Romance in videogames is a controversial topic. We here at PC Gamer are divided on it ourselves, with some arguing that developers like Obsidian are right to downplay romance, while others praise Baldur’s Gate 3 for its horniness. I’m in favor of more kissing and less killing in general, and its inclusion was one of many things I enjoyed about Adhoc Studio’s superhero workplace comedy Dispatch.
But while Dispatch doesn’t shy away from nudity, it doesn’t go as far as it could have. “We definitely cut some sex scenes. Which, in retrospect, we shouldn’t have,” Dispatch writer Pierre Shorette recently told Inverse. “Maybe folks will get to see those one day.”
That wasn’t the only thing they had to cut, with Shorette adding, “There isn’t anyone on the development team that wouldn’t have a laundry list of stuff they wish they could polish more or gotten into the game.”
Dispatch’s animation is on a level above and beyond what we normally see in videogames, and honestly better than a lot of TV shows. That doesn’t come cheap. “We’re still an indie studio,” Shorette explained, “I think people forget that because it’s doing so well and looks so good. But because it looks good, it costs a lot per second to make this videogame, and sometimes it costs things”.
Interest in Dispatch has been high, and it sold more than a million copies in its first 10 days. It plays particularly well in short-form video, and being episodic—but with only a week between releases—has helped it stay part of the conversation. That level of success was a surprise to Adhoc. “I don’t know that I anticipated it to be as ravenous as it’s been. It’s probably why we didn’t plan for more romance options, because we didn’t know it was going to be such a meaningful part of the experience for folks,” Shorette said.
Our reviewer Fraser Brown gave Dispatch a thumbs-up, calling it “a triumphant season of interactive TV”. And while Adhoc has a game set in Critical Role’s fantasy world of Exandria queued-up next, a second season of Dispatch is also a possibility.
