Dispatch (video game)

Setting

Dispatch is set in an alternate Los Angeles where super-powers—and consequently superheroes and supervillains—are commonplace and thus have divided society between "supers" (those born with powers such as flight and invisibility or born with a different appearance) and "normies" (those devoid of superpowers). While there are independent superheroes, several of them work for the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN), which provides services and protection for their subscribers.

Plot

Superhero Robert Robertson III / Mecha Man attempts to locate his father's killer, the supervillain Elliot Connors / Shroud, but is lured into a trap by Shroud's gang, the Red Ring. Robert narrowly escapes, only to realize a bomb was placed on his mech suit. He survives, but the suit is heavily damaged and put out of commission. After announcing his retirement to the press and failing to stop a robbery on his own, Robert is approached by the superhero Mandy / Blonde Blazer, who proposes he works at the Torrance branch of the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) as a dispatcher in exchange for help repairing his suit. Having heavily indebted himself trying to maintain it, Robert accepts.

On his first day, he encounters his old friend Chase / Track Star, a retired speedster hero who, due to a side effect of his powers, appears 80-years-old at 39. Robert is then assigned to the Z-Team, a group of supervillains that SDN is working to reform via their Phoenix Program. However, its members do not take him seriously. He later gets into an argument with one of the Z-Team's members, Courtney / Invisigal, after she disobeys a direct order and allows a supervillain to escape. Blazer tasks Robert with cutting one of the Z-Team's members, Sonar or Coupé, to "send a message" and replace them with either SDN janitor Waterboy or Phenomaman, a former top hero and Blazer's ex-boyfriend. Sometime later, Robert grows closer to either Blazer or Invisigal and builds a rapport with the Z-Team.

Meanwhile, Robert rebuilds the Mecha Man suit with help from SDN technical specialist Royd, but fails to replicate its missing power source, the Astral Pulse. Invisigal and Royd eventually locate it, but she and Blazer disagree over how to retrieve it. Chase berates Invisigal for her criminal past, causing her to leave in an attempt to retrieve the Astral Pulse alone. With Robert's assistance, she evades the Red Ring and reaches the Astral Pulse, but is intercepted by Shroud, who seemingly steals it and incapacitates her. Chase uses his speed to rescue her before collapsing.

With Chase hospitalized, the majority of the Z-Team votes to cut Invisigal. She later admits to Robert that she was the one who planted the bomb, having previously worked for Shroud and the Red Ring before joining the Phoenix Program. Robert is later captured by Shroud and the cut Z-Team member. Shroud reveals Invisigal hid the Astral Pulse from both of them and tortures Robert in a failed attempt at locating it. Blazer rescues Robert, but the Red Ring launches an assault on Los Angeles.

As the Z-Team and SDN fight back, Shroud leads a Red Ring detachment in attacking SDN's Torrance call center. Royd captures Invisigal and retrieves the Astral Pulse, allowing Robert to join the fight as Mecha Man while Blazer gives her amulet, the source of her powers, to Chase to revive him and help them further. Robert, Chase, Blazer, and the Z-Team defeat the Red Ring, but Shroud takes Robert's dog Beef hostage, forcing Robert to surrender.

If the player decided to trust Invisigal throughout the series despite her actions, she will take a bullet for Robert, who beats Shroud into submission before either killing or sparing him. Invisigal is subsequently welcomed back into the Z-Team. If Robert killed Shroud, he is suspended pending an investigation, though Blazer and Chase do not hold it against him. If the player did not trust Invisigal however, she will kill Shroud, take his mask, and abandon Robert and the Z-Team.

Regardless of the choices made, the Red Ring is defeated and arrested, the cut Z-Team member is either forgiven or sent to prison, and the Z-Team is hailed as heroes while the Torrance branch undergoes repairs.

Cast and characters

Main

Clockwise from top left: Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey, Jeffrey Wright, and Erin Yvette, voice Robert / Mecha Man, Courtney / Invisigal, Chase / Track Star, and Mandy / Blonde Blazer, respectively.

• Aaron Paul as Robert Robertson III / Mecha Man – A third-generation superhero who lacks powers but possesses a mechanical suit with various weaponry originally built by his grandfather. After the destruction of his suit and being forced into retirement, he secures a job at SDN as a dispatcher to earn finances to repair it. Rahul Kohli was originally in consideration for the role by the studio.^[5]
  • Billy Cristos Jr. as Young Robert
• Laura Bailey as Courtney / Invisigal – An asthmatic, rebellious former villain formerly known as Invisibitch and the lowest-ranking member of the Z-Team who can turn invisible while holding her breath.
• Erin Yvette as Mandy / Blonde Blazer – A corporate superhero for hire, the manager of SDN's Los Angeles division, and Phenomaman's ex-girlfriend who wears an amulet that grants her the power of flight, super-strength, energy blasts, and a resistance to toxins. Without it, she loses her superhuman physique and becomes a brunette.
• Fahim Anwar^[c] as Chad / Flambae – An Afghan former supervillain turned hero, former nemesis of Mecha Man, and member of the Z-Team who possesses pyrokinesis and flameproof skin.
• MoistCr1TiKaL^[d] as Victor / Sonar – A highly intelligent man/bat hybrid, Harvard graduate, recovering cocaine addict, and member of the Z-Team who can transform into a large monstrous bat.
• Alanah Pearce as Malevola Gibb – A broadsword wielding half-demoness, Sonar's Narcotics Anonymous (NA) sponsor, and member of the Z-Team who can create portals.
• jacksepticeye^[e] as Colm / Punch Up – An Irish former carnival strongman, Coupé's ex-boyfriend, and member of the Z-Team who acquired the strength of ten men and an immunity to pain from a sorceress in exchange for half of his height.
• Thot Squad^[f] as Alice / Prism – A pop star influencer and member of the Z-Team who possesses photokinesis, the ability to control and manipulate light.
• Mayanna Berrin as Janelle / Coupé – A former assassin and ballerina, Punch Up's ex-girlfriend, and member of the Z-Team who can fly and possesses umbrakinesis, the ability to generate and manipulate shadows, and an assortment of daggers.
• Yung Gravy^[g] as Bruno / Golem – A magical construct made of dirt and clay and member of the Z-Team.
• Travis Willingham as Katon-Ur / Phenomaman – A once highly-regarded hero-for-hire from a distant planet, public face for SDN, Blonde Blazer's ex-boyfriend, and member of the Z-Team who can fly, possesses super-strength, and suffers from bouts of depression.
• Joel Haver as Herman "Herm" / Waterboy – An insecure SDN janitor who can produce water from his mouth and body.
• Tanoai Reed as Roy / Royd – A muscular member of the Phoenix Program who was arrested by Robert's father, became a mechanic for SDN, and helps repair Robert's Mecha Man suit.
• Matthew Mercer as Elliot Connors / Shroud – A former member of the Brave Brigade who became a supervillain and leader of the Red Ring who killed Robert's father and possesses a mask that grants predictive abilities and various cybernetic augmentations.
• Jeffrey Wright as Chase / Track Star / Starblazer – A speedster, former member of the Brave Brigade, old friend of Robert's father, and Robert's dispatching mentor who recommends him for the job. Due to his powers causing him to age 50 times faster than normal while in use, leading him to appear 80-years-old at 39, he is forced to retire and work at SDN as part of their hero records database and a dispatcher.
  • Elijah Wright as Young Chase

Critical reception

Dispatch received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator website Metacritic.^[20][21][22] OpenCritic reported that 97% of critics recommended it.^[23]

Game Informer's Ben Reeves praised the narrative and choices.^[24] Gamekult's Kelmazad enjoyed the art, gameplay, writing, and cast, but noted the jokes were becoming tired.^[25] GameSpot's Jordan Ramée enjoyed the writing, visuals, acting, and challenge, but noted a lack of narrative consequence.^[26] IGN's Sarah Thwaites praised the writing and cast, but felt a lack of thrill with the hacking mini-games.^[27] PC Gamer's Fraser Brown lauded the characters and writing, but wished for more interactivity.^[29] Push Square's Robert Ramsey enjoyed the writing, characters, choices, and soundtrack, but felt the quick time events were lacking.^[30] Nintendo Life's Jim Norman reviewed the Nintendo Switch 2 port; praising the writing, acting, and animation, but described the gameplay as lacking and found the port's censorship strange.^[28]

Sales

Dispatch sold over one million units within the first ten days of release^[31] and two million units within the first month.^[32] According to AdHoc Studio, it was on course to beat their three-year sales target in just three months.^[33] It has sold over four million copies.^[34]

Accolades

Censorship on the Nintendo Switch version

In December 2025, it was revealed that the artwork for Dispatch's Digital Deluxe Edition on the Nintendo eShop had been altered from its original PlayStation 5 and Windows designs. The changed artwork featured new altered swimsuits worn by the game's characters to appear more modest in nature.^[44] This raised concerns about an incoming potential censorship in the game itself among players. When asked about the changed artwork, AdHoc Studio replied that they "could not comment on the topic at (that) time".^[45]

Upon the game's launch on the Nintendo eShop on January 28, 2026, players reported that certain scenes in the game featuring nudity, sexual content and crude gestures had been censored by default and could not be disabled, which was previously an optional toggle in the game's PlayStation 5 and Windows versions. In response, AdHoc Studio claimed that the Switch ports were censored "due to Nintendo's content criteria" and claimed that the "core gameplay and narrative experience remain(ed) identical to the original release".^[46]

However in a later response, Nintendo stated that while they require third party titles to carry ratings from independent rating organizations and to meet Nintendo's platform guidelines, they do not change the game's content itself.^[47] Regardless, there were reports of a large number of dissatisfied players requesting refunds for their copies on the eShop, with some claiming that the censorship was not previously disclosed by AdHoc to people pre-ordering the game.^[48]

Following player backlash and reports of mass-refunds, AdHoc issued an apology stating that "people (had) a right to be pissed [sic]" and that they "had lots to learn". However, they claimed that they did not intend to hide the port's censorship from the players. They further confirmed that they were working with Nintendo on a path forward, with plans for an update to "address at least some of the censored content". They also admitted that they initially assumed the game would be allowed uncensored on the Switch platform, similar to CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.^[49]

On February 2, 2026, AdHoc confirmed that an uncensored physical release would not be possible on Nintendo systems. However, they were unable to explain why different SKUs could not be made for an international version similar to The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk, citing legal reasons.^[50] On February 15, 2026, AdHoc reportedly reverted one of the censored materials in the game in an attempt to resolve the issue.^[51][52] They once again reiterated in March 2026 that they were still working with Nintendo to revert the port's censorship, while confirming that the game's Xbox Series X/S release to be the same uncensored version to that of the original PlayStation 5 and Windows ports.^[53][54]

Alleged depiction of non-consensual romance

Upon the release of episodes 7 and 8 of the game on November 12, 2025, some players claimed that a key scene in episode 7 involving Robert Robertson and Invisigal allegedly depicted a non-consensual romantic advance on Robert. In said scene, Invisigal initiates a kiss with Robert without his consent. According to Game Rant,^[55] many players who preferred a romance route with Blonde Blazer likened the kissing scene to "a sort of forced romance."

On November 19, 2025, AdHoc Studio put out patch 1.0.16409 for the game that addressed the issue. Official patch notes from the developers read "conditional outcome tuning to balance character relationships in episodes 7 & 8".^[56] This meant that unless certain criteria were met for the romantic encounter with Invisigal following this update, the kissing scene would not play for most players. The new update was received positively by players, who felt that the original conditions needed to play the scene felt inadequate and inappropriate.^[57]