Telltale Games is a studio that will always be remembered for some of its brilliant narrative games that echoed choose-your-own-adventure stories of old in their presentation. The idea to use that old, but effective, model and essentially create an interactive TV show was a stroke of genius, and it gained them a great deal of success. Many will think back to their The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Batman series as the true golden age of their style, offering great stories with new and existing IPs, and giving them a unique identity. The studio’s dissolution and complete reshuffle in 2018 resulted in many of its staff being laid off. Thanks to investors pulling out at the last moment, around 90% of its staff were let go and had to pack their bags and leave, pretty much without warning. Even with the mass layoffs happening in the industry today, few have come close to the impact of Tellatale essentially just disappearing out of thin air, with all those proud creators being let go without care. Thankfully, the luckier laid-off staff managed to find a home at new studios, demonstrating their talent elsewhere. One such studio, AdHoc, was formed of many past Telltale members, even being slated to continue their The Wolf Among Us series. Dispatch is their debut effort, and it showcases the talent that many of these staff members have. With a star-studded voice cast on top of their game, great animation, and a well-written and weaving story, Dispatch evokes the feeling of a Telltale game in all the right ways.

Dispatch surrounds the life of Robert Robertson (Aaron Paul), a normal man in a world full of superhuman heroes. Still, thanks to the advanced mech suit his father left him, he fights crime as Mecha Man, a name that has gone down in legend through generations before him. However, after being lured into a trap by supervillain Shroud (Matthew Mercer), the mech is destroyed, and Robert has to adjust to being just normal again. Down on his luck and without purpose, he is picked up by the famous superheroine, Blonde Blazer (Erin Yvette), who offers him a job at the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) as a mentor for some of the heroes there, but primarily as a dispatcher to guide them to do good. Finding out he was recommended for the job by an old friend, Chase (Jeffrey Wright), Robert steps up to the task. He quickly finds out that his team is not a team of heroes at all; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Z-Team is an ensemble of former villains, many of whom are hot-tempered and unable to work with others. Using his past expertise, Robert must guide them and show them what it means to be a hero, dispatching them to help people and teaching them teamwork in the process. You will make many crucial decisions throughout the game, shaping the story your way, as well as learning to dispatch the Z-Team yourself, ensuring LA is kept safe from various villains, including your arch-rival Shroud.

Part of the reason this game has been so successful and has been talked about so much is its undeniable premium feel. For only £25, you are getting an 8-episode story, full of top-notch voice acting, very well-animated sequences, and a story that has a lot of heart. This does seem like a labour of love from AdHoc, harkening us back to those good times with some of Telltale’s older games. None of that nostalgia feels cheap either, as this is a much different project than anything that Telltale ever did, and it justifies its existence thusly. The voice acting talent alone shows how high a standard AdHoc is going for, getting big names like Aaron Paul and Jeffrey Wright, but then making the bold decision to throw them in the mix with some very different talents. Not only are these big names thrown in with voice acting titans like Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham, but they have also put their faith in the unlikeliest of cast members: streamers and YouTubers. The likes of Jacksepticeye, MoistCr1TiKaL are not necessarily people you would expect to do a great job, but they manage to keep up with even some of the bigger talents. AdHoc knew that a lot of their audience would come from these people, as a lot of them would have watched these people play Telltale games in the past. It is thus a nice reward for those streamers, but also a genius way of getting a lot of attention on the game, and they deserve it! Still, the big names are there for a reason, and Aaron Paul, in particular, is just excellent in this lead role. Delivering comedic timing perfectly, portraying anguish and tired betrayal effortlessly, he really has it all and was definitely the standout for me. The animation slickly brings all these performances properly to life as well, with some excellent art design and some jaw-droppingly good-looking sequences, especially towards the end. This is such a well-refined package, and it helps that its content manages to keep up with its presentation.

The bread and butter of a Telltale game is dialogue choices and consequential decision-making, and it is no different here in Dispatch. To make any of this work, though, the writing needs to be strong enough, and you need to feel the weight of your decisions quaking throughout the rest of your playthrough. Mostly, this is gotten just right, and the story becomes very involving towards its spectacle-filled climax. Some of the old Telltale clunk is still present, with some dialogue options being slightly misleading, and there being a clear direction that the story wants you to take. The latter problem was probably the most grating for me, and it mostly falls down to the central romance options that carry the story. The game so clearly wants you to romance Laura Bailey’s character, Invisigal, and unless you purposely try and resist that as much as possible, that will likely be the route your narrative takes. Considering this is a pretty integral plot thread, it is a bit annoying that diverting from this leads to a more lacklustre romance storyline with Blonde Blazer, or lack thereof, if you decide to go it alone. Thankfully, this is the only point of undercooking that I felt, and it certainly did not ruin the experience. The story is paced brilliantly, being broken up primarily by the dispatching minigame and some fun little quick-time event sequences that I always seem to be alone in enjoying. That dispatching minigame is really great, letting you develop heroes but during gameplay but also as far as the narrative is concerned. It always adds new elements into the mix, and for me, I never got bored with doing it. Most importantly of all, though, is that when those big moments come in the story, they do feel impactful, and largely it is due to your decisions. It feels like a proper TV series that you binge-watch, really hooking you in during those big moments and begging you to do the next episode, just to see what happens to the characters. Those characters are all written excellently, no matter how little screentime they have; all their arcs are well-established, and it turns into a great ensemble cast of characters that you will likely remember fondly.

Dispatch makes us remember what made Telltale great, and it is a success story that those talented people have found a home in AdHoc, where they can keep honing that talent to make great stories like this. It is a shot of nostalgia for those who grew up with those games like me, recognising both the good and the bad from those past projects being present here. But do not get me wrong, there is little wrong with this game. It is not an absolute stone-cold banger that you must play immediately, but I have never seen these types of games as ever having that label. They are cosy, well-written stories that keep you hooked, and you will likely enjoy this one thoroughly when playing it. It is rare that for an episodic game like this, I am dying to play the next one. But like any good TV show, it got its hooks into me and I really do hope they expand on this universe in future seasons.