Dispatch
AdHoc Studio · Strategy, Indie, Action
Overview
Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy where choices matter. Manage a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes and strategize who to send to emergencies around the city, all while balancing office politics, personal relationships, and your own quest to become a hero.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,997 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Players overwhelmingly love Dispatch, mostly for how it looks and sounds and for its characters. The animation, the voice cast and a bickering team of reformed villains come up again and again, and many reviewers are glad to have a Telltale-style story game again. Dozens say they finished it in one or two sittings, laughed and cried, and came out wanting a second season. The superhero dispatch shifts between story scenes win more fans than critics, and many of the people who vote the game down still praise its presentation.
A single run is short, and some players feel the price asks a lot for it. The game is mostly watching, with dialogue choices, quick-time events and two minigames, and reviewers split over whether that makes it a playable animated series or barely a game, with choices that change little. The crude humor and the way the romances are pushed put off a vocal minority. A few finishers think the story stumbles in its last episodes, and anyone who replays for other outcomes has to sit through every unskippable scene again.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Animation and art directionHigh
Players compare the look to a premium animated series and single out the character designs, the direction of action scenes and the streaming-style framing at the end of each episode. 29% of the longer reviews bring up the animation, art style or visuals, negative reviews included. One negative review that lists "some pretty bad things" still says: "Animation, art, voice acting. These are all things that are 10s across the board." Complaints in this area are about technical quality, such as soft prerendered cutscenes (see the technical item below).
A voice cast that carries the scenesHigh
Reviewers name Aaron Paul and the Critical Role cast most often, and Laura Bailey and Jeffrey Wright now and then; 24% of the longer reviews praise the voice acting. "The writing, animation, voice acting, and music are all genuinely excellent," writes one player who finished it in two days. The casting of YouTubers in supporting roles is the one point of dissent: some reviewers were pleasantly surprised, while a smaller group says hearing a familiar streamer's voice broke their immersion.
A cast of misfits players get attached toHigh
Reviewers talk about the Z-Team as a found family, and many say the banter, including the chatter over the intercom during shifts, is what made them care. 16% of the longer reviews call the game funny or say it made them laugh, and 15% praise the characters directly. "I have never felt so invested in a group of characters in any game before," one player writes. Fans of particular side characters often wish those characters had more scenes (see the frustrations below).
The return of the Telltale formulaHigh
Comparisons to Telltale's games turn up in 17% of the longer reviews, mostly as praise. Players who missed The Wolf Among Us or The Walking Dead call it a successor, and some think it improves on the formula by cutting walking sections in favor of a cutscene-first structure. "I strongly feel that this is the best use of the Tell-Tale formula to date," one fan writes. Some negative reviews turn the comparison around and say it has even less interactivity than the old Telltale games.
Players want a second seasonHigh
Requests for a sequel, a second season or more episodes appear in 14% of the longer reviews, often in the same breath as saying it ended too soon. "This is #1 on my list for games I already want a sequel to," one reviewer writes. Several players describe a post-game slump after saying goodbye to the characters.
The soundtrackMedium
Players say the music fits each moment, and one says the soundtrack "infiltrated deep into my listening rotation". It comes up in 11% of the longer reviews, nearly always as a highlight, and only a handful of negative reviews disagree.
The dispatch shiftsMedium
The hero-management shifts are the main piece of actual gameplay, and they get more praise than criticism: 8.5% of the longer reviews call the dispatching fun, engaging or addictive, against under 2% that call it boring or shallow. Fans like matching heroes to calls, levelling the team and the tension of a busy shift: "You have to think about which hero can work for the given situation, but the game never feels unfair." Some negative reviewers also call the dispatching the part they enjoyed and wish there were more of it. Critics of the shifts object to randomness and opaque requirements, with calls failing despite good odds or a "speed" call that turns out to need a different stat. "It's like LA Noir's interrogations, if even picking the correct answer resulted in a dice roll where you still had a 25% chance of getting it wrong," one frustrated player writes. A small group of fans asks for a standalone or endless dispatch mode to play after the story.
Where players are split
Interactive show or video game?Medium
11% of the longer reviews describe Dispatch as an interactive movie, a TV show, a visual novel or "not a game". Many say it as a plain description or as praise, like one player who calls it an interactive movie "in the best way imaginable", or this one: "Go in knowing it's an interactive movie. That's exactly what it's trying to be, and it nails it." In negative reviews the same observation is a frequent complaint. These players feel the story would work just as well on YouTube or a streaming service and sum it up as "a mini series with buttons", and a few say the demo led them to expect more of the management game. It is also a common objection from players who quit in the first couple of hours and found more watching than they expected.
Do your choices matter?Medium
7.8% of the longer reviews say choices feel impactful or meaningful, and some fans call them a step up from Telltale's railroading. 2.8% say flatly that choices don't matter, a complaint that turns up far more often in negative reviews. Critics say most decisions only change a line or a scene, that failing a shift or a quick-time event changes little, and that a second playthrough exposes how fixed the story is: "the moment you start to test how much agency you actually have, the illusion collapses." Several otherwise happy reviewers land in the middle: they enjoyed their run but noticed that the larger story beats play out the same way.
The hacking minigameMedium
Hacking comes up in 11% of the longer reviews, and opinion splits roughly evenly between those who call it fun or a nice change of pace and those who call it annoying, tedious or stressful. Critics feel strongly about it: one calls it "tedious, flow-breaking", and others say they deliberately failed it to get back to the story. Fans enjoy the later, harder puzzles. Several reviewers on both sides mention timer pressure and controller trouble in these sections.
The romances and the focus on one characterMedium
The romance is discussed in 10% of the longer reviews and comes up far more often in negative ones. Fans enjoy the love-triangle tension and some replay specifically to see the other route. Critics make four separate points. The game pushes the player toward romance with little room to opt out ("the two romance options are pushed so aggressively that it honestly gets distracting"). The story leans heavily on one team member at the expense of the rest. A recurring objection is that harassment of the protagonist is played for laughs ("Man, this game has a consent issue"). A smaller group wanted same-sex romance options and feels the marketing hinted at them. In negative reviews, these complaints come almost entirely from players who got deep into the story.
Quick-time events and timed choicesMedium
Quick-time events are mentioned in 8% of the longer reviews. Many simply note that they can be turned off and that the cinematic mode suits the game, while critics say failing them makes no difference. A smaller, related complaint concerns timed dialogue: some players, including non-native speakers, say the timer is too short ("Countdown begins before they finish speaking") or that the pause screen blurs the options.
What frustrates players
Short for the priceMedium
8% of the longer reviews say the game is short or not worth its price. Many raise it inside an otherwise warm review, and some call it their only complaint. Players report one run taking well under a dozen hours, and some feel that is thin for the asking price: "$40 for around 8 hours of content is just too steep for what Dispatch actually offers." Advice to wait for a sale recurs in negative reviews. Others answer that every hour is worth it and they would not trade quality for length.
Crude jokes and juvenile dialogueMedium
5% of the longer reviews complain about sex jokes, swearing, cringe or juvenile humor, and the complaint is much more common in negative reviews. Critics say constant vulgarity undercuts the drama, or as one puts it, "the script leans hard on f-bombs and sex jokes in an attempt to seem adult." Some also object to the nudity, though others point out the censor option. Defenders love exactly this tone: "I'm a millennial and I absolutely love the writing, the banter, jokes, the stupid shit that happens throughout."
A story that stumbles near the endLow
A small share of reviewers, 3% of the longer reviews and more of the negative ones, call the plot predictable, point to plot holes, or say the ending feels rushed or contrived. Their complaints are about the final episodes: "Episodes 1 to 6 are good, 7 is a noticable step down, 8 is just plain awful." Some positive reviews also say the last episodes feel rushed, while others call the finale better than expected.
Replaying means rewatching everythingLow
Reviews in both camps ask for a skip or fast-forward option for scenes already seen. Because so much of the game is cutscene, players who want to see other routes or endings say a second run is a slog: "I want to play this game again to see the other outcomes but there's no way I'm re-watching the same scenes over and over to do that."
Too little time with the rest of the teamLow
A recurring wish, mostly from positive reviews, is for more screen time and backstory for the wider cast and the villain. "There's so much potential for these characters that are NOT Invisigal," one critic writes, echoing others who feel the side heroes fade into the background.
Technical rough spotsLow
Technical complaints are uncommon, and several reviews report flawless performance, including on Steam Deck. The issues raised are Unreal Engine "Fatal Error" crashes for some players ("Still crashes like a motherf*cker during the mission portions"), cutscenes prerendered below 4K that look soft on high-resolution screens, a 60 fps cap, minimal graphics options, and controller or Steam Deck navigation in the dispatch screen that can lose a call: "At least twice I've had to give up and panickedly use the touchscreen on the Steam Deck instead."
3. The player conversation
The tone is warm, and often emotional. Positive reviews read like recommendations to a friend, describing single-sitting binges, laughing and crying, playing with a partner or a Discord group, and impatience for a second season. Some say they bought it late after seeing it top their wishlist or win awards, and are glad they did.
Negative reviews are few, and part of them react to the hype itself: some call the game overrated or say they don't understand its rating, and a few say they would have given it a mixed rating if Steam offered one. 40% of the longer negative reviews mention the animation, art or voice acting, generally to praise it before the complaint. Critics who quit early tend to object that it is more show than game or that the dialogue grated within minutes. The romance focus, the ending and replaying without a skip button come from players who got far into the story, and doubts about choices come from both groups. The few reviews in this slice from the episodic run show early anticipation, a little impatience with weekly drops, and a couple of save-loss reports around the final episodes' release.
4. What the developers could do
- Add a skip or fast-forward for scenes already seen. Replaying for other routes is a wish in positive reviews and a complaint in negative ones, and players say rewatching every unskippable scene kills replay value.
- Make choices carry more visible weight in a follow-up. A frequent story complaint among critics is that decisions change a line or a scene but not the story, and a second playthrough makes that obvious.
- Offer a standalone or endless dispatch mode. The dispatch shifts draw far more praise than criticism, and some fans ask to keep playing them after the story without replaying episodes.
- Set expectations on the store page. Some negative reviewers say they did not expect how much of the game is watching, and a few say the demo gave them a dispatch-heavy impression.
- Make dispatch outcomes more readable. Players ask for clearer mission requirements and less hidden randomness so that a well-matched hero failing a high-odds call feels like a decision they can learn from.
- Let players skip or tone down the hacking minigame. Its critics say they failed it on purpose or nearly quit over it, and a skip or difficulty option would keep the story flowing for them without taking it from fans.
- Give the wider team more screen time and make romance optional. Players ask for more time with the side heroes and the villain, an easy way to decline romance, and, from a smaller group, same-sex options.
- Fix the remaining technical gaps. Reviewers cite Unreal Engine crashes, soft prerendered cutscenes on 4K screens, minimal graphics options, a dialogue timer that starts before lines finish, and controller cursor trouble in the dispatch screen on Steam Deck.
