There is a piece of me, a very small one, that I never realized had been left behind on my Xbox One S hard drive back in 2017. It stayed put, hidden from view, soaking in Pacific salt from the air as years passed on an unchanging, unflinching Oregon coast-town. I left a piece of me in Arcadia Bay, with Chloe Price and Rachel Amber.
In October of 2025, I felt another piece - perhaps a twin to that one from so long ago - break free from my soul and come to bear within the SSD of my personal computer. It hums pleasantly, nodding to the faint beat of Bershy's Radio, basking in the budding romance and familial bonds at the core of AdHoc's debut game: Dispatch. The game that gave me a similar, yet not identical, sense of love and loss that came with the conclusion of Life is Strange: Before the Storm nearly a decade prior.
Am I too emotional about these things? I don't know, maybe. But never, not for a second, would I want to take those pieces of me back. Because wherever I am, and in whatever situation I find myself, there is always a tether reminding me of the broken bits. They send out strong emotions like a lighthouse in a storm, burning through the howling wind and guiding me home.
I thought about doing a formal, structured look at Dispatch. But to be completely frank here, I have only played the game once at this time, and don't know if I have it in me to play again. That first playthrough, of me following through the weekly releases and seeing the community discourse at every turn, resulted in an unmatched and fairly lucky ending where I got more or less exactly what I wanted from the game. I felt like replaying it might tarnish that perfect resolution, that ironclad memory. So, given that news, this post will be rather short.
I loved Dispatch so much that I started reading fanfiction about it to get my fix. I loved Dispatch so much that I made it my phone lock screen (two months and counting). I loved Dispatch so much that I couldn't get the musical highlights from each episode out of my brain for weeks after it ended, and I still can't avoid Radio and anything from Thot Squad even if I wanted to. I loved Dispatch, and I'm glad that it was even better than I expected back when it was first announced.
I hope the game gets a sequel, or at least a good second outing from AdHoc with that Critical Role title they're working on. The team deserves all the praise in the world, and I can't wait to see where Dispatch goes next. But until then, well...
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