We've seen stories built around redemption arcs many times before, and to be honest, I'm a fan of them. A sarcastic villain who, despite his disdain for the law, gets enough sympathy to save the day – what's not to like? After eight episodes full of cliffhangers, plot twists, and patience-testing puzzles, Dispatch has completed its own thoughts on the topic, allowing me to take a more active role in determining which of its strong cast of adorable superheroes deserves a second chance. So it's only fitting that developer AdHoc Studio has similarly revived a style of video games that I feared was falling by the wayside, confidently breathing exciting new life into the interactive storytelling genre.
Dispatch is set in a charmingly quirky Los Angeles, where superpowered beings, aliens, demons, and all sorts of unusual humanoids coexist with ordinary people. As you can imagine, not all gifted beings are benevolent, and many choose (or are forced to lead) mean lives. To help deal with the onslaught of superheroes roaming the streets, an organization called the SDC has stepped in, running an insurance-style racket that allows citizens to pay for the privilege of a powerful watchdog. One of the aforementioned good guys is our shrewd protagonist Robert Robertson, aka Mecha Man, whose heroic aspirations are dashed when an unauthorized explosive renders his suit useless, leaving him with the role of a call center worker at a small SDC branch.
That's not all, however, as due to his lack of powers, Robert is tasked with managing a group of barely reformed villains, lovingly called the Z-Team, whose sarcastic behavior and penchant for violence leave much to be desired. Over the course of Dispatch's roughly eight hours, it's interesting to watch Robert grow from this sudden demotion, experiencing the ups and downs of shift work. I was hooked from start to finish thanks to Dispatch's grounded, witty script and the heartfelt performances of its sizable cast.
Your time with Dispatch is split into two distinct parts: you'll spend most of your time communicating through beautifully animated cutscenes, choosing between fun dialogue options, and completing quick-time events like those seen in The Wolf Among Us or Life is strange row. Certain decisions trigger a heartbreaking “Person X remembered this” notification at the top of the screen, which feels like a refreshing burst of 2025 nostalgia. Not every decision has the impact you'd expect, and more often than not, my choices resulted in unique jokes or funny animations rather than game-changing consequences. However, it is important to note that when the credits finally rolled (avoiding any spoilers), the ending I received was still true to my version of Robert. This suggests something that I would really like to return to to see how other threads of the narrative develop.
The rest of your time is spent working at SDC as a dispatcher, assigning superheroes to various jobs. Using your mouse and your wits, you'll keep an eye on the city map, where timed hazard notifications periodically appear, alerting you to the various tasks the SDC needs to complete efficiently. Each hero under your command has a stat matrix similar to the one shown in Pokemon. You'll receive a verbal description as a vacancy arises, and it's your own job to select the best hero, or in some cases, heroes based on their characteristics and personalities. Very soon you will be told whether you have passed the test or not, and success will earn you experience points, which lead to a permanent increase in the characteristics of each hero. On the other hand, failure can result in your heroes getting hurt or, worse, being taken out of action for their shift. Managing their individual skill sets while multiple clocks are ticking in front of you is a surprisingly stressful task that kept me focused.
In addition to stat boosts, Team Z can also gain special skills that affect the effectiveness of your actions. Superstar turned superhero, Prisma can use her duplication abilities to extend the mission timer, carving out precious moments to find a solution. Elsewhere, Invisigal can use her lone wolf status to increase her speed if sent out alone. All of these moving parts add up and flow together well over time, creating a nice feedback loop that complements the complexity of the surrounding story without overwhelming you.
Aspects such as team morale, as well as how you influence critical moments in the story, also determine the effectiveness of Team Z. During one shift early in the series, the heroes fight each other, hoping not to be kicked off the team. This controversial subtext spilled over into a control room mini-game in which each participant acted according to his own discretion, and not on my explicit orders. While I found this frustrating at first, hoping to overcome the problem with my wits, these moments of disobedience helped integrate the interactive segments into the overall story, with AdHoc effectively conveying Robert's irritability, ensuring you felt it first-hand. It's one thing to write an emotional character for me to play, but it's another thing entirely to make me want to quit a job I don't actually have, just like them.
A secondary hacking mini-game will also become part of your daily activities as Robert uses the only superpower he has left: his mind. Here, you'll roll a 3D object through a cybernetic maze while the clock ticks, using directional inputs to navigate your way to the final goal. In addition to the clock, you'll also need to dodge undulating anti-virus orbs and move energy sources between light blocks to open up new paths. It can be overwhelming at times as the difficulty increases over the course of Dispatch's eight episodes, and overcoming these puzzles stands out as one of the least exciting moments in a game that's otherwise full of them, which is a shame.
However, despite all the obstacles I faced from Team Z, I defended them every step of the way, like a parent about to beat up for their misbehaving children. The concept of ethically murky superhumans has been explored in film and television before, but Dispatch often subverts expectations with a consistent mix of dark humor and heartfelt interactions that kept me on the edge of my seat.
For example, one day, while celebrating a victory, Robert and his team visit the villains' bar, but the Creature Golem is forced to sit outside due to its enormous size. At that moment I felt a deep dislike for them and their attitude, but nevertheless, watching them collapse in the gutter with headphones on, they seemed more human than stone monsters. Just like that, a switch flipped in my head and I found myself in the hands of AdHok.
What makes Dispatch's redemption story so effective is that it portrays its villains as emotionally complex souls who may have lost their way, rather than one-dimensional animals. This empathetic lens makes it tempting to peel back the layers of the group, no matter how terrible they may be or how irritable they may seem. This doesn't mean that every character should be forgiven, but instead, if you're willing to make risky dialogue choices, you can be rewarded with precious knowledge that can influence how you react in future situations or what kind of ending you get.
All of this drama is conveyed through incredible vocal performances that bring Dispatch's deepest moments to life with grace, from the leads to the supporting characters. Laura Bailey's Invisigal dances masterfully between cheeky and sincere, often encouraging me to break the rules with its flirtatious, if not menacing, style. Erin Yvette, on the other hand, subtly switches between heroic Blonde Blazers prose and goofy banter with sharp precision. Remarkably, Aaron Paul's Robert is more than just a Hollywood actor – he stands out here, delivering a nuanced performance as a man struggling to maintain his optimism while coming to terms with who he is outside of his giant mech suit.
