MeinMMO editor Niko is excited since the announcement of the story game Dispatch on Steam. After 2 of the 8 episodes, he is already completely thrilled because the game avoids the biggest problems of Marvel and The Boys.
What is Dispatch anyway? Dispatch comes from the indie developer AdHoc Studio and was founded by former industry veterans. Among them are also developers who previously worked at Telltale Games, known for story games like The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us.
The gameplay of Dispatch is exactly that: Within an interactive story, you make decisions, solve short quick-time events, and live with the consequences of your actions. Dispatch also has a small management part additionally.
As a big fan of superheroes, I was full of anticipation, but after the first 2 episodes, which lasted about 45 minutes, I was completely thrilled: It was even better than I had wished for.
Superheroes are just the framework
The story immediately captivated me. In Dispatch, you experience the story of Robert Robertson, who, as Mecha Man, a kind of Iron Man, fought against villains. When his suit is destroyed, the powerless Robert ends up in a superhero emergency call center. He is supposed to manage a team of villains so that they can do good.
Although it is about superheroes, the story fundamentally deals with people who are in a bad situation but still want to do everything right. In doing so, the game avoids the biggest weaknesses of Marvel and series like The Boys.
Superhero movies and series tend to reach an ever-growing escalation level and focus on action and fights. Characters often come second because they must fit into the current danger corset
. This results in characters not feeling like real characters, but like useful abilities
. In Dispatch, it’s different, at least in the first two episodes.
The world is significantly toned down, and the focus is fully on the characters. This gives Robert much room to breathe so that his character can be established. The decisions you make always feel organic, and depending on the situation, a humorous, sad, but sometimes even romantic atmosphere was created. I could empathize with Robert so much that a moment in Episode 2 made me awkwardly embarrassed, and all I could say was a loud Uff
. I don’t want to give too much away, but I believe everyone has been in such a situation that they only laughed about months later.
This empathy
works only because the focus is on the characters. They are beautifully designed, and even the supporting characters are brimming with character, even in short dialogues. I must also praise the English voice acting (texts and subtitles are also available in German), which can compete with any TV series. The actors do a damn good job and give the characters the depth that makes them feel so real
.
A great strength of the first two episodes was the timing
The story starts with a nice flow. The first episodes showed me that the developers and the studio have a good sense of timing. Be it the right mix of action, drama, and dialogues or for comedic elements.
I particularly liked the use of music. It is never too present and is only used loud
to carry an emotion outside of the moment. This makes sections never feel like closed levels; they flow beautifully together.
With that, Dispatch doesn’t have to hide from real series
. The only important thing is that the game can transport this in the remaining episodes. Conclusively ending a story is quite difficult, especially when players make their own choices.
The decisions haven’t felt very impactful so far, but often consequences only happen in later episodes. The first 2 episodes show, however, that there is great potential on all levels to tell a fantastic story.
But what about the gameplay part of the game?
heroesto emergencies.
The gameplay is fun but also offers frustration potential
In addition to the decisions and story, you also have to manage a team. For that, you have to respond to emergency calls in gameplay segments and decide which team member to send on the mission. It’s important to choose the right person. For example, if a cat needs to be rescued from a tree, a hero who can fly is worth it.
This was quite fun in the first two segments that you had to do in the first 2 episodes, but it hasn’t been a big highlight for me so far. After all, the dialogues of the heroes you send away were quite funny. You can also level up the heroes; however, I couldn’t yet see what influence that exactly has in the first 2 episodes.
However, I see frustration potential here as well, because you can quickly maneuver into pretty stressful situations due to wrong decisions. Anyone who is only interested in the story might be put off by this. Dispatch definitely needs to find a good balance in the entire series; so far, however, that has been fine. The sequence didn’t go on for too long and was generally a nice change from the rest.
Apart from that, there are also the quick-time events known from Telltale games, which can be turned off if you don’t feel like it. I found them quite cool in an action sequence to highlight the scene once more.
Overall, the sometimes fast decisions you have to make fit into the flow of the 2 episodes.
Conclusion: 2 strong first episodes with great characters
How does Dispatch appear? Dispatch will be released in an episodic structure like the old Telltale games. On October 22, 2025, you can play the first 2 episodes. Subsequently, 2 episodes are to be released weekly until the finale with episode 7 and 8 on November 12.
Episodic structures are a controversial release strategy that I usually cannot stand. But it also offers the potential for specific story cliffhangers to be discussed online. Whether you like that or not must be decided for yourself. If necessary, you can wait until November 12 and then play everything at once.
Dispatch could become the best game in the style of Telltale games. It has the potential to move me emotionally because the characters are really strong, and already after the first episodes, the main character Robert has grown close to my heart. I just hope that AdHoc Studio doesn’t break my heart.
While there are a few spots that could disrupt the player experience, if the next episodes continue like this, I’m convinced that Dispatch could become one of my biggest highlights of 2025. What else you can play in 2025, you can find out here: 16 new games from 2025 that you should keep an eye on in the remaining months
