If you’re not already playing Dispatch, you absolutely must change that; it’s undoubtedly a late stage GOTY contender and every one I’ve thus far convinced to play it agrees. If this is the first you’re hearing of the title, it’s the debut game from AdHoc Studio, a team comprising former Telltale Games developers. The “superhero workplace comedy” intersperses its choice-based narrative with puzzle-solving and management-inspired gameplay.
Players assume the role of Robert Robertson, also known as Mecha Man, who finds himself working as a dispatcher at SDN, the Superhero Dispatch Network, after his suit is destroyed. There, he’s put in charge of the Z-Team where he must make heroes out of a ragtag group of former villains. Following in the Telltale tradition, Dispatch is being released episodically, with Episodes One through to Six now readily available, with Dispatch concluding next week when Episode Seven and Eight drop on 12 November.
If you hadn’t guessed, all episodes to date have landed a perfect score of 10 from myself. In GAMINGbible’s initial review, I said, “Dispatch boasts engaging storytelling, amusing humour, perfect cast performances, and beautiful animation, all backed up by a unique and compelling gameplay system that allows the experience to sing. This is shaping up to be one of the best games I’ve ever played.”
Dispatch has one of the best ensemble performances I’ve seen in a long time
It’s to my delight then that I recently had the opportunity to sit down with several members of the game’s cast, namely Laura Bailey (Invisigal), Erin Yvette (Blonde Blazer), Joel Haver (Waterboy), Fahim Anwar / Lance Cantstopolis (Flambae), Alanah Pearce (Malevola), Mayanna Berrin (Coupe), and Thot Squad (Prism), and I began our conversation by enquiring about how collaborative of a process the formation of these characters was because upon meeting the cast, it’s clear that AdHoc struck gold.
“I feel like you guys brought a lot to your characters,” Mayanna began, who also serves as a writer on the game, speaking to Alanah and Thot. “You know, there was dialogue there, but without that extra texture of just bringing yourselves and your personalities to it. I think that it added that extra dimensionality to all of [the characters].”
“The writing in this game is so good without any of our input. I speak for myself, I guess. Without any of my input, it was brilliant,” Alanah said. “You walk in and you’re like, ‘Oh great, this is amazing.’ My job’s really easy because it’s so well written and it’s so natural and it’s so funny and it’s so deep as well.”
She continued, “But I think that you can’t really sell a character without finding, you know, the truth of who they are, and the easiest way to do that is to find an experience that you relate to that you can pull from that you can put into that character. […] The AdHoc team was also so encouraging about us making some things our own and, you know, making sure that we felt comfortable saying certain lines or letting us change them if they didn’t feel right coming out of our mouths. So, I think top to bottom, it’s just a really collaborative creative project across the board, and I think that really shows in pretty much every piece of it.”
“Every single person was hand-picked for what they could bring to the game,” Thot added. “And I won’t say the role, I’ll say the game, because there are some people who started out as one character and ended up being another character, but they still brought something to the game. […] Just playing the first few episodes, I’m like, ‘Jesus, it’s so perfect.’”
“We’re just incredible people, you know, and then casting was good at recognising that,” Lance joked. “I mean, honestly, I think they’re good at plugging and playing because you have super talented voice actors who have crazy resumes. The deeper I got into the project, I’m like, ‘Oh, these are like real legit people and like I’m off the street.’ I’m lucky to be a part of it. They do this day in and day out.”
He continued, “I just show up and be me, which is nice, but that showed the vision of the [developers]. They just kind of knew the vibe that they wanted and they plucked people and they trust their vision.”
“I felt immediately kind of connected to my character because he is such a bumbling fool,” Joel told me. “And I played it a little too foolish at first. I brought in all this energy of a dorky, nervous guy. Waterboy, he’s a complete mess of a man. And I’ve felt like a complete mess of a man many times, maybe perhaps even today at some point.”
“You’ve been good. I’ve been watching. You’re killing it,” Lance interjected.
“I think that relatability of just social awkwardness and overthinking is relatable to anyone,” Joel continued. “Perhaps maybe not you,” he added to Lance.
“When I was a child, but I overcame it. Now I have too much the other way. I’m way too confident,” Lance jested.
“They told me to scale it back,” Joel said of Waterboy. “I brought in so much kind of forced awkwardness, and I think I scaled it back to myself. And like you [Lance] said, they love us for who we are and I think they kind of plugged us in. Neither of us, to my knowledge, auditioned. They came to us with these characters in mind.”
“I think earlier in the year, I did send a voice acting audition at some point for a different character, but then they plugged me into this character instead and it felt like a natural fit. I do a lot of awkward comedy on my channel, on my YouTube. I do a lot of stuff that is sort of like stumbling over your words, trying to find the right thing to say and failing, and my character is that embodied in a guy who spits water everywhere.”
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“It’s excellent writing,” Erin responded. “We’ll start there, but Laura and I had a funky journey finding our characters in that. I recorded for Invisigal when they were kind of in the storyboard phase and just trying to pace things out.”
“I was cast as Blonde Blazer and had recorded,” Laura said. “Pierre [Shorette, writer] came to me and he was like, ‘We’re having difficulty finding Invisigal, finding the snark,’ and he’s like, ‘You can be pretty bitchy when you want to be.’”
“He did not say that,” Erin laughed.
“‘You’re good at being bitchy, Laura,’” Laura jested. “No, he’s like, ‘Would you mind, coming over to Invisigal?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, she’s an awesome character. I would love to play Invisigal,’ and then Erin, you were so perfect for Blonde Blazer. You’d already done the vertical slice as Blonde Blazer so my first exposure to the game was hearing Erin as Blonde Blazer. And she had been so excellent from the beginning that it just made perfect sense that you stepped back into that role.”
“A very flip flop, windy road, but ultimately worked out,” Erin agreed.
Can the Z-Team really do good?
As I alluded to earlier, Dispatch sees protagonist Robert tasked with managing a team of former villains. For those who portray members of the Z-Team, I was curious to discover who felt their character had both the capacity and desire to change their nature.
“I did not think of her as being a villain,” Alanah said of Malevola. “I know she’s committed a crime. I think that when you’re playing a character, you just have to see the whole picture of them and you have to find the good parts of them and what inspires them, so in my head, she’s not a villain. She’s a demon. I’m wrong, but you know what I mean?”
“She’s trying. She’s doing her best,” Mayanna replied.
“I think she definitely does want to change,” Alanah added. “I would say that the people around her in this game are part of what’s kind of … I don’t know that softening is the right word, but you see in real time, she gains more empathy and develops these relationships and really cares about things and changes the way that she chooses to express the things that she cares about as that happens.”
“And I think essentially for her, it’s her first time feeling like she has a family, and it’s a very big theme of the game. For Malevola specifically, I would say she does want to be better and the people in this world are inspiring her to do that in real time even more than it’s coming from herself.”
“That’s so well put,” Mayanna said. “I do feel like Coupe is a very lonely person, and I feel like she is probably less convinced that she is able to change, but over the course of time, there’s a choice you can make that will determine whether or not that’s true. She does have the capacity to care about people, but I don’t think she’s been given the opportunity. And so I think if she has the opportunity, I think she does grow to care and warm herself to the rest of the team as well.”
“I think Prism has never been concerned with if a thing is good or evil, and is more concerned with how can a thing get her to where she’s trying to go,” Thot explained. “And so if she breaks the law, is that really what makes you a villain? Or does that just make you a lawbreaker? […] But I think over the course of the experience, she starts liking these guys a little bit, so she wants to, you know, she enjoys their company and wants to at least put in some effort for the team.”
On Flambae, Lance said, “I think it’s in his character just to hold grudges and not let things go. He’s not very easygoing, so a little stubborn, I suppose,” perhaps signifying change is a little tougher.
It’s a slightly different ball game for Waterboy who is most definitely an outlier on the Z-Team, should players choose to recruit him. He isn’t a former villain as is the case for his coworkers. Instead, Waterboy is essentially just a terrible hero, so I was keen to get Joel’s insight on whether Waterboy has the self-belief that he can do something greater.
“That’s a good question cause it’s so hard to feign, a lack of confidence,” Joel began. “As a voice actor, you have to bring so much confidence to something that your character might not believe in. You have to be confidently unconfident, and it’s a weird thing. I think Waterboy fundamentally does not really believe in himself, at least when we meet him in the game.”
“I think he has imposter syndrome being in this office with all these heroes and people he’s heard of on the news and has idolised like Blonde Blazer and Phenomaman. Maybe I won’t go too much into it, but just throughout the game, just like toying with that confidence and allowing him to get closer and open himself up more to the different characters in the game, I think that’s a nice arc of my character to bring to life.”
Invisigal and Blonde Blazer are already fan-favourites
It’s so difficult to choose but Invisigal may just be my favourite character in the game, and it’s perhaps because she reminds me of another favourite character of mine, The Last of Us Part II’s Abby – and no, that’s not because they’re both played by Laura Bailey. I suppose I’m a fan of guarded characters with soft centres.
“Without saying too much, I mean, I think you said it,” Laura told me. “She’s very guarded and she, you know, has her defenses up and that presents itself in a very snarky sort of way, but I think as you play, you realise that she does really want to do good and she just doesn’t know how to allow herself. She doesn’t know how to get out of her own way a lot of the time. Yeah, I love characters that are more than what they appear upon their first impression, so I was thrilled to get to play her.”
Blonde Blazer is undoubtedly the other character vying for my Dispatch top spot. She’s the ‘It Girl’ that’s got it all, perfect looks, a charming personality, incredible powers – and yet, Blonde Blazer isn’t conceited at all. There’s a level of envy but you can’t help but root for her.
“She’s perfect,” Erin began. “But that’s her main struggle, and I think, you know, we never really get to hear her story of how she came to be a superhero or really how she ended up at SDN, but I do think there’s this piece of her that is unfulfilled, with the celebrity, and the expectations around being a superhero. I think she enjoys doing good and likes to feel like she’s making a difference, but there’s something about it all being wrapped up in her performance and her persona and this caricature of herself that she has to put out every day that just feels very heavy.”
She continued, “Why would you take a desk job if you can shoot lasers? I think she’s looking for a sense of control and fulfillment on a really intimate and personal level. And I think that’s why she champions the Z-Team so strongly because she feels this is where she can really make a difference. The Z-Team are kind of the perfect foil unlike Blazer, who has, you know, a strong ethos and respect for the rules. The Z-Team is lacking that, you know, respect for authority, so she has her work cut out for her, but I think that’s what excites her about what she’s doing.”
Dispatch Episodes 1 – 6 are available now on PC via Steam and PS5. The game will conclude on 12 November with Episode 7 and 8.
