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I’ve got some news for all of you out there; if you’re one of the more than 1 million people who have been playing (and replaying) Dispatch over the past month, then you’ve slowly but surely been turned into visual novel fans. There is no need to panic. This is no cause for alarm. You should just embrace it. In fact, if Dispatch has turned you on to visual novels for the first time, it is the perfect time to explore this beloved genre of games.

I can already hear people shouting that Dispatch isn’t a visual novel. Not in the most technical sense, at least. It certainly has more moving parts and has more gameplay elements than most traditional visual novels. AdHoc Studio, like Telltale Games before them, usually refer to their games as adventure or narrative games, but the heart of them has always been the same as all those visual novels that fans have been playing for more than 30 years.

Strip back the astounding cast and excellent animation, and Dispatch is a story with branching narratives based on choices that players make. Go with Blonde Blazer on a date or watch a movie with Invisigal. Cut Coupé or Sonar from the Z-Team. Spare or kill Shroud. All of these choices impact the ending of Dispatch and help shape the unique world that players create. There are so many choices in the game that it is unlikely that two players will have exactly the same playthrough, giving fans plenty of opportunity to play through it again (and again and again).

That formula is the same as most visual novels. Steins;Gate and Fate/stay night are both famous for their use of branching narratives, often requiring players to complete multiple playthroughs in order to get the full story. Doki Doki Literature Club puts a heavy emphasis on the romance elements of most visual novels before promptly (and horrifyingly) turning them on their head. Then you get the crossover between the visual novel and dating sim genres (both of which deserve more love in the West) in games like Hatoful Boyfriend or Monster Prom.

Dispatch contains elements of all these things. Sure, it packages it all up into a superhero story that could be straight out of Western comics, but the formula that AdHoc is playing with has been perfected by visual novel developers for decades. This isn’t a knock on them; Dispatch is a great visual novel and it should be proud to be included in the genre. Perhaps the only thing it is really missing is a “true ending” that you access by playing through multiple times, but that was always an optional part of the genre to begin with.

What should you do with this information? Simple - embrace it and the visual novel genre as a whole. Now that Dispatch has stormed in and reminded everyone that there are great narrative games to be played, go out and play them. Both Steam and the Nintendo eShop have huge libraries to choose from, ranging from the terrible to the great. If you liked Dispatch, ACE Academy is probably a good place to start. From there, you can jump into the Science Adventure series, starting with Chaos;Head and then hitting the aforementioned Steins;Gate. Once you embrace these, you'll find an endless supply of games to play.

It gives me great joy to see so many people enjoying Dispatch. It is too common to see players and critics dismiss visual novels as a gimmick, unworthy of serious consideration or attention. We’re all learning in real time that they aren’t as niche as people think. There is an appetite there among gamers that can be satisfied, and I know how to help you do it. The only thing stopping you from enjoying countless games like Dispatch is your willingness to read – visual novels are the answer you’re looking for.

Coninue to the story with our deep dive into Dispatch with a conversation with AdHoc Studios' two main developers. If you're still confused after that, here's the Dispatch season 1 ending explained and how they changed it at the last minute.