Dispatch

Easily one of the best games I've played in 2026 and one of my favourites. I finished it 3 times to get all the achievements, and I had a blast every time. The voice acting is top notch, the dialogues are really good, and the music is really fitting. Sure, it may be the classic super hero story you've seen a million times, but the characters are really what makes the game shine and the experience worth it. I genuinely cried, laughed out loud and caught myself smiling like an idiot during some parts. I am not even that mad that there is no skip button : there are some scenes that are SO WELL acted that it's just an absolute pleasure to see them again. (The angry Chase scene gives me shivers everytime, iykyk) Being the control freak that I am, I absolutely loved the dispatch segments and I wish there was more. Really makes the game stand out among all the "choices matter-visual novel" games. I really hope there will be another game or a DLC. If you like super heroes and TellTale style games, definitely give this a shot.

[h3]The bar has been raised for narrative adventure games[/h3] My past experiences with other games in this genre (all from TellTale) were a mixed bag. I loved [i][b]'The Wolf Among Us'[/b][/i] but the rest mostly disappointed me. They were often let down by over-the-top millennial humour or set in an un-engaging world with characters that never hooked me in. However, AdHoc Studio has managed to avoid all of those pitfalls and laid the gauntlet down for others to step up their game. While there is some of that [i][b]millennial sarcasm[/b][/i] here, it's in small enough doses that it can easily be ignored. The dialogue and voice acting is pretty good throughout, with more than a few scenes that caught me off guard and left me laughing out loud. I also enjoyed the [i][b]romance[/b][/i] options, and honestly, it left me very frustrated that there wasn't a LOT more of this. I really hope they lean into this a great deal more in their next game. The [i][b]soundtrack[/b][/i] was also amazing. After each chapter I would sit through all the credits, taking in the music while I digested the story in my mind. The quick-time events can be toggled off in settings, which pleased me, as this was always something I disliked in other games in this genre. The dispatch mini-game helped to pad the playtime out, but I really wasn't engaged with it much. I would frequently send heroes out randomly so I could get back to the story. Though I did prefer it over TellTales '[i]wander around until you click something that moves the story forward[/i]' approach. ⠀ ⠀

Man, what a ride. This is by far the best Telltale style show I've ever watched. It honestly felt like watching Edgerunners, just without quite as much suffering. The story is fairly simple, but it's incredibly enjoyable from start to finish. The characters are masterfully written, and it's hard not to like every single one of them. The biggest highlight, though, is the dialogue. Sometimes it's clever, sometimes it's cringy, but it's almost always funny. If you told me the dialogue and characters were written by pre-DC James Gunn, I'd believe you. The voice cast also did an excellent job of making the characters feel alive and three dimensional, well, except for Sonar, voiced by Moist Critical. I think Charlie's performance was terrible, hopefully he'll be recast or removed entirely from season 2. The soundtrack absolutely slaps. Never in a million years did I expect to hear Bershy in a AAA production like this. The management minigame is a nice break between story bits. Even though I'm usually not a fan of time management games, I genuinely enjoyed it here, despite it being fairly basic. There's also a hacking minigame that's very similar to the one from Human Revolution. It's nothing special, but it does a decen job of making certain story moments and the management minigame more engaging. I really wish I had watched Dispatch last year instead of putting it aside because of my superhero fatigue. That was a huge mistake. Honestly I think Dispatch should be 2025 GOTY rather than Expedition 33 and I absolutely adore E33.