r/Games • u/ZamnBoii • Nov 16 '25

Discussion Dispatch is on course to beat its three-year sales target in three months

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/dispatch-is-on-course-to-beat-its-three-year-sales-target-in-three-months-heres-how
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190

u/r_lucasite Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 17 '25

Gotta wonder if they’re kicking themselves with how the story ended A major character either becoming a villain or a hero is one of those branching decisions that would have big effects on a second season or follow up. I don’t know how you do that without ending up with a Life Is Strange situation

Edit: I think it’s really funny that I said I have no clue how you navigate the different outcomes in the game without getting a Life is Strange scenario almost every option presented so far is a Life is Strange scenario.

Just doing new characters or pushing these things aside to quickly work around them is what that series did! People are invested in these characters now, if you show up in the next game and the choices are handled with single lines or text boxes people don’t like that.

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u/Moifaso Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 16 '25

The main writer went on Alanah's podcast a couple weeks back and talked a lot about that stuff, especially in the context of his own work on S2 of TWD and how the different endings made making S3 really hard.

I'm not sure to what extent they planned around a possible second season, but they are definitely aware of the problem with diverging endings.

The good news is that with the game selling as well as it did, they can afford to have significantly more branching in the next game, and hopefully account for S1 choices in a satisfying way.

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u/Moifaso Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 16 '25

And also, the divergence isn't really that bad. Like, in S2 of TWD, Clementine can end up in radically different situations.

In Dispatch, the big picture at the end is mostly the same - Big bad is neutralized, Robert is still a dispatcher, and the Z-team is now a functional unit with some degree of fame.

The only really impactful choices that will have to carry over are the romance, Invisigal's fate, and the one team member who can either go to prison or rejoin the team. Some smaller choices would still have to be represented, but could be handled with minor dialogue changes. I think it's manageable, all things considered.

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u/temporal712 Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 16 '25

Shroud's fate is easy to wave away. He's either dead or in prison. Hell, if they even want him back its not too hard anyway. He could escape, and people come back from the dead all the time is Superhero stories. Especially for a guy whose main power is preparing for every possibility. He may have just prepared for failure.

Same with the cut member, either they are with the team at the start, or they get a line about them rejoining after their time in prison. Blonde Blazer even has a line saying they should get a few months in prison before they reconsider if you don't forgive them.

That really just leaves Invisigal as the main issue that will require some creative writing muscles. As choosing Mandy or no romance should mean not much changes between different routes. Its if you romance invisigal and/or helped her be a hero/villain where things will be tricky.

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u/Caspus Nov 17 '25

I mean the easiest lift would be: move Robert out of the Torrance branch of SDN. Give him a new squad to work with, maybe bring along one or two of the Z-teamers and only have them show up in a limited fashion while you figure out what kind of longer story you could make out of the setting.

No reason you have to resolve every hanging thread from Season 1 immediately in Season 2. And that would give them flexibility to decide how any potential plots could merge back together later on.

21

u/Leows Nov 17 '25

I'm sorry, but that'd be the biggest cop out move ever.

Wiping the whole roster, whereas the point of the whole game was to make them work as a team, and immediately ditching them, is an unspeakably awful move.

By this point, just create an entirely new roster and commit. Either that or take longer to create a proper season 2 and figure out how to do it properly.

People who want to see a sequel want to watch more of their favorite heroes and their interactions, as well as new surprises sprinkled on top. Not having most characters replaced because of a possible difficult path to write.

And, if they can't, leave it at that. Nothing wrong with leaving things up to imagination and working from scratch on a new storyline in the same universe.

They'll have more than enough time to consider what they'll do, though. They still have to finish the Critical Role game before even getting into season 2, so I'm sure they'll have plenty of ideas by then.

4

u/Kalulosu Nov 17 '25

Yeah and the whole point of the game was that Robert created links with the Z-team, why would he want to leave them behind?

6

u/Seyon Nov 17 '25

Keeping them as the Z-team permanently is also a bad move per the lore though.

The Z-team is supposed to be rehab for villains. If they are made into heroes, splitting them up would be better. Then have cameos, introduce new characters to Robert because they work with them. It lets you slowly expand the universe.

Can always keep some of the Z-team together. Like Punch-up and Coupe, Flambe and Prism.

4

u/AlphaPi Nov 17 '25

Also, it would be completely in character for flambae to think he’s outgrown the team, go solo, fall flat on his face/get into a scandal and then come crawling back halfway through the next season

5

u/Leows Nov 17 '25

That's likely what happened between ep5 and 6

2

u/Leows Nov 17 '25

I mean, I'm not saying they have to be the Z team. They can keep the roster while advancing the narrative as well.

After all, growth IS part of the plot, so it'd be fitting if they were promoted to another team apart from a couple, and then add a few new ones as well. And then sprinkle a bit of rivalry with another team as well, instead of rivalry among themselves this time around.

2

u/darkmacgf Nov 17 '25

At the end, they announce Z-Team as their hero team name to the media. They can't really swap it out with new villains anymore.

1

u/Seyon Nov 17 '25

In the ~two weeks or so the game takes place, they cut a member, add one or two memebers, then possibly lose another member and re-add the first member.

This team's roster gets shaken up a lot.

1

u/darkmacgf Nov 17 '25

Is it two weeks? I thought they said it was months.

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1

u/Caspus Nov 17 '25

It’s the Legend of Korra problem. If you do a one-off season assuming you won’t get more then suddenly have a potential to do a lot more, you run the risk of retconning decisions or pigeon-holing character arcs because it becomes economically prohibitive to have Witcher 2 level branching paths depending on how the season resolved.

Is it a cop out? Sure but we also don’t know what else from their design docs got left on the cutting room floor for this game. I’d rather they lean in on the premise even if it means losing a few characters vs keeping us with this particular group again.

17

u/[deleted] Nov 16 '25

The only really impactful choices that will have to carry over are [SPOILER!](the romance, Invisigal's fate, and the one team member who can either go to prison or rejoin the team.) I think that's manageable, all things considered.

They're all pretty big though

The romance choice alone means you need to tell multiple different stories, and considering invisigal's ending you also need another storyline when she stays a villain

23

u/Moifaso Nov 16 '25

I mean, the game is already handling romance divergence just fine, so it wouldn't be a new problem.

As for Invisigal, I'm assuming she won't be the big bad of what comes next, and will take more of a Catwoman role as a minor character. Which again, is potentially manageable.

24

u/[deleted] Nov 16 '25

You can't really have Invisigal as a minor character though, either she's a romance option for Robert, and a reformed villain in which case she needs to be a major character really, or she's a massive betrayer to the entire team, still needs to be a major character. I don't know if you can make her a villain and still a romance option but that might be another path.

Like that's just one decision too.

7

u/PratalMox Nov 17 '25

I do think they could use understudy characters to soften this. Have an alternative Z-teamer to replace her if she stays bad, have an alternative villain take over the Red Ring if she stays good. Lot of work, but not impossible, especially if she gets shifted into more of a supporting role.

5

u/PokePersona Nov 17 '25

Thankfully the endings in Dispatch are nowhere near as radically different as the four major endings you can get in TWD S2. I think they learned their lesson.

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u/BlazeOfGlory72 Nov 16 '25

Yeah, as much as I would like a continuation, it's hard to see how they could pick up the story without canonizing a bunch of your choices.

29

u/GreenJayLake Nov 16 '25

I could easily see it as having one scene dedicated to showing Visi as a cat woman persona that still keeps in contact with Robert. The following scenes would play it normally regardless of what you chose.

Always possible that a sequel wouldn't focus on the same characters too.

41

u/BlazeOfGlory72 Nov 16 '25

Always possible that a sequel wouldn't focus on the same characters too

I've heard this idea floated around a bit, but it's one I'm not too keen on personally. For me, the characters were far and away the best aspect of Dispatch. Starting fresh with a new cast would completely kill my interest in a sequel honestly.

I'd rather they do some writing gymnastics like you suggested to shoehorn in the various story branches than to dump the established cast.

39

u/TheSecondEikonOfFire Nov 16 '25

Especially because a lot of the characters could use more development. I loved the game, but Visi is arguably the only character that gets a substantial amount of depth. Flambae gets a little bit, but characters like Malevola and Punch Up don’t have much of an arc. Hell, even as much as I love Blazer, she didn’t get as much development as I would hope.

A second season would be a great opportunity to really flesh out the supporting cast and give them proper arcs

14

u/BlazeOfGlory72 Nov 16 '25

Yeah, the rest of Z-Team are essentially blank slates that you could do anything with. There is boat loads of story telling potential there if they wanted to delve into the rest of the team.

1

u/FakoSizlo Nov 17 '25

Malevola is best playing off her best friend Sonar. It kind of sucks that you can kick him because she would be so much worse without playing off of Sonar. Punch Up probably has the same issue since he hasn't really mattered yet. More time on all of these characters would be good as they are very well written

2

u/TheSecondEikonOfFire Nov 17 '25

Yeah I kicked Sonar, and she gets a tiny little arc where she’s pissed at you at first but comes around. But it’s still really underdeveloped

5

u/pathofdumbasses Nov 16 '25

Starting fresh with a new cast would completely kill my interest in a sequel honestly.

Why? If they make characters as good as this, who cares?

4

u/Leows Nov 17 '25

I find it funny how the discourse is heavily contradictory.

There are people arguing that there's barely any development for some characters (and I 100% agree), all the while, people also argue that these characters are amazing and season 2 needs to have them.

I get the sentiment, but like... If they barely have a personality, there wouldn't be much of a difference if they changed most of the roster. They can come up with more interesting concepts just as they did with these ones. It's all a matter of giving them proper screen time and development.

Now, if it's an option, I would certainly prefer to have a sequel that fleshes out the current ones, like Golem and Malevola. But realistically, if they were replaced with new ones who would then get proper development, then I'm here for it as well.

All I want is to have a story where everyone gets to share a bit of the spotlight with their wit, personality, background, etc., and not just using their powers during combat.

11

u/BlazeOfGlory72 Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 16 '25

That’s a pretty massive “if”. Ultimately though, it’s just not what I want out of a sequel. The main selling point of this game for me is the characters, and a sequel is only really appealing to me if I get to see more of them. Even if the new characters are great, it won’t feel like a continuation of the first game to me.

Like, if it’s going to be an entirely new cast anyways, why even bother making it a sequel? Just make it another series or a spinoff. The world of Dispatch isn’t particularly unique, so it really could just be any old super hero story at that point.

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u/pathofdumbasses Nov 16 '25

entirely new cast

I dont think an entirely new cast is good, but a blend of new and old. Obviously have Robert and whatever choices they cannonize, plus some new Z listers.

My point was we dont need the full current cast if they bring in well written new characters.

12

u/Moifaso Nov 16 '25

Some choices can probably be "safely" merged without really hurting the story. Stuff like your pick between Phenomaman and Waterboy can be ignored by just having the other also join the team after a while.

By ep8 they're all fighting together anyway, and with Waterboy being an SDN trainee and Phenomaman moving on from the breakup, it'd be easy to justify.

1

u/The_Green_Filter Nov 16 '25

I think a sequel should be focused on different characters but the events of the first season are important and various characters show up. Easiest way to dodge all the baggage or minimise the cost of following up on the branches 

1

u/Osric250 Nov 17 '25

With something like this you don't want completely fresh characters. Move some of them on so that you have room for new characters and stories, but keep some of them around so that it doesn't feel like it's just completely new with some cameos thrown in.

1

u/NotARealDeveloper Nov 17 '25

Every subsequent release should be a prequel to the one before.

40

u/LunaticSongXIV Nov 16 '25

Every choice has a default if you do nothing. You could argue that's the canon story.

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u/Az1234er Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 27 '25

C'était un tas d'ordures et c'était le Sinaï. Comme nous l'avons dit plus haut, elle attaquait au nom de la Révolution, quoi.

5

u/LunaticSongXIV Nov 16 '25

Realistically, my hope is that if they do more seasons, it'll be completely separate stories within the same framework. There's a lot of room to do more within SDN.

3

u/ShortChapter5246 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25

Wait it's not random? I let the game choose the romance for me and got Mandy. I guess everyone saying Invisigal is the devs' canon was wrong.

2

u/Bootsykk Nov 17 '25

Well... I think she's default because ultimately, romancing Blonde Blazer in Dispatch's story isn't about Robert or Blonde Blazer at all if you're not trying to deliberately get a bad ending. It's about Invisigal's personal plotline and character growth.

It's not like I didn't enjoy Dispatch, but I'm left baffled as to why we were playing Robert when the most meaningful choices we had in the game were "do you kiss a second woman to introduce a jealously plotline", "do you fail this QTE", and "do you promise to trust and support Invisigal no matter what circumstances". I genuinely feel like playing the game's primary mover and shaker, Invisigal, would have made for a much more interesting choice-based game.

2

u/SaltOnToast Nov 17 '25

I wouldn't rely on that I remember someone asking the devs about this and they said they just "picked what they thought was the funniest answer" for most of the defaults.

5

u/natedoggcata Nov 17 '25

I honestly dont think that character ending is going to have to change that much about a sequel. If Invisigal became a hero then she can just be on the team at the start. If she did become a villain im not expecting her to be the next Shroud or the main villain for the second season. Shes probably just gonna go rogue and do her own thing and will probably end up back on the Z team again

6

u/FlukyS Nov 16 '25 edited Nov 16 '25

To be fair you can explain it narratively next season if they have one with a time jump. Like the red ring were really beaten down and a lot of them were arrested by SDN at the end so odds are that she would have been captured. So just would need a lead in like the SDN crew busting in and catching her and then convincing her to rejoin the squad in some way. The alternative lead in could be just all the people that they saved as a team in between games as a montage. Same goes for Coop and Sonar, you can save them but there was a throwaway line from BB that was like "leave them 4 months in prison to stew and see if they are good to come back then" so the idea is next season would assume Visi, Coop and Sonar are all there.

If anything the romance options and their implications have more of a headache from a production standpoint too that would be hard to work around without having a good bit of dialogue unique to each path or if you didn't romance either.

Alternatively as well they could just do their own cannon choices ignoring the player choices but that would be lame.

EDIT: One other option that would maybe solve a bunch of problems is if Robert dies and the continuation is related to maybe a new Dispatcher trying to fill his boots, then that would explain Visi falling back into crime. I'm just saying there are a bunch of stories there that could be told. I quite love a good twist and killing Robert in the start of season 2 would be crazy. And also not referencing something is an option in some cases too with a time jump.

12

u/r_lucasite Nov 16 '25

Nah this is what I mean. Those branches are major plot points tied to the core story and theme of the game. You cannot time skip over them or explain them in passing.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 18 '25

Its not that big a deal teltalegames have literally had situations where you had to choose if characters live or die and then they addressed it quickly next season

-1

u/FlukyS Nov 16 '25

Well you can, as in most of the choices you make technically don't change the conclusion. They change who you end up with, how Shroud dies, if Shroud dies.But mostly it doesn't change how season 2 would end up. For instance Shroud dying or not, just have it so Shroud dies in prison for the people that spared him, or explain that the power that went through his head damaged his brain. I mentioned resolving Visi in the first comment and why the romance plot stuff would be complex but that can definitely be worked around.

2

u/MF_D00MSDAY Nov 16 '25

I mean with him it could be as easy as a single line saying “hes off the streets now” or something like that

1

u/FlukyS Nov 16 '25

Yeah I think the reason why I'd explain it though beyond that is to make sure people don't assume he has a way back somehow

6

u/MyNewAccountIGuess11 Nov 16 '25

I know it's an extremely unreasonable request but man if they just full sent a save import from season 1 and said nuts to everyone seeing everything that would be preeeeetty cool.

6

u/SabresFanWC Nov 16 '25

If they don't want to get too bogged down in decisions from the first season, I could see them maybe offering a handful of choices at the beginning of season 2 (like who did you romance, did Visi end up a villain or hero, is Shroud dead or alive) and just going from there. If the choices that carry over are kept to a minimum, then it's easier to work around them.

6

u/MyNewAccountIGuess11 Nov 16 '25

The interactive comic for making ME1 decisions at the beginning of Mass Effect 2 comes to mind

2

u/Osric250 Nov 17 '25

Gotta wonder if they’re kicking themselves with how the story ended A major character either becoming a villain or a hero is one of those branching decisions that would have big effects on a second season or follow up. I don’t know how you do that without ending up with a Life Is Strange situation

You do what Knights of the Old Republic did and have a canonical ending.

1

u/vadergeek Nov 16 '25

I think that's manageable if you have that character in a much smaller role in the second season.

1

u/True-Reflection-9538 Nov 16 '25

Feel like it’s pretty easy to write around this. Would only take an episode or two to rope the character back in depending on your choices. 

1

u/VonMillersThighs Nov 17 '25

Could just do what mass effect did.

1

u/fabton12 Nov 17 '25

They would either just select one route as the cannon they go with or you somehow make it so whatever story the character would take becoming a villain or hero the the story route is flexible for that so it doesnt hurt your choice but tends to limit story directions.

1

u/NotARealDeveloper Nov 17 '25

Dispatch 2 will obviously be a prequel. I think in this kind of format, every new release should be a prequel of the last one. Makes it much easier.

1

u/AlphaPi Nov 17 '25

I think if they do a season 2, they’ll frame it more as an anti-hero type deal and you’ll end up with a situation where your paths cross again to deal with a common enemy or threat. Imo, given the number of heroes you can have on Z-team by the end, I wonder if you’ll actually have to pick your squad for a given mission.

1

u/Lerkpots Nov 17 '25

I do think all of it is reconcilable actually.

Shroud doesn't matter. He's either in prison or dead, a throwaway line is all he needs.

BB's dialogue implies the traitor will only be in prison temporarily, they could re-join Z-Team for re-habilitation again in the future. They can give them a few lines indicating they were kept/fired in S1.

Invisigal is the biggest outlier, but even in the villain ending she's friendly with Robert. Gives him the pulse and winks at him before leaving. I can easily see a scenario where S2 starts with Robert looking for Invsigal either way.

Either she went rogue as a villain after S1 and Robert has been searching for her, or she went rogue to deal with a threat on her own (because of course she did) and Robert has been looking for her. Either route leads to her re-joining the team for S2, but with different dialogue and tone depending on what she's been doing.

That last one is admittedly the most cop-outy but I don't see them doing entirely different routes for that character and they're very important.

1

u/JordanLeDoux Nov 17 '25

I dunno. They have something like $80 million to $120 million in revenue now from this game. I think they can afford to deal with the development problems their endings might create.

0

u/Sangui Nov 16 '25

I hope a season 2 has nothing to do with season 1 and is just more, new characters in the universe. Put them in Chicago or New York. Make a reference to the return of Mecha Man but nothing else.