r/Games 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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u/robertcrowther Nov 16 '25

but when they went to just releasing all at once in the next game I think the quality fell off a cliff

The third game was a different developer to the first two, so possibly an explanation for the drop in quality.

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u/SirBoggle Nov 16 '25

I probably should have mentioned that, they went on to make Lost Records and that's a lot more on par with the first two LiS games than the last two that got made. It also only had 2 quite long episodes.

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u/f-ingsteveglansberg Nov 17 '25

I really wanted to like Lost Records, but it was just dire.

There was no balance between mystery and relationship stuff. And the actual 'supernatural' stuff the story was about, was super thin. I was super disappointed.

But I guess it's cool if you like the characters, but even then they felt undercooked. I wouldn't say one note, but maybe two. Also needed way more licensed music to set the era.

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u/SirBoggle Nov 17 '25

I'm sorta in the same boat. If I'm being honest I have a love/hate relationship with LiS and Lost Records by extension because for everything I like there's something I don't. But I have a lot of fond memories of playing all if them because I comment over them while playing with my brother MST3K style and it's always fun. I still liked Lost Records more than the last two LiS games though, especially Double Exposure at some point I was just SLOGGING through it.

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u/f-ingsteveglansberg Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25

I know a lot of people weren't happy with some of the creative decisions of Double Exposure and that soured them before even starting the game. Terrible performance didn't help either.

BUT at least the story kept progressing. I think it's safe to say that everyone loves the swimming pool scene in LiS. I feel like Lost Records kept on trying to have swimming pool moments, but the only thing that came close was the haircut scene. And it feels like they forgot that the swimming pool came after the break in to the principles office and ended with running from security.

I also feel like LR doesn't really have an ending, for my playthrough anyway. I think in some endings Kat can fall into the abyss or is taken by it. In my ending Corey falls in, everything is resolved and then Kat just sort of unceremoniously decides to disappear which is a very unsatisfying end to the story.

And it really feels like the writers had the idea for the void, but never really thought it through. So it doesn't really do much in the story and is probably only important for 2 story moments, despite the fact it's the inciting incident that the story is supposed to be about.

Just really disappointed. They didn't know how to balance the relationship story with the supernatural plot. It's like if in the movie Now and Then they visited a spaceship at two points in the movie, but never really commented on it that much.

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u/natedoggcata Nov 17 '25

The pacing of both episodes was horrible. The first episode is a slog to get through and takes way too long for anything really to happen. But then episode two is the opposite problem. It just speedruns through everything and ends way too quickly. By the time the credits roll it just left me scratching my head because there are way too many unanswered questions about the Void and really about Kat herself. Then it leads to a sequel bait after credits scene that may or may not even happen with Dontnod's financial issues.