Panic reveals Thank Goodness You’re Here, a ‘comedy slapformer’ set in northern England

The game’s fictional town of Barnsworth is inspired by the Beano comic

Panic has announced Thank Goodness You’re Here, a “comedy slapformer” set in the fictional northern English town of Barnsworth.

Created by Coal Supper – a two-man team consisting of long-time friends Will Todd and James Carbutt – the game is “a delightfully surreal homage” to their own northern hometown.

“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,” the game’s description reads.

“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.”

Coal Supper had previously released free Steam game The Good Time Garden in 2019, then approached Panic to pitch their second game.

“With our first game, we basically followed our noses as far as a shoestring budget and our spare time would allow, so it’s been an amazing opportunity to run down that rabbit hole with Panic behind us, and we’re excited to show the world what we’ve found at the bottom,” the pair said in a statement.

“Coal Supper cold call emailed us a couple years ago, and we’ve rarely been so immediately smitten with a pitch,” Panic’s head of publishing Nick Suttner added.

“We played The Good Time Garden just to be sure, and quickly confirmed that we were all in on seeing what these perverse geniuses would do with the support to make their first full-scale console game. And we’re oozing with excitement to share it with the world.”

The game will be released on Switch, PS5 and PC in 2024.