Dispatch doesn't let you derail conversations with blank, vacant stares because 'less than 1%' of players ever chose to stay silent in Telltale games

Dispatch doesn’t let you derail conversations with blank, vacant stares because ‘less than 1%’ of players ever chose to stay silent in Telltale games | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Strategy Just like XCOM, superhero comedy Dispatch cheats random percentages of success in the player’s favor: ‘anything that had over a 76% success chance would automatically succeed’ FPS Marathon’s aura-farming NPCs show just how bland and lifeless Arc Raiders’ AI-voiced characters really are Sim In defense of Deus Ex: Invisible War RPG Cara Ellison, senior narrative designer on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 before Paradox switched developers, discusses her love of Troika’s original RPG: ‘Everyone on the team helped really make that maximum goth’ Adventure ‘We are definitely not doing QTEs’, said Dispatch’s creative director before doing QTEs: ‘We just needed it to not suck’ RPG Wake up honey, it’s time for your yearly ‘The KOTOR remake is still alive’ announcement Adventure Making Dispatch was motivated by ‘a mix of arrogance and stupidity,’ its creative directors say Action The devs on Deus Ex: Invisible War knew its most-hated part was a ‘terrible idea,’ and they give the director ‘sh*t about it all the time’ FPS Highguard’s failure is emblematic of something that has tormented videogame investors for years now: past live service hits do not equal future live service hits RPG You can blame some of Deus Ex: Invisible War’s console limitations on the publisher’s ‘weird theories that FPS games don’t sell or RPGs don’t sell’ Games Indie dev says ‘best I can do is sentient tofu’ after fans demand a male protagonist—they respond oh yeah, actually Mr Tofu works fine, thanks FPS If you’re hoping to make friends in Marathon like you can in Arc Raiders, expect a knife in the back Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ matchmaking isn’t ‘binary’, says design lead: ‘There’s no such thing as a friendly lobby or an aggressive lobby’ RPG The new game from Disco Elysium’s studio feels like the first Christmas after your parents’ divorce Third Person Shooter Arc Raiders’ contentious ‘aggression-based matchmaking’ isn’t just smart, but absolutely necessary PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonArc RaidersBest PC gearQuizzes Games Adventure Dispatch Dispatch doesn’t let you derail conversations with blank, vacant stares because ‘less than 1%’ of players ever chose to stay silent in Telltale games News By Lincoln Carpenter published 11 March 2026 Unfortunately, weaponized awkwardness still takes up development resources. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Adhoc Studio) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Aaron Paul’s performance as Dispatch’s Robert “Mecha Man” Robertson III could hit a lot of notes. Robert could be sarcastic and cynical, but surprisingly compassionate; his story offers romance and chances for heroism. But what Dispatch developer AdHoc didn’t offer was any opportunities to derail conversations by deliberately choosing to stay silent, something players could regularly choose in the games that AdHoc’s co-founders had worked on as former Telltale devs.In a talk at GDC 2026, Dispatch creative directors Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart said they had a good reason for nixing the traditional “…” option: Nobody ever chose it. (Image credit: AdHoc Studio)”We love to be able to play like an absolute weirdo, responding to every choice with a blank stare,” Herman said. “But from our time at Telltale, we knew the numbers behind the scenes. Silent options were triggered either intentionally or unintentionally less than 1% of the time across all users globally.”Article continues below You may like Making Dispatch was motivated by ‘a mix of arrogance and stupidity,’ its creative directors say ‘We are definitely not doing QTEs’, said Dispatch’s creative director before doing QTEs: ‘We just needed it to not suck’ Dispatch directors chose their animators because they’d made a ‘really cool apple juice commercial’ AdHoc still considered supporting the ‘say nothing’ playstyle, but after running the numbers, Lenart said offering a silent option for each of Dispatch’s roughly 120 dialogue choices would mean “almost 15 full minutes of Robert not saying anything.”While a character saying nothing might seem like the easiest thing for