AdHoc’s Dispatch has been one of my favorite surprise hits this year. The superhero workplace comedy feels like a breath of fresh air among the many games released recently.
I have been a big fan of episodic games back in the days of Telltale. Hits like The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and even the more recent The Expanse have solidified my love for the genre. I always enjoyed waiting for new episodes to drop. While the two-to-three-month wait was exhausting at first, I learned to live with it and went on with my daily life.
Sadly, episodic content slowly disappeared after Telltale’s fall a few years ago. Until AdHoc arrived with Dispatch, I thought that feeling of “waiting for the next episode” was gone for good. But Dispatch brought back that old excitement I once had ten years ago.
What makes Dispatch better is its episode releases. It’s not dropping with a three-month-long wait, but in waves of two episodes per week. After each wave’s cliffhanger ending, we get another pair of episodes every Wednesday. It gives us something to look forward to, especially with the choices we’ve made throughout Robert Robertson’s life.
Heading to the game’s official subreddit after each episode feels like revisiting the classic watercooler conversations I used to have about Telltale games. I love talking about how my decisions might affect future episodes. Other players seem to be doing the same, ruminating on whether they made the right choices until the next wave arrives.
The week-long break is also perfect for players to craft their own wild theories before the big reveals. I, for one, still have no idea who Shroud is, but players seem to be getting ahead of themselves and putting their tinfoil hats on.
Theorycrafting is something I’ve deeply missed from the days of episodic releases. I was obsessed with Life is Strange back then, always on the lookout for whatever wild theories people came up with before the next episode dropped. Dispatch brings that same energy back, and that’s what I love about it.
Overall, Dispatch has successfully reignited my love for episodic games. Gone are the days when we had to wait months for a single episode. A week-long wait feels just right, and with the two final episodes dropping next week, I’m already excited to see what happens to my ragtag group of heroes.
I don’t see episodic games as the kind of experience where I simply go from point A to point B. To me, they’re more of a gaming event. Something I look forward to playing the moment a new episode arrives. Dispatch has done an incredible job of keeping that spirit alive.
And I hope AdHoc has plans for a second season in the future.
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