The First Two Episodes of Dispatch Have Me Thoroughly Hooked

I’ve always been a huge fan of Telltale Games. I played my first, The Walking Dead, back in 2012 in my tiny dorm room with my friends watching me and begging me to make certain choices to influence the story. And since then, I believe that many other titles have been influenced by Telltale Games’ style and success. 

The newest chapter in the Telltale-style book is Dispatch from AdHoc Studio which is actually made up of veterans from Telltale Games, Ubisoft and Night School Studio and they are partnered with the team at Critical Role. The series will be launching episodically for the next three weeks with two episodes releasing per week. The first two episodes launched this week and have made possibly the best impression it possibly could have. 

In the game, you play as Robert Robertson also known as the superhero Mecha Man. Unfortunately, without his suit, Robert is just Robert and after a run in with the supervillain who killed his father, the Mecha Man suit is destroyed leaving Robert wondering what he should do next and even who he is without the suit. 

In episode one, Robert meets Blonde Blazer, a member of SDN - the superhero dispatch network - an organization that utilizes heroes to help fight crime for their subscribers. Blazer recruits Robert to be a new dispatcher, helping to form supervillains into new heroes. Episode two sees Robert on his first day, acclimating to the difficult job ahead. 

Dispatch is heavily focused on the story with characters making dialogue choices for Robert that will affect how others respond and how certain parts of future episodes will go. There are also QTEs (Quick Time Events) that allow players to participate in the game, but this can be toggled off if you’d prefer a more cinematic experience. There are also moments where the player will need to complete hacking puzzles, something Robert excels in. Not only that, but the game features a unique mini-game, the hero deployment program, where they’ll complete their dispatcher work. 

When you’re in the dispatcher deployment screen, SDN subscribers will send out missions that they’ll need a hero's help with. Each of your heroes comes with their own unique set of personality traits, strengths and weaknesses and each situation requires a particular set of skills. A child’s balloon is stuck in a tree? You probably don’t want to send the prickly hero Flambe who might scare the kid, instead send Punch Up, the charismatic hero who will likely handle the situation better.  Sending the right hero for the job means more chance of success and the ability to level up your team to increase their skills. 

Dispatch features an incredible roster of voice actors that truly bring the game to life including: Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey, Erin Yvette, Jacksepticeye, Travis Willingham, Alanah Pearce, Joel Haver, Matthew Mercer and many more. 

I can’t think of a single negative thing to say about the first two episodes of Dispatch. I am thoroughly impressed with the immersive world that AdHoc has created and the way that they’ve managed to hone the classic Telltale formula. Future episodes will release two at a time each week for the next three weeks. That means we only have to wait until October 29th for the next two episodes. Dispatch is available now on PC and PlayStation 5. Players that purchase the game will receive all subsequent episodes for free as they become available.