On the surface, Dispatch may look like the interactive narrative games that came before it, but it sets itself apart by being the first one from AdHoc Studio—and with a unique premise at that. Founded in 2018 by industry veterans from Telltale Games, Ubisoft, and Night School Studio, AdHoc Studio is set to make an October 22 debut with its superhero workplace comedy Dispatch. Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul leads as its main character, Robert Robertson. After his mech-suit is destroyed during an intense encounter with his nemesis, Robertson's status as Mecha Man is temporarily stripped from him when he is forced to fill the role of dispatcher for a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes at a superhero dispatch center.
Dispatch marks the very first video game role for Aaron Paul, who is primarily known for his work on TV series like Breaking Bad, BoJack Horseman, and Westworld. Gaming isn't anything new to the actor, as he was once an avid gamer in his youth. However, Dispatch is his first step back into the gaming world in quite some time, and he considers it a worthwhile return, based on his comments during a recent interview with The Best War Games. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Aaron Paul Joins the Gaming World for the First Time in Dispatch
Q: How did Dispatch land on your radar? What was it about Dispatch that hooked you and made you say "Yes"?
A: To be honest, I've always loved the medium—gaming. I've been offered many games in the past, it just never felt quite right. And I love animation, so I've been spoiled in the animated space. I've been spoiled in this space in general, but this really just checked all the boxes. I had eight very large scripts, so there was a lot of homework. But there was a great sizzle reel attached, as well as a really beautiful scene they had already animated with some temp voiceover, and I just really fell in love with the tone.
Obviously, the people behind it had an incredible pedigree within the space, so I was excited. Jeffrey Wright had already signed on, and I quickly realized why he signed on after reading these scripts. It was just such a cool story. It's a lot of fun, very funny at times, but also pretty dramatic and traumatic. The more you play this game, the more you sort of get to know the characters within the game, and you become more emotionally invested. I certainly did, reading these scripts, and it really just checked all the boxes. For me, it was just a no-brainer.
Q: And this is your first video game performance, correct?
A: My very first video game, yeah. It's been something I wanted to tackle for some time. I used to play games a lot. I used to love the feeling that games gave me. It's something that you can't get anywhere else. I've talked about this before, but when the first Resident Evil came out, I'd play it at night because it's like watching a horror movie. The feeling it gives you was just so thrilling to me.
I haven't played games, truly, in a long time, but my brother is a massive gamer. He plays games every single day. That's where his main community is, and that's what I think is so special about the gaming community. You get to become friends with people around the world while playing games that you all like, and so I'm very excited to be a small part of that community now.
Well, it seems like you chose a good first project.
A: Yeah, I can't wait for people to play it. It's great because it's a choose-your-own-adventure game. And what's so cool about it is they're releasing the game in chunks, so you can't just breeze through and get done with it right away. You can get done to a certain point, then you have to wait until the next chunk is released the next week, and then after four or five weeks, everything will be available globally. It gives people the opportunity to play it again and choose a completely different path, and I think people are going to be really surprised and affected by how that path materializes.
Dispatch's Robert Robertson and the Game's Powerhouse Cast
Q: Well, with Robert Robertson going from superhero to dispatcher, whenever you read his backstory for the first time, is there anything that really stood out to you about who he is and beyond who he is as a hero?
A: This is honestly one of the reasons why I leaned in. I always lean into characters that are dealing with a lot of internal junk—dealing with internal drama, trauma, and then learning to fight through that, deal with it and march forward, even though you have all of that inside. I think that's what this particular story does so well. It teaches you that it's important to make mistakes. It is important to make mistakes, but it's important to learn from those mistakes and grow because of those mistakes.
Q: When I played the demo, I know it's probably the beginning of the game, but I noticed Robert has a dry, sarcastic tone to him. But with Dispatch alternating between superhero action and workplace comedy, how did you manage to navigate the nuances of those tones?
A: Just desperately trying. He's just dealing with the frustrations of this new reality that has been placed in front of him, so that's where a lot of the sarcasm comes from. I mean, he just naturally has this sarcastic energy about him, but that's paired with just the pure annoyance of this new cast of characters that he has been forced to be in charge of—people that he's been against his entire superhero career. Because they're just a bunch of ex-villains that he's thrown in prison before, so he's now in charge of kind of keeping them in line while his superhero suit, his Mecha Man suit, is being fixed.
Q: Speaking of the other characters, the cast is a powerhouse with talents like Jeffrey Wright, Laura Bailey, and Matt Mercer, just to name a few. In collaborating with them, did it influence you in bringing Robert to life?
A: When it was presented to me, Jeffrey had already signed on, Laura Bailey signed on shortly after I signed on, and so when she signed on, we were just so ecstatic because she's such a powerhouse within the gaming world. She's just so powerful and trusted. So, again, the moment I started reading the scripts and after seeing the sizzle reel and the scene, I quickly understood why Jeffrey responded.
Q: And what was your chemistry like with Jeffrey Wright?
A: Well, I need to be honest, I've been friends with him for a long time. We worked together for years on Westworld, but Dispatch took two years for us to record. None of us did anything together. It was all separate, and it just took so long to record. We're telling so many different versions of each storyline, and it was hard. It was impossible to get our schedules together, but I did have the benefit of hearing what was previously recorded by other actors. Not all the time, though, because sometimes I was the first one to record, and they had not done their part yet.
Q: This being the first video game that you've done, what surprised you the most about Dispatch's script? Was there anything that you didn't expect going into it?
A: I've never done a choose-your-own-adventure format, so just the length of the scripts was overwhelming. They were just so long, and then how long it took to record it was shocking. I honestly thought we were going to be done recording in a couple of months, but two years later, we finally got it done. But I'm excited.
Everyone involved was honestly such a dream to work with and that's not always the case, but with Dispatch, it certainly was. We're all incredibly proud of what we've done, so it's really thrilling for us all to be able to finally talk about it and for the game to finally be released. The response so far has been really great, and I think once we finally get it out into the world, people are going to really resonate with it.
Q: Is there anything in Robert that you relate to personally, or any way that you were able to personally connect with him as a character?
A: Yeah, for sure. Honestly, he is dealing with an internal mess, and I think all of us are. I mean, if you don't admit to it, then you're in denial. But we're all dealing with past circumstances, so I can definitely relate to that because everyone can. But he's dealing with a lot of post-trauma, and he's just fighting a good fight and trying to persevere and march forward and learn from his past. And I certainly can relate to that.
I said this earlier, but it's important to make mistakes. It's even more important to make mistakes than to have accomplishments because you're learning from your mistakes, and you can grow from your mistakes. It's just about marching forward through those mistakes and becoming better because of them.
[END]
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 96%
- Released
- October 22, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood, Crude Humor, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- AdHoc Studio
- Publisher(s)
- AdHoc Studio
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Strategy, Point-and-click, Adventure
The first episode of Dispatch releases on PC and PlayStation 5 on October 22, 2025.