Dispatch dev says the Expedition 33 shoutout "means so much," and no other game has ever made them "cry so quickly"

When Guillaume Broche stepped up at last week's Golden Joysticks to collect one of many, many gongs I'm expecting Clair Obscur Expedition 33 to snap up throughout the 2025 awards season, he ended his 'best storytelling' acceptance speech with a shoutout to AdHoc Studios' narrative adventure game, Dispatch: "Play Dispatch, it's very, very cool and has a very good story." It's a small, yet potent gesture; it's not only an acknowledgement of one of the year's breakout hits, but a heartwarming reminder that, despite both games competing in many of the same categories, there's nothing but love and respect there.

Dispatch has been one of my big standouts this year, and I could not be more thrilled to see AdHoc, a studio that effectively rose from the ashes of Telltale Games, finally have its moment in the spotlight. Behind its superpowered façade, Dispatch delivers a grounded story that wields its episodic format to great effect. From week to week, the hype surrounding Robert Robertson III and the Z-Team grew louder and louder, player counts soared, and the theories regarding its excellent cast got progressively wilder. I'm not at all surprised that Dispatch secured a nomination for best debut indie game at this year's The Game Awards. But, as creative director Dennis Lenart and narrative designer Polly Raguimov tell me, the industry-wide response to AdHoc's oddball child was well beyond what they imagined.

"It's always nice [being nominated for an award]," Lenart says. "We were just trying to get the game done. And then once the finale was out, there were a few days of detoxing and bug fixing, and just trying to kind of slowly come out of the years of tunnel vision. So, hearing stuff like that, it's kind of out of left field. You're like, 'wait, what? Oh, wow, crazy.'"

"I've been watching so many streamers playing it, partially to note any bugs or if anything's not working correctly," Raguimov follows up. "But even just getting the reactions of players - I've played the game so many times and it's like you kind of get used to it - but I never get tired of seeing people react to the game because it just fills you with so much love."

As a narrative designer, Raguimov was particularly struck by Broche's Golden Joysticks nod. "That means so much, [I'm] super happy for them," she glows. "To just take time out of your own speech to showcase another game, that's massive, especially in that category. What he [Broche] said about its story felt really, really cool."

"I think there's a sort of camaraderie amongst folks who are developers that really believe that narrative in games is important," Lenart chimes in. "It sort of feels like living in a town and, like, if you skate and then you find someone else who skates and you become instant friends. Or, like, finding people who are into the same music as you when you're younger and you instantly have this bond.

"I feel like it's a similar thing in the games industry with folks who appreciate narrative where you hope that each other can do well," Lenart continues. "[…] When you see it done well, you appreciate it. It's always nice to get nods from folks who do it, for sure."

Expedition 33 categorically offers the best opening hour of any non-episodic narrative game I've played in a long, long time. I'm not saying a word about what it entails; you can go and find that out for yourself if you've somehow not given the belle epoque J'RPG a whirl. I'm glad I'm not alone in that feeling though, as Raguimov brands it "brutal" in a complimentary way. "I've never had a game make me cry so quickly before," she notes. "That was impressive."

"Honestly, just incredible stuff," Lenart punctuates. Nothing more needs to be said there.