For the last two years, Aaron Paul has been recording for Dispatch. The superhero workplace comedy is his first gaming role – which feels strange, given the medium pops up so often in his prior work. Half the world has already seen Paul play Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog as Breaking Bad's Jesse Pinkman, voice the lead in animated film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15, and pop up as the self-explanatory Gamer691 in Black Mirror. But starring in an actual game? No dice – until Dispatch.
"I've always wanted to be part of a game," Paul tells GamesRadar+. "I've had opportunities come my way in the past, and nothing really felt like the right fit. And I've been spoiled in the animation space! So it's very precious to me, I just didn't want to jump onto anything."
Admittedly, Dispatch isn't a conventional game. Set to release episodically from October 22, Dispatch is equal parts Telltale-style choose your own adventure, interactive animated TV show, and strategy game where you must send the right heroes to the right job. Paul plays former superhero Robert Robertson, who takes a job working as a dispatcher for a team of villains-turned-heroes when his own crime-fighting mecha-suit is destroyed.
Playing the hero
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Having played some of Dispatch, I can confidently say that it's the only game I've ever played that let me send a substance-abusing, shapeshifting bat-man to a ribbon-cutting event… Or respond to a fire that one of our other heroes, previously convicted for arson, seemingly started for fun. Heroes have their own stats, with the goal being to send each one to the best-fitting job for them when possible, and outside of your shift you make dialogue choices for Robertson. For Paul, the project was irresistible.
"When Dispatch was sent my way, it was stacks of scripts. It was a little alarming, to be honest – it was a lot," he says. "They [developer AdHoc Studio] sent a sizzle reel of the tone, of what the game was going to be like, and a really beautiful – almost poetic – scene from the game. I really fell in love with the tone. At the core of it, it's a superhero workplace comedy, but also there's a lot of dramatic, heartfelt moments in it, and that's what I really responded to."
While the draw for Paul was entirely creative, the actor is no stranger to games. "Maybe I used to play them too much," he says, grinning. "I remember when Resident Evil, the first one, came out. I don't think I did anything else outside of playing that game."
High-flying
While superhero media is a dime a dozen right now, Dispatch sits on the more satirical end of the spectrum – think Invincible (which Paul also stars in) and The Boys. For Paul, the approach that distinguishes Dispatch from its contemporaries is the same reason it took so long to make. The choose-your-own-adventure elements – fingerprints of the sizable Telltale alumni at AdHoc Studio – mean that players can direct Robertson in conversation, as well as save the day (or screw it up) during odds-based rolls to see how well dispatched heroes do their job.
"I think a lot of people are going to want to replay it, and choose the opposite of what they chose before, and that will lead to a whole other list of options," says Paul, pointing to how long it took to record so much potential dialogue. "I don't think any of us anticipated it would take two solid years," he laughs. "But we wanted to make sure it was done right."
Paul also believes that Dispatch's blend of "humor" and "heart" sets the game aside from many comparisons. Robertson's first day on the job is deeply funny – who among us hasn't dropped their twinkie because a bat-thing (who's also a convicted financial fraudster, by the way) screeched in the break room? – but it's clear he's still struggling to find his place in the world, unable to fight crime directly. The tone reminds Paul of his work on Bojack Horseman, in which he played roommate Todd Chavez and served as executive producer.
His father was a superhero, his grandfather was a superhero. I think deep down, he expects to most likely die in that suit
Aaron Paul, who plays Robert Robertson
"I'm very proud of that show, I was very much part of the development process of that show, and what I really loved about it is: yeah, it's funny, there's a lot of humor to it, but it's gut-wrenching! It tells an honest story about one man's struggle with depression, with alcoholism. What they tackle on [Dispatch] is generational. I come from a family of superheroes that all wore this particular superhero costume, the mecha-suit [...] It is just in his DNA. I was very excited to lean in and tell this man's story, and in turn, this other group of misfits [and] their stories, and root for them and cheer them on."
"I really related to [Robertson]," he adds. "He doesn't want to be doing what he's doing right now, he wants to put back on his suit and go fight crime. His father was a superhero, his grandfather was a superhero. I think deep down, he expects to most likely die in that suit. So the fact that he's doing this day-to-day job, running this dispatch of a group of misfits who were once villains – he's frustrated! I forced myself to be frustrated with the whole process of it all, but it was such a delight."
Looking ahead, Paul is keen to star in more games that place the same emphasis on storytelling. But when it comes to gaming first-hand, his plans are a little more personal. "I'm married - I've got a couple of kiddos now, and I can't wait for them to get into the gaming world," he says, grinning. "They don't even know that's an option in life! I'm excited to be the one to introduce them to it."
Dispatch will launch episodically from October 22, and will be available on PC and PS5. Until then, how many of the best video game stories have you played for yourself?
