The episodic game could have taken a more mature direction, but the developers changed their minds.
Romance in games is a controversial topic. Some argue that developers like Obsidian are right to downplay romance, while others praise Baldur’s Gate 3 for its depiction of sexuality. Some generally want to see more kissing and less killing. This was one of the things they enjoyed in Adhoc Studio’s superhero workplace comedy, Dispatch. However, while Dispatch doesn’t shy away from nudity, it doesn’t go as far as it could. Dispatch writer Pierre Shorette recently told Inverse that they cut some sex scenes that they now regret. Perhaps one day we’ll get to see them.
That wasn’t the only thing they had to cut. Every member of the development team has a long list of things they would have liked to polish or expand on in the game. The animation in Dispatch far surpasses what we usually see in games and even surpasses some TV shows, but it’s expensive to produce. Shorette says Adhoc is still an indie studio. He thinks people forget that because the studio is doing so well and the game looks so good. However, because it looks so good, developing the game is very expensive.
Interest in Dispatch was high, with over a million copies sold in the first ten days. The game works particularly well in short videos, and its episodic nature—only a week passes between releases—helped it remain a topic of conversation. This success came as a surprise to Adhoc. Shorette did not expect such a high level of interest. This is probably why they did not plan for more romantic possibilities; they did not anticipate that it would play such a significant role in people’s experience.
While Adhoc’s next game is set in the fantasy world of Critical Role’s Exandria, a second season of Dispatch is also possible.
