I think a lot of Dispatch can be boiled down to one moment early in the game when the player comes face to face with a penis. There it is, visibly dangling between the legs of the naked, toxic-infused supervillain you're about to fight. The camera practically focuses on him. You won't be able to miss it unless you turn off the nudity switch, in which case it's replaced by an even more visible black box that only adds to the naughtiness of that part hidden inside. But most people don't give up nudity because they're expecting boobs. This is what we usually see. In Dispatch, however, what we see on our screens is a penis that inevitably jiggles.
By the way, it's a “100% meta joke” to confuse people with a nude slider and then show them a penis. This is what director-producer Pierre Chorette recently told me in an interview. He said: “Being able to see streams where people leave it on and then they're like, 'What the hell!' and excitedly press pause and turn on the censors again: this is very funny. People don't feel comfortable around dicks.” And while it's a crude joke, it shows how Dispatch pushes boundaries to do things differently.
Here's another example, and I'm sorry if it ruined another moment for you, but again, it's taken from the very beginning of the game and doesn't really matter. So: the game has a superhero named Phenomenon, who is clearly modeled after Superman – a being from another planet who is endowed with extraordinary powers such as super strength, speed and flight, and who seems invincible – and you have just kissed his ex-girlfriend and are telling him about this fact. Risky situation. He's depressed and can crush you like a bug, and not a hardy bug at that. Then you confess and prepare for the worst. But Phenomena doesn't do what such a character would probably do in 99 percent of similar stories. No confrontation. Instead he kisses you. He comes right up to you and kisses you. I don't want to say why in order to preserve some mystery around it, but the reasoning is completely unexpected and inspired – two words I would use to describe a lot of Dispatch.
But crossing boundaries goes beyond simply surprising players. There's a quality step here that brings the writing and presentation closer to what you might expect from an animated TV show, with modern, naturalistic dialogue that sizzles around and sparkles with wit. The scenes feel as if they have been rehearsed a hundred times to take advantage of every available opportunity for jokes and dramatic set-pieces. There's a grace to Dispatch that I find irresistible. Moreover, there is a game here. People often refer to these types of experiences as interactive television, and well, that's basically the area of the game we're in. But there's the point: the layer of strategic puzzles, the literal dispatch – sending a team of heroes on missions – that consumed me for hours as I tried to level up and discover new synergistic character combinations.
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Describing Dispatch in familiar gaming terms won't do any good. Telling someone, “It's an episodic Telltale-style series about superheroes who work in an office,” will sound dull and boring. And this is far from true. These are game components, but what makes Dispatch so amazing, full of inspiration, colorful and interesting is the way it was brought to life. The craftsmanship of this is impeccable. Humor flowed through him. This is the game's desire for surprises and the subsequent joy of surprises. Dispatch is a prismatic burst of entertainment that I have no hesitation in recommending to anyone I know, gaming savvy or not, to show them what gaming can do.
This article is part of our final series, Games of 2025, where we highlight great moments, great games, and our personal favorites of the year. You can read more in our Hub “Games 2025”. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
