Dispatch Review: AdHoc Studio's Crowd-Pleasing Superhero Story Is a Soaring Success

Telltale Games occupies a venerable space in gaming. Very few developers get the chance to make something that pushes the entire medium into interesting new directions. Telltale was one of them. Point-and-click adventures are some of the oldest kinds of games that exist, but the erstwhile studio's trademark adventure titles brought deeper, more flexible episodic narratives that prioritised player choice without sacrificing poignant, cinematic storytelling. Video games turned prestige TV.

So, when Telltale closed in 2018 and its name and properties were sold for parts, the games medium lost a unique developer. In the time since, many have tried to make Telltale-style narrative adventure games. Very few have succeeded. And fewer have found the right balance between player interactivity and story presentation (the Life is Strange series from Don't Nod and Deck Nine is a personal favourite).

Dispatch, the new episodic superhero adventure game from AdHoc Studio, has Telltale's trademark touch. The game, which finished its run of eight episodes on November 12, presents itself, essentially, as a season of an interactive animated TV series that follows a group of superheroes and their interpersonal relationships. AdHoc calls it superhero workplace comedy — think Invincible or One Punch Man meets The Office, except the player takes the decisions and guides the story to one of its several possible endings.

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Structurally, Dispatch isn't a lot different from other narrative adventure games, but AdHoc's slick execution distinguishes it from its peers. The game tells an excellent story brimming with interesting characters and unpredictable turns; it is animated gloriously, bringing striking character designs to life in ways that would make actual animated TV shows pale in comparison; and Dispatch is voiced and scored evocatively, adding to the emotion of the scene at every step of the way.

On the margins of its narrative thrust, Dispatch is also a very fun and engaging strategy game where you manage a team of belligerent superheroes and dispatch them to put out various fires — both metaphorical and literal — across the city. All these moving parts are assembled and paced in a near seamless eight-episode package that is, at once, one of the best games of the year and one of the best TV shows of the year. And it's no surprise that AdHoc Studio's debut game reaches that high bar of quality and clears it, because AdHoc was co-founded by Telltale alumni.

Aaron Paul voices Robert Robertson/ Mecha Man
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio

Dispatch tells the story of Robert "Robbie" Robertson, a regular guy who has no inherent powers but moonlights as Mecha Man, a mech superhero persona that has stayed in his family for three generations. Robert, whose alliterative name is a cheeky nod to a genre tradition (Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Wade Wilson, Reed Richards, Stephen Strange, Scott Summers... the list is endless), inherited the Mecha Man suit from his father, who was killed in the line of duty.

The game starts off with Robert/Mecha Man on the hunt for his father's killers, the infamous supervillain gang Red Ring and its leader, Shroud. Working off a lead, Mecha Man finds himself lured into an ambush and is attacked by the Red Ring. Shroud is after the Astral Pulse, the technology that powers the Mecha Man suit. Robert escapes — barely — and survives, but the suit is destroyed in the process, leaving him without powers and purpose.

Dispatch, in essence, begins here. It's a compelling setup that instantly endears the protagonist to players. Robert is lost and adrift, Mecha Man is dead, and Shroud is the wind. But a second chance comes along when he is approached by Blonde Blazer, a mighty superhero, to work for Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) as a dispatcher. Robert has no powers now, but he has a wealth of experience being a hero. At SDN, he could lead an upstart team of villains-turned superheroes and marshal a bit of discipline and camaraderie among their ranks.

Robert's Mecha Man suit is destroyed early in the game
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio/ Screenshot - Manas Mitul

Robert accepts the offer and SDN promises to help him fix the Mecha Man suit in exchange. This is where the workplace in the workplace comedy comes in. The former superhero, his real identity still a secret, is thrown head first into the deep end of managing a menagerie of misfits — the Z-team. As Robert, you slowly get to know your team, recognise its faultlines, and work towards turning it into a cohesive unit.

Dispatch succeeds in making each hero a flawed but ultimately likeable character. They all come with their own baggage; they each have gaping flaws; and they're yet to learn the first thing about heroism. But they're all so colourful, distinct, funny, charismatic, charming, mean, and petty in their own ways. AdHoc brings real, rounded personalities to members of the Z-team. Even though the characters embody a few genre cliches, they don't feel like a pastiche of popular comic book superheroes. They feel like people: sometimes funny, often messy, and always interesting.

Robert is hired by Blonde Blazer to work for Superhero Dispatch Network
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio/ Screenshot - Manas Mitul

Take for instance, Sonar, voiced by popular YouTuber MoistCr1TiKaL, a super-intelligent man/bat hybrid who is also — he'll remind you often — a Harvard graduate. He turns from brains to brawn when he fully transforms into a massive bat creature. While he's not one of the central characters, his dry humour and frat boy lifestyle bring a unique dynamic to the Z-team. Malevola is a giant sword wielding sexy demoness who can create portals and charm the pants off anyone. And Punch-Up is a short, stocky Irish carnival strongman who gave up half his height to acquire the strength of ten men.

The supporting cast of heroes is colourful, but the leading characters shine in Dispatch. Chase, voiced by Jeffrey Wright, is a former superhero, Track Star, who was a mentor to Robert growing up and now works at SDN. He becomes Robert's confidant at his new workplace, someone to reminisce with about old times and seek pointers on managing the Z-team. Blonde Blazer, voiced by Erin Yvette, is the all-seeing guardian at SDN and a friend to Robert. Based on player choices, their relationship can develop into something more than strictly professional.

And then there's Invisigal, voiced by Laura Bailey. She's the most difficult and combative member of the Z-team. Invisigal refuses to work as part of a team and prefers her own instincts over taking orders. Her relationship with Robert starts out frosty, but can give way to a genuine likeness and understanding of each other with a bit of trust.

Blonde Blazer and Chase ease Robert into his new job at SDN
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio

The star of the show (and the game), of course, is Robert himself, voiced by Aaron Paul. The Breaking Bad actor lends great depth to a character who appears rather flat on the page. Robert, who has only ever known himself as Mecha Man, now finds himself unsure of who he is without the suit. His inherited identity and trauma define him, but the new job at SDN puts him in a position where he is Robert, the annoying desk dispatcher, not Mecha Man, the famous superhero. As Robert, you get to understand each Z-team member, set rigorous standards, and stitch together a group that could one day be more than just a working superhero squad.

Just like older Telltale games, player choices guide the story and reveal more about each character. Dispatch presents frequent dialogue trees that require you to make decisions both big and small. Some of them, occurring at crucial junctures in the story, could end up defining Robert's relationship with a character or affect the ending; others could set the tone for team's next hang. AdHoc Studio succeeds in crafting a narrative that feels flexible and player-driven without losing cinematic appeal.

The Z-team is full of misfit villains turned superheroes
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio

Dispatch's story also takes more of a spotlight because it is very light on gameplay. The adventure game just about ticks enough boxes to qualify as game. Older Telltale games weren't mechanically deep either, but you could always move around in a defined space, interact with other characters and objects, discover hidden collectibles, and solve puzzles. But in Dispatch, you don't control Robert beyond his choices. The game largely plays out as an interactive animated series.

But AdHoc does try to infuse some gameplay in the shape of actual dispatching. As one of the SDN dispatchers, you get to manage your roster of Z-team heroes and assign them to various crimes and events in the city. Each hero comes with a set of base stats and abilities that make them better suited to specific incidents. Sonar's intelligence would be best for a bomb scare where he can locate and defuse the threat; Punch-Up's strength would be ideal for busting up a gang; and Prism's charisma would be best suited to handle a situation without getting into a fight.

Dispatch's story plays out through dialogue trees and player choices
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio

Dispatch lets you decide how to team up heroes for specific crimes and events to maximise the chances of success. The combined stats of you hero team, split across Combat, Vigor, Mobility, Charisma, and Intellect, form a pentagon of abilities that is then superimposed over a separate pentagon of ability requirements of a particular task. The more area you end up covering with your heroes' combined ability pentagon, the larger the chance of succeeding.

Dispatching can get quite intense, too. Heroes take a certain amount of time to reach the area of interest, tackle the situation, return, and then rest. So, once a hero is dispatched, they are unavailable for their next assignment for a set amount of time. And during a busy shift, it can get tricky to juggle heroes, rest time, and assignments while ensuring success. Dispatch also throws a few hacking challenges which you must solve from your desk as Robbie. These start off simple, but escalate in difficulty over episodes, adding more tension to the gameplay.

Dispatch's gameplay is a mix of resource management and strategy
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio

AdHoc does well to integrate the gameplay elements into the larger story, but Dispatch would have benefited from greater gameplay depth. Even within the narrative genre, the game's interactive elements remain sparse. There's little to engage players here beyond the excellent story and characters, and if you're someone who prefers mechanical depth over narrative chops, then this might not be the game for you. The game also features quick time events during action sequences for a bit more interactivity, but you can turn these off in settings for a more cinematic experience.

Dispatch also doesn't allow player freedom beyond story choices. You can't choose to talk more to a certain hero and learn about them. Consequently, the spotlight of the story falls largely on the four leading characters. Beyond Robert, Invisigal, Blonde Blazer, and Chase, little attention is given to the supporting heroes, even though each of them stand out in their distinct ways. Perhaps AdHoc can expand on other characters and their stories in a future expansion or a second season sequel, if that happens.

But limiting gameplay depth allows the developer to focus on visual presentation. Dispatch is a beautiful piece of media. The animations are detailed, character designs are bold and beautiful, and story scenes are stitched together in striking ways. There are a few action sequences in Dispatch that are cut together with such flair that you can't help but go “okay, that was cool.” Dispatch is action-packed — it's a game about superheroes. But it is also funny, tender, and sexy. There are moments of quiet reflection and genuine connection between heroes that are handled with earnest and mature hands.

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Dispatch features striking animation and character designs
Photo Credit: AdHoc Studio

Despite its triumphant storytelling, Dispatch is a game with modest ambitions. And while that doesn't take away from the experience, it does limit the size of the game's ability pentagon, so to speak. With a broader attention on its supporting cast of characters and stronger gameplay elements, Dispatch could have been more than what it is. But that's okay, because it's still, simply put, pretty great. With its likeable heroes, evocative presentation, and crowd-pleasing story, AdHoc's new game captures the best of older Telltale titles.

Excellent voice work and animation shine in Dispatch, but its gameplay, while sparse, adds the workplace tension to the workplace comedy. The choice-based story also opens the door to multiple playthroughs. There are more narrative-based adventure games today than there were during Telltale Games' heyday, but Dispatch manages to distinguish itself from the crowd. That's the sign of a true hero.

Note: Dispatch was reviewed on rig provided by CyberpowerPC India with 13th Gen Intel Core i5-13400F processor, 16GB DDR5 RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, and 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD.