{"id":1227648,"date":"2026-02-24T22:08:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=606267"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:08:58","slug":"dispatch-offers-something-new-for-superhero-video-games-engaging-deskwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/dispatch-offers-something-new-for-superhero-video-games-engaging-deskwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispatch offers something new for superhero video games \u2014 engaging deskwork"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While we\u2019ve had plenty of superhero games come out over the past decade and a half (and I\u2019m always down for more<\/a>), most have either been open-world adventures or fighting games. I\u2019m as excited as anyone for the upcoming Marvel T\u014dkon<\/em><\/a> and Invincible VS<\/em><\/a>, but I\u2019m also ready for a little something different. That\u2019s where Dispatch<\/em> from AdHoc Studio comes in.<\/p>\n

Dispatch<\/em> is a game made for people who enjoy watching a rerun of The Office<\/em><\/a> as a palate cleanser after the bloody battles of Invincible<\/em><\/a>. So, me. You\u2019re cast as Robert Robertson, the former superhero known as Mecha Man. He has to step away from frontline superheroics as the mech suit he relied on was destroyed in battle. Needing a job, he starts work at a dispatch center for superheroes, and the demo takes you through a small, 30-minute chunk of his first day.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice Dispatch<\/em>\u2019s crude humor early on. The first thing you can do in Dispatch<\/em> is give a colleague a \u201cbro fist\u201d at a urinal, and the juvenile jokes don\u2019t stop there. Middle school boys are going to love it, though I\u2019d be lying if I said a few of the jokes didn\u2019t get chuckles from me.<\/p>\n

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Another of Robertson\u2019s co-workers, who also used to be a superhero until his powers caused him to rapidly age, introduces Robertson\u2019s team of misfit heroes, though that term should be used loosely. He notes they\u2019re a \u201cmotley crew of dangerous fuck-ups\u201d as Robertson examines their files, each with a mugshot and rapsheet. Robertson isn\u2019t in charge of the Avengers \u2014 he\u2019s leading a D-List Suicide Squad. The cast, however, is full of A-listers: Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Aaron Paul, and Jeffrey Wright are among those lending their voices to Dispatch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Much like The Boys<\/em>, Dispatch<\/em> plays with the idea of the corporatization of superheroes (though without the satire of and parallels to modern-day politics). These heroes aren\u2019t a lone Spider-Man swinging through Manhattan on patrol \u2014 they\u2019re employees waiting for an assignment. Gameplay consists of matching the right (or perhaps \u201cgood enough\u201d) hero to the job. Some assignments I saw in the demo included breaking up a robbery, catching a 12-year-old thief, and grabbing a kid\u2019s balloon from a tree while also making sure the kid didn\u2019t cry. Seeing as how one of your misfits is a literal bat man and another looks like a tiefling, you have to choose wisely.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The real draw of Dispatch<\/em> for me isn\u2019t the point-and-click assignment gameplay, but rather the choice-based dialogue. It\u2019s developed by AdHoc Studio, which was formed in 2018 by former developers who had worked on Telltale titles like The Wolf Among Us<\/em><\/a>, The Walking Dead<\/em><\/a>, and Tales from the Borderlands<\/em><\/a>, and you can easily see the throughline from those titles to Dispatch<\/em>. At various points, you have a limited time to select Robertson\u2019s dialogue, and occasionally a pop-up saying a character \u201cwill remember that\u201d appears. How much Robertson\u2019s choices actually have consequences or influence his relationships with others remains to be seen, though I have no doubt those choices will be fun to make.<\/p>\n

After its reveal at The Game Awards six months ago, Dispatch<\/em> will be coming to Windows PC and unspecified consoles sometime this year. You can check out its demo now on Steam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While we\u2019ve had plenty of superhero games come out over the past decade and a half (and I\u2019m always down for more), most have either been open-world adventures or fighting games. I\u2019m as excited as anyone for the upcoming Marvel T\u014dkon and Invincible VS, but I\u2019m also ready for a little something different. That\u2019s where Dispatch from AdHoc Studio comes in. Dispatch is a game made for people who enjoy watching a rerun of The Office as a palate cleanser after the bloody battles of Invincible. So, me. You\u2019re cast as Robert Robertson, the former superhero known as Mecha Man. He has to step away from frontline superheroics as the mech suit he relied on was destroyed in battle. Needing a job, he starts work…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1227649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1227648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nDispatch offers something new for superhero video games \u2014 engaging deskwork | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While we\u2019ve had plenty of superhero games come out over the past decade and a half (and I\u2019m always down for more), most have either been open-world\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/dispatch-offers-something-new-for-superhero-video-games-engaging-deskwork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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