This post contains spoilers for Episodes Three and Four of Dispatch, now available on PlayStation 5 and Windows.
There’s a pivotal scene in 2012’s Avengers movie where Steve Rogers verbally dresses down Tony Stark with a surgical read: “You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.” Of course, Stark’s got a snarky crowd-pleaser of a reply, but Rogers was right — being a hero isn’t about money or swagger, it’s about making tough calls even at your own expense.
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In the first two episodes of Dispatch, AdHoc Studio’s new playable TV show, the protagonist Robert Robertson (Aaron Paul) gets a similar reality check. Having lost his fancy Mecha Man suit and relegated to the role of a desk jockey assigning other heroes to duty, he’s stripped down to his bare form. If he’s really got what it takes to be a true paragon, it’s going to be about making hard decisions; unfortunately, they’re quickly stacking up.
Having finished his first day at the SDN (Superhero Dispatch Network), where just about everyone but his old buddy Chase (Jeffrey Wright) and new boss Blonde Blazer (Erin Yvette) hate him, Robert’s just getting started on his rocky road to redemption. He’s made a mess of things with villain-turned-hero Invisigal (Laura Bailey), barely made it through his first shift after failing to stop an armed robbery, and he’s got googly eyes for Blazer — who just so happens to be dating the city’s biggest superhero, Phenomaman (Travis Willingham).
But this week’s pair of episodes kick off a new day, filled with promise and a slew of choices that Robert (and by proxy, the player) will have to make.
Episode Three: ‘Turnover’
We pick things up with Royd (Tanoai Reed) helping Robert scoop up his trashed Mecha Man suit to begin the arduous process of repairs at the SDN facility. Royd continues to be an effortlessly funny, laid-back sort of dude — but he’s got a keen eye and doesn’t mince words. Robert’s life sucks, right down to his depressingly sparse apartment. Remember, he may have once had a hefty inheritance from his family, but he’s almost entirely blown through it to finance his super heroics.
The big issue laid out here is that, although Robert has the bulk of the pieces, he’s missing the Astral Pulse, the power source behind Mecha Man whose schematics his father kept secret. But Royd’s not worried — it’s no skin off his back. Turns out, Royd had met Robert’s dad years back when he tried to rob a Radio Shack, leaving him in the Phoenix Program. There’s a wonderful exchange here that peels back some of the big guy’s layers; he’s not just smart and strong, he’s potentially more gifted than the Mecha Men ever were. Royd doesn’t even think Robert’s dad was the one to create the Astral Pulse, which is a juicy thread itself.
The mood quickly shifts, however, with Blazer presenting her plan for how to light a fire under the Z-Team’s collective butts: someone’s getting cut by the end of the day. Specifically, it’ll be whoever performs worst during their shift. At this point, the clear candidate is Invisigal, who’s at the bottom of the leaderboard.
The knowledge that they’re now competing to keep their jobs turns all the Z-Team against each other, beginning with pranks, but eventually digressing into full-blown sabotage. During the player’s first shift, they’ll need to manage assigning heroes to calls where any pair-ups will lead to one of the team getting screwed over (and potentially left in trouble for Robert to fix). Choosing to send only one hero per call will also substantially reduce the likelihood of succeeding — if the morons even stand for it. Even if Robert picks a suitable candidate, a saboteur is likely to ignore a direct order and tag along to steal the glory. No matter what Robert does, he’s totally screwed. Everything is going to hell in hand basket.
In between shifts, Robert gathers the Z-Team to lay into them for their juvenile behavior; players are given the opportunity to decide how either how damning or inspirational he is with his tough talk. Regardless, it seems to sink in — giving some insight into which of the villains-turned-heroes actually want this job, even if it isn’t to make amends. It’s the first big clue-in that these folks may actually have the potential to genuinely reform — or at least do better.
Robert’s message seems to have gotten across as the back half of the workday goes much more smoothly. Invisigal, however, is sad that she’s most likely going to be cut from the team and decides to mope over a cigarette in a children’s playground. Players get to guide Robert through the pep talk, which carries the subtle air of flirtation, before another chance for Invisigal presents itself. The donut shop robber (now known to be villain Lightningstruck) is on the prowl again. Time to step up.
With Robert’s (and the player’s) help by way of some intense hacking sequences, this go-around fares much better than the last for Invisigal, who apprehends the perp and gets a wave of cheers from her teammates. With both her confidence and ranking boosted, she’s in a better position, narrowly escaping the cut-off. Unfortunately, the player must decide from here which of the worst-performing heroes will need to get the axe — one of the first real decisions to make that will have major consequences moving forward.
Episode Four: ‘Restructure’
Episode four opens with, uh, let’s say NSWF sequence that’s better left for the player to discover. If there was any concern that Dispatch wouldn’t be leaning hard into sexuality and ‘shipping, this is a clear indication that the series is looking to titillate just as much as push audiences to emotionally connect with its characters.
The fourth installment is where the impact of player choice begins to truly splinter the narrative. At the end of the previous episode, audiences had to choose between firing Coupé (Mayanna Berrin) or Sonar (Charles “MoistCr1TiKaL” White Jr.), leaving them down a staffer at the start of the day. The results are similar, with each former employee’s clique now bullying Robert in protest. But for the most part, the biggest change is that the team’s makeup is different. Whoever was sacrificed is no longer available to dispatch.
Meanwhile, Royd and Robert are making headway on repairing and upgrading the Mecha Man suit, albeit with a few snafus. Their progress is interrupted, however, by Invisigal, who is lurching around the office to prod some sexually charged square ups with Robert. Right after, he stumbles into another precarious situation with a half-naked Blonde Blazer (and can barely believe his luck).
The seeds of the love triangle between Robert, Blazer, and Invisigal are firmly planted now and ready to bloom into a total shitshow — especially with the blonde hero’s recent breakup with her boyfriend Phenomaman, who’s skulking about in a deep depression. Blazer asks Robert to give him one of his recently effective pep talks, but LA’s greatest hero is mostly just a hollow husk of his former glory.
An HR violation or otherwise, it might not have been the best idea to get into and subsequently end a relationship with a godlike being. Curiously, Phenomaman himself once again reiterates that he’s not actually a person, only “resembling one anatomically.” It remains a strangely pointed stance for the writers to take, evoked twice within the same conversation in ways that feel foreshadowing.
Down a hero, the first shift is another mess, with too many crises to handle for understaffed Z-Team. On top of that, heroes aligning with whoever was cut are in open revolt, potentially refusing to pick up calls or outright walking off the job. Help is desperately needed, but the candidates presented aren’t exactly ideal. For the afternoon shift, players will have to choose between adding Phenomaman or Waterboy (Joel Haver) to the squad, with the former’s crippling depression outweighing his strength and the latter’s inexperience leading to constant missteps.
Whoever’s on the team ends up needing a little support from Robert, with their teammates miserable about losing one of their own to an inadequate sub. It’s demoralizing to be mocked, regardless of whether you’re a superman or an unconfident newbie.
The episode draws to a close with one last big decision to make that’ll likely alter the trajectory of just about everything in a huge way, but more on that next week.
‘This isn’t over’
While the introductory episodes of Dispatch did an admirable job of applying the sitcom pilot structure to a video game, it’s in these second week installments that the series’ true potential begins to glean through. With just a short amount of time and limited interaction with the Z-Team, the players are presented with their first major decision with which of the squad to cut.
It’s a pretty tough choice, actually, with both Coupé and Sonar having great strengths as heroes, but also really likable personalities. The former is a no-bullshit assassin who flirts at the edges of each conflict with wry snark; the latter is a smooth-talking slimeball — he’s basically Patrick Bateman … if the American Psycho was mutant bat.
Episode Four, in particular, shows off the impact of the branching narrative framework, with full sequences playing out very differently in ways that actually inform the gameplay of the shifts. But there’s a cleverness to how AdHoc’s writing team has managed to give the player a sense of control without completely nuking the story. Most conversational choices basically lead to alternative scenes that emotionally and narratively lead to the same point. It’s like seeing the outtakes of a comedy, where different flavors of jokes can be swapped in while still moving things along unimpeded.
But as the choices pile up for both Robert and the player, it remains to be seen how things stay on track. Going into next week’s episodes, audiences are looking at different cast members in the fold and some substantial emotional stakes in flux depending on how they’re managing the Robert / Blazer / Invisigal love triangle. There’s also, you know, an entire supervillain network out there operating in the shadows, too.
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