In a year dominated by endless live-service titles, AdHoc Studio's Dispatch emerges as a refreshing episodic superhero game that encourages players to pause after each satisfying chapter. Founded by veterans from Telltale Games and others, the title has sold 2 million copies since its 2025 release. Its TV-like structure and star-studded voice cast have made it a surprise hit.
The gaming industry has increasingly favored live-service models, where titles like Fortnite extend indefinitely with seasonal content, leaving players unsure when to stop. As Matt Kim notes in a GameSpot opinion piece from December 27, 2025, this trend fulfills a 'monkey-paw wish' for games that last forever but creates a 'struggle to know when to put the controller down.' Enter Dispatch, a new episodic game from AdHoc Studio that provides clear endpoints, mimicking the bite-sized format of cable TV episodes.
AdHoc Studio, established by former employees of Ubisoft, Night School, and notably Telltale Games—the studio behind the 2012 episodic hit The Walking Dead—aims to revive this structure. Telltale's closure in the late 2010s, amid internal and external challenges, had shifted focus toward complete single-player experiences or live-service games. Dispatch counters this by delivering a sense of accomplishment at the credits roll without demanding massive time investments.
Set in a superhero-filled modern-day Los Angeles, Dispatch follows Robert Robertson III at a private security firm, blending workplace comedy reminiscent of The Office with the grit of The Boys. Players make choices that shape the hero's personality and story outcomes. Each of the eight episodes, roughly an hour long excluding credits, follows a formula: a short intro, an interactive dispatching simulation, a climactic finale, a musical needle drop, and credits.
The game's fully voiced narrative features prominent actors including Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad and Jeffrey Wright from Westworld, alongside Critical Role talents Laura Bailey and Matt Mercer. Kim describes his experience: 'For the past week, playing Dispatch became a nightly ritual... each section felt so perfectly calibrated for a single session of gaming.' Despite the episodic constraints, the dispatching sim earns praise for its engaging depth.
Dispatch's confident direction and potent mix of writing, talent, and production have resonated, with 2 million copies sold—a major win for a debut IP from a new studio. As part of GameSpot's Best Of 2025 series, it stands out for providing 'the perfect length of time' with the game, alleviating fears of missing out on endless content.
