Dispatch Episode 5 and Episode 6 Review in Progress

AdHoc has successfully transformed Wednesday into the best and worst day of the week for Dispatch fans. Yes, it delivers more jokes, fight sequences, and titular dispatch opportunities for everyone to enjoy, but there’s also that agonising wait between batches. Thankfully, we’re already well into our last break before the finale.

For the uninitiated, Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy that places you in the shoes of Robert Robertson, crafted by former Telltale Games devs. While I’ll do my best to keep this piece mostly spoiler-free, I do recommend reading our Episodes 1 and 2 or Episodes 3 and 4 reviews in progress, depending on where you’re at in the game.

In Episodes 5 and 6, catching up with Robert and the Z-team feels like hanging out with a group of friends. A welcome evolution from a sabotage-filled dispatch session and the growing pains of adding a new member to the group (for me, that’s Waterboy).

The dialogue choices and character interactions continue to be layered, funny, and grounded. Whereas previous episodes focused on a select few individuals, this batch used the cast to its fullest, fleshing them out nicely; heroes that I felt lukewarm about before, such as Prism, Flambae, and Malevola, have quickly become favourites in the span of two hours. Robert himself is also proving to be such a strong, well-written protagonist. Exploring themes of worth, identity, and more through his perspective is quite interesting, and I’m curious to see how his story comes to a close.

If you’ve been itching to get Robert back behind the desk, you’ll be happy to hear that Episode 5 quickly opens with two shifts, introducing new call requirements to consider when sending out your heroes. Sometimes missions will have a red “X” on the stat map, indicating that if you reach that point, you’re guaranteed to fail. For instance, if the mark is on Vigor, you’ll want to avoid sending a hero that has high points in that stat since you won’t succeed. The inverse of this is a Star-shaped icon that actually gives you more XP if your team’s stat spread overlaps with it. If it’s placed somewhere on Charisma, send your most charismatic members for that boost.

I was already pretty careful about who to send out, but these new additions definitely added a fun challenge while making me more aware of how I’ve been spending skill points. It also changes how I’ll be building my characters in later playthroughs, as I realised I had far too many folks with high Combat stats.

Episode 6’s calls were quite fun, from LARPs gone wrong to Phenomaman impostors, but the frequency was overwhelming. It seemed unfair, at times, when the map would light up with multiple missions before my heroes were done resting or returning. The highlights of this chapter were the developing character relationships, along with the most painful cliffhanger. I can’t say more without revealing too much, so let’s get back to gameplay.

There’s much more hacking in Episode 5 and Episode 6 (with the most occurring toward the end of 6), which offer new electricity-based puzzles, as you need to absorb currents and move them properly to obtain passcodes or open paths. Those bolts of electricity can also incapacitate any anti-virus nodes chasing you; just simply get close to them and they’ll be zapped.

While these sections still feel like filler, I did appreciate the extra complexity, though the solutions are quite easy. What’s unfortunate is that Robert spends a lot of time hacking during an action-packed sequence, creating some awkward breaks in those scenes. That said, it does well to give Robert more to do when he’s behind his desk or a screen, and can up the tension when you know a hero is backed into a corner waiting for your help.

Speaking of action, the fights in this batch are so smoothly animated. There’s a particular series of transitions toward the end of Episode 5 that was very impressive. In non-spoiler terms: every cutscene is beautiful to watch. The level of detail when it comes to subtle expressions and environmental changes is absolutely worth paying attention to, as there’s almost always something I didn’t catch the first time. I’m also loving how the direction and scene framing wordlessly reveal changes in relationships, foreshadow conflict, and more.

The more I replay and watch others make decisions in their own playthroughs, I am realising how minor some decisions feel, as scenes typically play out similarly regardless of what you choose. Your performance in the dispatch sections also doesn’t seem to have much bearing on the overall plot. In Episode 3, for instance, the heroes you sent out the most and how well they performed didn’t change who would be on the chopping block from the Z-team. In the most recent batch, I failed to stop a malfunctioning plane mid-shift, and it crashed, which prompted Robert to say “Damn” in a way that didn’t convey the gravity of the mess-up.

That said, it would be extremely difficult for the Dispatch team to create branching paths and cutscenes that would account for all the different outcomes of cutting any team member or failing various calls. While the narrative has its own track that it follows, it doesn’t take away from the fun of managing and levelling up your villains-turned-heroes. As I’ve mentioned before, I’d take an endless dispatching mode in a heartbeat!

Episode 7, “Retrospective”, and Episode 8, “Synergy”, will launch on the 12th of November. Stay tuned for our final Dispatch review.