Dispatch

Just a note before we begin: this review will be entirely spoiler-free, so if you're steering clear of Twitter and for some reason still want to read impressions before playing for yourself, then you're safe here. This is also the third time I've "reviewed" Dispatch, my other thoughts you can check out here and here.

This review acts in part as an Episode 7 & 8 review, but is more focused on the overall impressions the full season leaves me with. The finale was as super as we'd expect, and while I'm definitely intrigued to see all the different outcomes you can get as the percentage stats at the credits seemed to show entirely different final moments in our stories, I don't have the time to plug away at those until a later date. Dispatch's ending is as grand as you'd expect, and the finale especially does its best to combat the shorter length of previous episodes, throwing you into an epic showdown with the villains you've encountered thus far. It doesn't waste any time in getting started, and that's probably one of the biggest bits of praise I could give to Dispatch.

It really never feels like this game skips a beat. It's so tight that you're left wanting more, which is again a huge strength. Yet, the game's shortness does feel as though it impacts your play at times, especially in earlier episodes and during the episodic release schedule. It can be difficult to throw yourself into a world a week at a time, but when you're in Dispatch, you're fully in. As much as the characters are charming and you're sure to pick a favourite Z-Team member and defend them to the hilt just as much as you picked a favourite Pokémon back in the day, the world of Dispatch is one you're in no hurry to leave, which makes it all the stranger when it feels like the game is trying to kick you out. Just a glimpse, enough to leave you wanting more, which is the desired intent, but I can't help but wonder if another episode, or even an endless mode of the dispatching gameplay, would have been enough to make it feel less of a short experience that wades much more into the TV side of the game/show venn diagram.

I raise the TV point mostly because Dispatch is so popular now there are likely going to be a lot of people thinking about picking it up from the hype and might not be aware the experience they're in for. But, if you want a narrative, choice-based game where your decisions matter, you can't really do better than Dispatch. The player agency on display here is remarkable, where your choices will not only come back at a later date, but they can be built upon with other nuanced decisions that make you feel like you're building your own canon even if the credits then tell you 56% of players actually did the exact same thing. It's a great benefit that Dispatch never makes you feel like you missed out or got the "bad choice," you just told your story. It's the evolution on the Telltale formula that this genre so sorely needed. It's like if instead of pulling back the curtain to reveal the lowly old wizard, Dorothy instead found a magical man worthy of the title of the Wizard of Oz. While the main narrative will follow the same path no matter what you pick, AdHoc has done a phenomenal job in bringing your version of the story to life, rather than just hiding the paths you take into playing into its own railroaded story.

I've harped on about Dispatch's voice acting, writing, and animation before, and while there are moments in the dialogue that lacked a bit in my taste, once again I'll raise the point of AdHoc going all out with its first project, creating a big budget feel that raises Dispatch to an experience you feel like you have to witness even if it's not in your usual genre. As someone who's grown bored of superheroes as well, and finds shows such as Invincible and The Boys lacking any sort of pull, Dispatch to me feels all the more impressive as a superhero story that remains fresh in perhaps the most saturated sub-genre in media today. It helps that the decision-making allows you to craft the superhero story you want to see. Are you a pure-hearted boy scout or an edgy anti-hero? That's up for you to decide, and the cast does a brilliant job in bringing all versions of Dispatch to life.

Perhaps none do it better than Aaron Paul, though. Robert Robertson walks an almost impossible tightrope. On the one hand, he has to be a bit blank so the player can put themselves in his shoes, but he's anything but bland. There's a great nuance to Robert Paul brings to the role, and much of the reason I find Dispatch too short for my liking is that I wished we could've explored more of his character. Had more quiet moments with Robert, where we're seeing who he is before we decide the person he'll become over the course of this season.

Perhaps we'll start calling these games Dispatch-likes instead of Telltale-likes now. Dispatch takes a great leap above Telltale's former experiences, keeping the strong writing while elevating a sense of player agency and pushing out an incredibly addictive gameplay loop. Dispatch is simply one of the best pure narrative experiences we've had in gaming in years, and it's another game among many that deserves a 2025 GOTY nomination. While its length and TV show ambitions might keep it from a perfect score for me, I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty of 10/10s pop up as more critics conclude their Dispatch journeys. Phenomamal.