In a moment of heartwarming solidarity, the devs behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 decided to use one of their acceptance speeches at the Golden Joystick Awards to shout-out narrative adventure Dispatch. The superhero drama just finished its first season, and Sandfall Interactive has been enjoying the ride.
Guillaume Broche, the CEO of Sandfall and creative director of Clair Obscur, gave the nod during his team's win for Best Storytelling. "Play Dispatch, it's very very cool," he says at the end of his speech, "It has a very cool story, if you like this one."
It's a beautiful little shout-out, at a point where he could've simply chosen to sing his team's praises. Instead, Broche chose to point the limelight towards AdHoc Studios to demonstrate that even though Clair Obscur is picking up more than a few awards, it's far from the only top choice in any category.
Dispatch has proven to be a leftfield hit this year. The first season of the animated story about superpowered people has drawn in millions of players so far, and we only got the last two episodes recently. It takes influence from The Boys and Invincible, without being quite as dark as either.
Made by AdHoc, a company founded by former Telltale developers, Dispatch captures the essence of what made The Walking Dead and the Wolf Among Us so good, leaning into choice-driven gameplay with a variety of options and ways for things to play out. There are so many forks in the road, season 2 has a lot off ground to cover.
It's a pretty steep contrast to the operatic quality of Expedition 33, but then, that's what makes it a strong option for what to play after. A palette cleanser, if you will, and if you appreciated the plotting of Clair Obscur, you're likely to find plenty to appreciate in Dispatch.
