noises and every other back-of-the-box feature you’d expect. It’s coming to PS5, Switch and PC some time in 2024.
