In my prior review of Dispatch’s third and fourth episodes, I opened with the following statement, “It’s difficult to continue to heap praise upon something I’ve already outlined as perfection,” and it’s one that remains wholly true. AdHoc Studio’s breakout hit continues to delight with its engaging story whilst simultaneously expanding on its wonderfully moreish gameplay formula. After those initial two episodes dropped, to which I awarded a perfect score of 10, I simply approached the remainder of Dispatch’s first season hoping for more of the same. The fact that it continues to improve week upon week is a true revelation.
To once again recap, Dispatch is a “superhero workplace comedy” from AdHoc Studio, a team made up of former Telltale Games developers. It follows Robert Robertson, also known as Mecha Man, a dispatcher at SDN, the Superhero Dispatch Network, who takes up the role after his suit is destroyed. There, he’s charged with leading the Z-Team to success, notably consisting of former villains. Dispatch intersperses a choice-based narrative with puzzle-solving and management-inspired gameplay.
If you want my thoughts on why Dispatch’s gameplay formula, animation style, cast, and storytelling all excel, I heartily suggest you peruse my review of the game’s opening two episodes. I then turned my attention to praising the levelling up of that gameplay formula in my review of the third and fourth episodes, where AdHoc also upped the ante regarding the impact of your choices as a player.
It’s with that in mind that ahead of playing Dispatch’s fifth and sixth episodes, I thought I might have an uphill battle ahead. Certainly, I suspected I’d heartily enjoy them as I have all episodes to date; AdHoc is yet to do anything to make me anticipate anything other than total excellence. I did, however, wonder how I might praise that excellence in a spoiler-free manner given how much I’ve already covered. Thankfully, it is my personal assessment that Dispatch once again has improved upon its already winning formula making my job that much easier.
Dispatch’s fifth and sixth episodes did feel more fleeting than their predecessors, but I can’t say they packed any less punch – and that sense of fleetingness could be simply linked to how invested I was as the runtime didn’t particularly drop. Once again, the gameplay formula has been intensified, demanding the player develop a mastery of their role as a dispatcher. The calls continued to flood in thick and fast and if you haven’t already, you may during these two episodes, like me, max out the post-dispatching levelling up system unlocking the final help item which allows you to restore a downed hero.
As was the case in the previous two episodes, the frequency at which calls came in meant I had to be careful with how many heroes I sent on a particular call leading to much smaller margins of success that have you watching that pinging cursor with baited breath. Again though, this is where experience comes in. This time around, for example, I’d trained Coupe so that she’d gained the ability to retry a crime upon failing, allowing me to ping for a second chance at success. That’s a tactic that proved endlessly useful when I was short of a hero who ideally fit the bill. With a lower rate of success, that unlocked ability to restore a downed hero came in incredibly handy too.
A new mechanic was also added this time around, one that’ll also factor into determining both the hero and player’s success. Occasionally on the map charting your success rate, a symbol would appear. Fail to cover that symbol with your heroes skills and it could spell danger; alternatively, there was an option where covering a symbol multiplied XP gained from successfully dealing with the call. I was also thrilled to see that the hacking portions of gameplay similarly introduced new challenges.
In the previous two episodes, the intensity of the anti-virus was increased, with the red orbs chasing the player down as you attempt to input or guess the required codes. In this latest round of episodes, the player can actually fight back against said orbs and will, in fact, need to in certain instances if you want to avoid failing. That’s achieved by picking up electrical currents which’ll zap anti-hacking measures away. They’re also used to open up new paths, furthering the level of challenge. Hacking, in my playthrough anyway, played a key role in the conclusion of episode six. I was so incredibly immersed in my assistance that I truly felt the weight of Robert’s duty.
The story also continued to pick up the pace, although episode five in particular left room for several quieter moments, allowing Robert to bond with his team. I want this review, as is the case with my others, to remain spoiler-free. I will highlight that Episode Five featured some incredibly impressive QTE-triggered cuts between two sets of events that I did not see coming. It’s an excellent piece of storytelling. And in Episode Six, the gravity of your decisions is felt beyond anything experienced in the game so far. Suddenly, romance and workplace drama feel like child’s play, especially when matters of life and death begin to arise.
As we head towards Dispatch’s concluding episodes, I am entirely certain that AdHoc will stick the landing. The title continues to prove both its worth and strength with each successive drop. I’ve said it before but Dispatch undoubtedly remains a GOTY contender and I continue to testify that it’s already amongst my favourite games of all-time. If a second season isn’t already in the works, one absolutely should be.
Pros: Ramifications of player’s choices intensifies, both hacking and dispatching gameplay formulas gain subtle new features
Cons: Nothing
For fans of: Life is Strange, The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, The Boys
10/10: Perfect
Dispatch’s first six episodes are now available, with episodes seven and eight arriving on 12 November, on PC (version tested) and PlayStation 5. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.
