68) Dispatch (2025)

Founded by industry veterans from Telltale Games, Ubisoft, and Night School Studio in 2018, following the rather sudden closure of Telltale Games, AdHoc Studio partnered with Critical Role Productions to create a workplace comedy game focused on superheroes. The original concept was meant to be a live action production inspired by, of all things, ESPN's "This is SportsCenter" commercials, though the idea was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Revived in the form of a video game, it was released episoidically on PS5 and Windows throughout October and November of 2025.

Featuring the voice talents of Critical Role's Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, and Matt Mercer, themselves veteran voice actors, as well as actor Aaron Paul and content creators such as jacksepticeye and MoistCr1TiKaL, the game plays largely like other games made by Telltale Games. Each episode plays mostly like a scripted animated show with quick time events and dialogue options appearing throughout, allowing the player to choose how the story unfolds. In addition, players get to engage in being a dispatcher for a superhero themed security company, responding to calls by sending out team members we feel best suits the given dilemma. Each episode includes a title card moment, as well as credits, during which we get a breakdown of how our choices compare to others who have played.

Our story begins as Robert Robertson, better known as Mecha Man, attempts to infiltrate and take out the organization that killed his father, the previous Mecha Man. After things go sideways, we barely survive as our armored suit, the only real source of Robert's powers, explodes. After nearly dying, Robert holds a press conference to announce his retirement. We discover that the title and suit has been handed down for generations and funded entirely by the family's personal wealth, which has been depleted. Afterwards, we attempt to stop a robbery, being saved by a super powered hero known as Blonde Blazer. After a bit of awkward (maybe) flirting, she offers us the aforementioned dispatch job.

Accepting the job, we're introduced to the controls and expectations before reporting for our first day. Here, we get more of the awkward flirting with Blonde Blazer, but we're also introduced to another character known as Invisigal, who uses her invisibility powers to sneak a peak and learn our secret identity. Where Blonde Blazer is, for the most part, polite and professional, Invisigal is brash, disrespectful, and more than a little off color. It becomes apparent that one of the major choices we get to make as a player is which of these two super powered women we get to pursue romantically.

We're placed in charge of dispatch for the Z-Team, a group of former villains trying to turn over a new leaf through the Phoenix Program. Our group of misfits starts off as unruly slackers consistently at the bottom of the ranks. It's our job to turn this motley crew around, and they sure as hell don't make it easy for us. Each episode follows the diamond shaped approach to storytelling, giving us a clear beginning and end point, but allowing us to explore options in the middle. There are a few big decisions that will have major ramifications on the overall plot, but each episode is mostly self contained.

While I found the dialogue and characters to be refreshingly well written, the overall plot suffers from more than a little predictability. Narrative elements are introduced with blindingly obvious implications, and little work is done to subvert expectations of the genre. My biggest narrative complaints are mainly focused on the story's villain, who comes off mysterious and chilling initially, but with motivations that make little sense and is made to seem smarter than they actually end up being. Still, the interactions with the Z-Team, their banter with Robert and each other, as well the small slice of life moments we see come off as fun, real, and flawless in execution.

Of special note, the music in the game is always a delight, and the voice acting is outstanding. That's no surprise from industry veterans, but Aaron Paul continues to impress with his phenomenal voice work, doing a wonderful job of bringing Robert to life. Even content creators, usually cringe worthy in their inclusion, feel right at home alongside the big names of the industry. It says a lot that I can't think of a single bad performance in the cast.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time with Dispatch, and the episodic nature allowed for natural stopping points and included more than a few cliffhanger moments. The biggest narrative problems mostly boil down to the absolute over-saturation of super hero media over the past few decades, with every conceivable subversion and meta analysis breakdown of the genre having been played to death. On its own merits, Dispatch is a fun and engaging experience featuring fun characters and more than a few hard choices. While I might take issue with certain elements of the story and how certain decisions ultimately play out, I can't deny the love and care that shines through every aspect of the game. While the plot may be predictable or forgettable at times, the cast is lovable, memorable, and fun to interact with. So much so that, at the end, I was more than a little sad to see my time with them come to an end, and I can only wait in anticipation for what AdHoc Studio does next.