JoeGames

In October of 2025 Dispatch captivated audiences with its deep narrative, witty writing, and fun superhero theme. The overwhelmingly positive critical responses to it were unsurprising, given the fact that its developing team, Adhoc Studio is composed of veterans from the original Telltale Games. The studio which revolutionized narrative simulation games with titles like The Walking Dead, and The Wolf Among Us, before tragically closing down in 2018.

Since then, great games like Detroit: Become Human have showcased the potential of narrative simulation games but have been unable to become a pop-cultural phenomenon like The Walking Dead did 14 years ago. Thankfully, Dispatch has shirked this trend by delivering a commercial and critical success that proves the episodic narrative simulation genre still deserves a place in the modern gaming landscape. Dispatch‘s memorable characters, excellent music, and wonderful story result in one of the greatest superhero games to date, despite a complete absence of traditional combat.

*Aaron Paul (left) is joined by a star-studded cast of voice actors including Jeffrey Wright as Track Star (right) and Laura Bailey as Invisigal.

Dispatch follows Robert Robertson (voiced by Aaron Paul), a recently sidelined superhero who is recruited by the Superhero Dispatch Network to become an agent and support other heroes from behind a desk. Robert is placed in charge of a ragtag group of reformed supervillains called the Z-team who must learn to work together and become a real superhero team. The majority of gameplay follows narrative sections where you make decisions for Robert’s interactions with other characters. The rest is divided into the dispatch minigame in which you send Z-team members to help people around the city or solve puzzles to support them from afar.

Initially this villains turned good premise seems a bit formulaic. The team is composed of 8 members including an invisible girl who just wants to be understood; a man with fire powers who is a bit of a hot head; and a standoffish, brooding assassin. This crew and Robert are joined by spoofs of Wonder Woman, Superman, and the Flash (Blonde Blazer, Phenomaman, and Track Star respectively,) who also work for the Superhero Dispatch Network. One after another these characters subvert our expectations of them and transform from caricatures of comic book trends into extremely compelling, thoughtful individuals.

*Phenomaman during one of his lower moments…

Phenomaman initially comes across as nothing more than a typical golden boy hero who might go bad if you make the wrong decision. Avoiding spoilers, he ends up becoming a very minor character who leaves his mark through bleak, excellent humor and a misunderstanding of human social norms, rather than his awesome power. Invisigal certainly plays into the rebellious, misunderstood, loner archetype but the way your choices influence her story is unpredictable and constantly affects other facets of the story. The amount of choice in these interactions makes every decision feel weighty and important, affecting each character’s development and relationship with Robert.

Elements of narrative choice make these characters stand out but it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t propped up by an excellent script and elite voice acting that makes each of them come alive. Paul’s performance as Robert is intense but grounded, effortlessly alternating between dry humor and emotional vulnerability. Jeffrey Wright as Chase, and Laura Bailey as Invisigal stand out but the same is true for all of the other characters, none of whom feel one- dimensional or dull. The humor is often crass but it’s also clever and by the end of the roughly nine-hour campaign you have a real sense of what makes each character laugh or tick. This is an impressive ensemble, and their banter never gets old.

*THOT SQUAD’s performance as Prism is excellent and the song “Hoes Depressed” she performs in chapter 5 is one of the catchier songs on the soundtrack.

This excellent characterization and world-building is further bolstered by a great visual style and groovy soundtrack that dances between a litany of genres. Even with so many great performances the music is the clearest way that the game delivers emotional beats. The art style isn’t as extraordinary as the music but is still stylish. Each character is unique with a memorable design from the glitzy influencer Prism to the pitiful, perpetually soaked Water Boy. Action scenes and character movements look fluid and intense while maintaining a cartoonish charm.

When all of these things are put together it results in a really fascinating story that should stand alongside TV juggernauts like Invincible, X Men 97, or The Boys when debating the best episodic superhero story. Making decisions consistently alters the plot and can shift the story from romantic to dramatic to comedic and back again. Even after completing the story once, my second playthrough had plenty of unexpected moments. Without delving into specifics this is a story that will make you laugh, make you cry, and will constantly keep you glued to the screen.

*Robert’s relationship with Invisigal is one of the more compelling stories available in Dispatch. Make sure to be a good mentor!

The same is true for the puzzles and the Dispatch minigame. The puzzles are not complicated, but they are often timed and failing to complete them can have negative consequences for the story or the minigame. The minigame itself is superb and consists of upgrading Z-team members and sending them around the city to solve various problems. Each of them has unique powers and different strengths and weaknesses for going into the field. They also have favored allies and sending out these pairs can give synergistic boosts to their performances. The minigame is entertaining but really stands out because of its relationship to the story.

*TIP: The dispatch minigame revolves around assigning heroes to accomplish tasks. In this case the task required high levels of vigor and mobility so using Waterboy and Flambae was a good combo. Try to build a team that covers each other’s weaknesses and takes advantage of character synergies.

Early on the story forces you to cut one member of the Z-team. This is a difficult decision and affects everything that comes afterward, including how the team performs in the minigame. Choices like this happen a few more times and give the minigame a static nature that prevents it from ever getting stale. Anytime I had an opportunity to play I was excited to improve my team and try to get a perfect score. This is a thoroughly entertaining aside from the rest of the game and could probably be a stand-alone title if more features were added.

If anything, Dispatch‘s main problem is that there isn’t enough of it. The story is excellent, but it is finished after nine hours and there isn’t much to do afterwards besides replaying it. The menu makes it easy to check where you made pivotal decisions so if you don’t want to do an entirely new playthrough you can jump into select scenes to see the effects of a few decisions. Still, it’s a shame that there isn’t more Dispatch to play and having some sort of endless mode for the minigame would have been a welcome decision. There have been talks of a season 2 sometime in the future and, if that is the case, hopefully they will add some more ways of exploring this world.

*Every game needs a cute mascot, and Dispatch doesn’t disappoint with Robert’s dog Beef.

Dispatch proves that narrative simulation games are back and better than ever. There are more memorable characters than I can count, brought to life by excellent performances, an unforgettable soundtrack, and a script that keeps on giving. The minigame is addictive, good old-fashioned fun with enough challenge to keep you on your toes. Narrative choices feel meaningful and never fail to deliver a poignant, enthralling story. Regardless of its lack of traditional gameplay and short runtime, this is a wonderful video game whose legacy will leave a phenomamark (to borrow a punny quip from the game) on the industry.

Scoring Rubric

Category:	Score:
Story	23/25
Gameplay (making choices, puzzles, minigame)	13/15
Characters	10/10
Music	10/10
Visual Artistry	8/10
Voice Acting	10/10
Quality of Life	9/10
Replayability	7/10

Check out the Scoring Methodology (100-point scale) here.