In 2025, superhero media, especially in the video game realm, is still very much having a moment with no signs of stopping. While most games feature players in capes and spandex having flashy fights (of which there are many), very few require players to put on their thinking caps and micromanage heroes in a narrative-driven adventure with a star-studded celebrity cast to boot. That’s where Dispatch comes in.
Dispatch, developed by AdHoc Studio, sees players take on the role of Robert Robertson, a former hero on the downswing of his career. Before plunging into a full-blown depression, Robertson lucks into a lifeline, allowing him to repurpose his superhero know-how as the guy in the chair, wrangling combustible ex-misfits turned caped crusaders and sending them out to tackle a chaotic carousel of citywide emergencies. A dispatch, if you will.
With veterans from genre-defining narrative games like Tales from the Borderlands, The Walking Dead, and The Wolf Among Us at the helm, Dispatch boasts a similar flavor of snappy banter that folks will remember later. It also doesn’t hurt that its voice cast is equally loaded, with none other than Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul leading the charge, making his video game voice acting debut to boot.
Given that precedent, io9 spoke with Paul about what drew him to the his first video game role, how the experience stacks up against his work in film and TV, and (because we love chaos) weigh in on whether video games are bigger than the Oscars.
Isaiah Colbert, io9: Your reputation precedes you, having conquered prestige TV, animation, and even dystopian sci-fi. I wanted to ask you, and pardon my French, what made you say, “Hell yeah, bitch!” to stepping into Dispatch as your first full-on video game role?
Aaron Paul: (Laughs) Well done. Well done. I’ve gotta tell you, I’ve been wanting to jump on to a game for some time. I’ve been approached to do some games in the past, but nothing really felt right. But when [Dispatch] landed on my desk, it just checked all the boxes. First of all, the writing’s gotta be there; the story’s gotta be there. It’s gotta be an interesting thing to tackle. I’ve been spoiled in the animated space, so I’m very cautious when it comes to signing on to anything.
The scripts were all written before I signed on, so there was a lot of homework for me to do. But then it was presented to me with this great sizzle reel and a really beautiful scene that had already been animated and had temp voice-over—which was actually really great—and painted the world in such a beautiful light. It made me really excited to sit down with the creators—the masterminds behind it all. After that, for me, it was just a no-brainer. I was very excited to jump on board and lean in.
io9: How did the experience of voicing Robert Robertson compare to your past brushes with gaming, like acting as the hero in Final Fantasy XV: Kingsglaive or being a big fan of Fallout: New Vegas?
Paul: Ah! I mean, it was just a lot of time. It was very time-consuming because it’s a choose-your-own-adventure game, and so there are a lot of versions of the game that we needed to record. Full transparency: it took about two years to record, which is a lot, y’know. But everyone who signed on to this is incredibly passionate about it. The writing was so great because it has you laughing until you’re crying. But then also it’s really making you think about pretty heavy emotions. It’s taking you on a journey. I’m excited for people to play it. But then I really hope that they like it so much—and I really feel this is gonna be the case—that they’re gonna wanna try a different path. I’m excited for people to do that because it’s gonna take them down a road that they were not expecting whatsoever.
io9: We’ve been talking about its story, and Dispatch turns the superhero genre inside out—no capes, no combat, just the messy, high-stakes micromanagement behind the curtain. What pulled you toward that kind of premise? I know you mentioned you’re usually picky when it comes to game projects. Was it the novelty of Dispatch‘s story or some of the folks at AdHoc’s pedigree with narrative-driven hits like The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead that sealed the deal for you?
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