Dispatch Preview: Managers can be Heroes, too

It was at The Game Awards 2024 that we saw the first images from Dispatch. At the time, I didn't really take the time to work out what it was, but just said: "this looks nice - let's memorise it". Because it looks very good even if the scenes you get to experience outside the computer screen (which is your primary workplace in the game) are more or less interactive cut-scenes with dialogue choices. But that bit really works when the overall quality is this high, almost sky high.

For starters, it's incredibly stylish and the art style is perversely appealing - like a cross between Pixar and Into the Spider-Verse, sort of. Then there are the voice actors who carry this game on their shoulders. When 75% of all interaction is done through a two-way radio, the voices have to be spot on - and they are here. There's an illustrious list of actors lending their voices to Dispatch, with Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) playing the lead role of Robert Robertson/Mecha Man. Then there's Jeffrey Wright who we saw in the Last of Us series, and Matthew Mercer and Laura Bailey who are a couple of the biggest players in the business. JackSepticEye, the YouTuber, also shows up and does the voice of Punch-Up, who is one of the heroes that is part of the force you have to command.

This is no ordinary superhero game, at least not initially. Having only played the first chapter, I don't know how the story will unfold later on, but what you spend the first part of the game doing is making sure the right hero(s) are in the right place at the right time. On the computer you work at you see a map of a part of the city and when people call in and need assistance you have to match the situation with the right protagonist. For example, a little boy who needs to be rescued from a tall tree requires a hero who is athletic but doesn't scare the crap out of the kid on the way down. Other missions require more intelligence while some require someone fast who can get there quickly and get the job done on the run.

In addition, as you succeed in the missions, you develop the abilities of the heroic profession. In addition, as time goes by, you will discover that some of them are more compatible with other heroes or that others are more suitable as leaders. There are many combinations and synergies to be discovered, and they're not all positive, but something that appear more like side effects after incorrect medication.

The episode I've played has Invisigal - a heroine who can turn invisible (surprisingly), Malevola who is a demon from 'the down under', Punch-Up who is the very short but charismatic strongman and Sonar - a bat in a suit with great intellect but who like a werewolf can turn into a bat monster at any time. Then there's Golem, Coupé, Flambae and Prism - among others, a gentleman with a hot temper who literally burns and a woman who bends light and reality around her like a prism. It's a colourful bunch of big personalities who are constantly telling you what they think of your job. But because they're part of your team, and it's your first day on the job, it's not an A-team. Actually, it's not a B team either... it's the 'Z team' you're in charge of.

I am curious. I want to know what else Dispatch intends to offer because I find it hard to believe that they aren't sitting on an ace or two inside the spandex suit. If it's actually a game where the only gameplay is passing heroes around in front of a computer screen, I'd be both surprised and dismayed. Sure, that part of it works, but I have a hard time seeing it being fun for 10-15 hours. We'll see how it turns out - but one thing is for sure, Dispatch is gorgeous and well-acted.

When it will be released we don't know yet, but the only thing that is said is that it is planned to be released in 2025 for PC and consoles. Diffuse information, for sure, but we'll have to live with that while we eagerly await what AdHoc Studio has to offer in the end.