Check Out “Dispatch”: An Invincible-Era Satire Meets The Office and BoJack Horseman
Expect nothing less from the veteran developers who adapted Fables, Batman, and The Walking Dead.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
A decade ago, Telltale Games made us believe interactive narratives were the future with games like The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Batman: The Telltale Series. They were games that popularized episodic stories from source material right out of the comics. Even Netflix tried jumping in with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
Now, a new team of some of those Telltale veterans, along with talents from Ubisoft and Night School Studio, have come together under the banner of AdHoc Studio. Their first game? Dispatch, a comic-book-styled superhero office parody created in collaboration with Critical Role. It’s a game that plays like it’s set in the world of Invincible, though feels more comedically akin to the Telltale Game: Tales From The Borderlands. Funny. Heartfelt. And stupidly fun.
Even though we’ve all only seen the first two of eight episodes thus far… consensus is this game is really, freaking, good with a 9.1 Metacritic user score, and mostly positive reviews thus far, including a perfect by GAMINGbible (the full critic scores won’t release until all the game’s chapters are out).
Screenshot of Dispatch taken by TheDemonster
Set in Hollywood, the story follows Robert Robertson the Third (yes, really) a third-generation superhero who’s blown through his inheritance in keeping his family legacy alive (the robot suit). He’s a broke everyman sort of Iron Man figure, and his alter ego, Mecha Man, is burned out after fifteen years of hero work, having never lived up to the legacy of his father or grandfather.
After his father’s death at the hands of a mysterious villain named Shroud, Robert tries to avenge his family. Desperate, he’s soon recruited by the lovely Blonde Blazer to work at a desk job at the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN), a sort of The Office-meets-Invincible parody where washed-up superheroes and dysfunctional ex-villains strive to do better with their lives.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
Gameplay-wise, Dispatch feels more like watching an animated TV show, but one you can actually be a part of. It uses Telltale-style timed dialogue choices, quick-time events, and small puzzle interludes to keep things moving. There is also no sandbox adventuring compared to previous Telltale games, as it’s more focused on story. You can even toggle off QTEs entirely if you just want to sit back and play the dialogue.
Visually, Dispatch is stunning: featuring clean linework, bold colors, and a “Western anime” animation quality that looks as smooth as anything on streaming. The design feels less like a comic compared to the older Telltale games, but that’s also because inks and bold linework were reduced to make it look more like modern animation.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
The writing bounces between absurd and heartfelt, with characters in Robert’s band of misfit heroes in the “Phoenix Program”, playing like a James Gunn cast ensemble. It’s chaotic, charming, and often than not, rather ridiculous. Though from what I’ve tested, choices don’t seem to matter too much just yet. You pick the wrong line and someone might lose a tooth. Or an eyebrow.
As to the voice cast, it’s absolutely stacked with talent. Aaron Paul voices his first-ever video game lead as Robert Robertson, AKA Mecha Man, in a pitch-perfect performance as any I’ve seen regarding weary heroes trying to hold it together. He plays a solid, somber protagonist who’s disillusioned with Hollywood, the weight of his family’s legacy, and being a failure.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
Erin Yvette, a Telltale regular from The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands, plays Blonde Blazer, a Wonder Woman/Atom Eve superheroine type who’s confident, capable, and strong. She plays the immediate romance interest, though without spoilers, the game makes it complicated from the get-go. Blonde Blazer is intentionally designed to be a wholesome Golden Age type of superhero, according to the in-game design descriptions in the deluxe edition extras you can see above.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
In contrast, is SDN’s worst new recruit: Invisigal (formerly, Invisibitch), a hot-headed ex-villain in her early 20s who can turn invisible and hates following orders. Played by beloved voice actress Laura Bailey, longtime fans of Telltale will recognize her work, having voiced Catwoman in the Telltale Batman games, along with Fiona in Tales from the Borderlands. She’s also well-known for being one of the main leads in Critical Role itself.
If somehow that wasn’t enough, you’ve got Jeffrey Wright (Marvel’s What If?, The Last of Us) as Chase, the elderly speedster, the extremely popular gaming influencer Cr1TiKaL as Sonar, and even, former gaming journalist-turned content creator/host extraordinaire Alanah Pearce, voicing the Australian Malevola, who wields what I can only describe as… Absolute Wonder Woman’s Giant-Ass Sword
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
As for the actual “dispatching,” it’s one of the most addictive parts of the game. At the climax of each chapter, you manage dispatch missions by sending heroes to try and respond to crises in real time. Each one requires skill checks of either combat, vigor, mobility, charisma, or intellect; however, I must stress: it’s a probability matrix, so it’ll always be a roll of the die in outcome.
Now, sometimes a mission gets disrupted and you’re forced to make a split-second decision that can alter or instantly satisfy a mission’s outcome. There is also, at times, a light hacking system Robert executes in-game to help, though it’s mostly just simple pattern-building puzzles.
Currently, only two chapters of Dispatch are available, with two more dropping weekly until all eight release by November 12th. Players who like to stream video games online on platforms such as Twitch will enjoy it, as there’s a lot of UI and in-game menus built to help to make the game overlay more visually appealing to stream.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
For this playthrough, I bought the Deluxe Edition, which also includes bonus features and some digital comics based on some of the in-game characters. New issues release each week alongside the game’s new chapters, with each featuring beautiful pages of art designs, cover homages to classic comic books (like this homage to Jim Lee’s X-Men), and even short stories that flesh out the supporting cast. With two comics featured in this week’s drop.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
The first is Splash, written by Paulina Raguimov with artwork by Chuck BB (Black Metal), letters by Jared K. Fletcher (Papergirls), and a cover by the beloved Teen Titans GO! art director and Marvel Snap starring artist, Dan Hipp.
Splash is a short comedy that looks at the unfortunate and unlucky life of Waterboy, a superhero who wields the power of… wetness. A dork who can spit a fountain of water and has the power to be incredibly… moist.
Image Credit: AdHoc Studios
The second comic is The Last Bender, written by Suzee Matson, with art by Dave Crosland (Invader Zim), colors by Eric Anderson (BoJack Horseman), letters by Jared K. Fletcher, and a cover by the one and only, David Nakayama.
The Last Bender follows the story of Sonar, a Batman Harvard-grad douche-bro parody who embezzled millions that transforms into a Man-Bat between missions, and Malevola, the devil from down under. Together, they go on a last bender before joining SDN in a ridiculous romp absolutely worth reading.
After a few hours and two playthroughs of Dispatch, it’s clear AdHoc has a hit on their hands, reminding us of the best of what episodic narrative games can do. The humor lands, the story hooks, and everything about it feels like an animated movie that you can actually play through. Perfect for fans of Invincible, Telltale, and anyone who wants some raunchy fun with superheroes, if the first two chapters are any indication, Dispatch might be a cult hit in the making of narrative gaming.
Dispatch was produced and published by AdHoc Studios. It’s available now on PlayStation 5 and PC with 2 episode weekly drops concluding on November 12th.
Christian Angeles is a writer and entertainment journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering comics, video games, and digital media. He was senior editor at The Beat during its Eisner Award–winning year and also served as managing editor of The Workprint. Outside of journalism, he writes comics and books.
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