Dispatch (2025) review

     DISPATCH by Adhoc games (in conjunction with Critical Role) is a visual novel video game with an interesting minigame: you are a 911-esque dispatcher who dispatches superheroes to various crises great and small across the greater Los Angeles area. It’s an interesting premise and I was interested in both the Invincible-esque art style as well as the fact it seemed to be a superhero dramedy. As the author of the Supervillainy Saga, I absolutely am the kind of guy who this game is made for.

    The premise is you are Robert Robertson III (Aaron Paul), the third Mecha Man in a line stretching back to the Golden Age of Superheroes. His grandfather died in his super science suit and his father was assassinated by supervillains. Now it’s Robert’s turn! Yay! Well, Robert attempts to avenge his father by going after the mysterious Shroud (Matt Mercer) and ends up getting his suit trashed. Robert is more Peter Parker than Tony Stark and lacks both the cash as well as the scientific expertise to fix the suit. He is done.

    Incredibly depressed by the circumstances, he is about to retire with his black and white corgi, Beef, when he’s approached by the beautiful Supergirl-esque Blonde Blazer (Erin Yvette). Blonde Blazer works for SDR, a for profit superhero rescue company, and they need more heroes to help with their program of redeeming supervillains. She also is incredibly inappropriate during the job interview and you get to understand that this is also a dating simulator! Robert is given the additional carrot than just steady employment in his chosen field by Blazer saying that SDN can rebuild his mecha suit.

    Essentially, the joke is that SDR isn’t exactly a very important corporation and if it makes a lot of money then it isn’t passing it down to its employees. Z-Team is composed of C-List supervillains like Sonar, a cryptocurrency white collar criminal who is a man bat, and Punch Up who is 3ft tall but has super strength. The most important character is Invisigal (Laura Bailey), who is another love interest, and Chase (Jeffrey Wright) who was a friend to Robbie growing up.

    The story is more or the opposite of the Suicide Squad as Robert doesn’t use explosive collars but snark combined with trust to try to build up the team’s morale as well as work on making them better people. Invisigal serves as the Veronica to Blazer’s Betty, being a reformed criminal and snarky thief that immediately takes a love-hate to Robert. Your decisions will determine who will love, hate, and respect you. It’s very heartwarming if you understand that this is game is incredibly earnest despite its many dirty jokes. How dirty? There’s a nudity and profanity censor you can turn on.

    The actual gameplay is pretty mid with a bunch of QTE fighting prompts, a hacking minigame, and the primary gameplay that involves selecting heroes for whatever crises that pop up during Robert’s workday. These missions are all done in percentages and it is impossible to get all of them correct. There’s a lot of humor in the minigame as well with some of the requests being for help moving to helping a baby kaiju get back to its home volcano.

    The biggest fault is that it’s rather on the short side and it’s very easy to complete the gameplay sections. It’s very easy to complete the entire game in four to five hours. You can replay it and I absolutely am going to. Despite this, I loved the characters and their banter so much that I think it would have been a fantastic animated series. Indeed, I hope they consider doing one like Netflix’s Castlevania or Devil May Cry.

    In conclusion, Dispatch is a really solid piece of entertainment. It’s on the short side and the gameplay is mediocre but it’s probably the most fun visual novel or Telltale-esque game I’ve played since the original Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. I love Blonde Blazer, Invisigal, Phenomaman, Prism, and Malevola. All of the characters are enjoyable, though, and I loved their increasing bond.

8.5/10