Aaron Paul is sitting in a hotel room on the edge of London. “It’s more like a wellness retreat” the actor jokes. He certainly appears relaxed as he leans back in an armchair with a welcoming smile on his face. His longish hair is casually swept away from his face; it’s a very different style to the shaved head he wore as Jesse Pinkman, the character he played between 2008 and 2013 in the TV show Breaking Bad.
It’s not the only thing that’s different about the 46-year-old actor. For the past decade, Paul has featured in movies and shows like the science fiction series, Westworld and the Netflix animated comedy, BoJack Horseman, but now he’s made his video game debut with an episodic superhero romp called Dispatch.
“Gaming is an area I’ve wanted to tackle for some time” he explains enthusiastically. “I’m a big fan of the space and the community it’s created. My brother is a massive gamer too. I can’t wait for him to play this” Paul says, adding that he’s also been a fan of video games for a long time.
“I remember playing Resident Evil when it first came out. That scared me more than any horror movie” he says.
He’s been offered a role in video games before but the right project has never come along. Dispatch, however, ticked all of the right boxes, Paul says. Set in modern day Los Angeles, it’s created by AdHoc Studio, a developer founded in 2018 by a team that previously worked at Telltale Games (which made titles including The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead) and veterans from the likes of Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed).
Paul voices the game’s main character, Robert Robertson, a superhero who goes by the name “Mecha Man”. When his suit is destroyed in battle, he’s sent to work as an operator at a superhero dispatch centre while it’s being mended. He’s put in charge of a team of former villains who are looking to leave their dastardly ways behind them.
“Robert is trying to teach them – with a lot of patience – that they can actually be good people. The story we’re telling here is such a powerful one. It’s a lot of fun, but it also has a lot of heart” explains Paul.
Taking control of Robertson, the player has to manage this team of misfits by using a big map to send them to the scene of crimes and emergencies. You have to utilise their unique skills and perks to find the best person for each job while also balancing their fatigue and injuries.
As was the case with titles made under the Telltale banner, AdHoc has also thrust dialogue and narrative decisions upon the player with often hilarious results. Everything the player chooses to do or say can have an impact on the story’s outcome across the eight episodes, the first two of which are available now. The other six will be released periodically until its conclusion on November 12.
It took two years to record all of the dialogue for the game, a process that Paul describes as a learning curve for him. “It’s very similar to all of the previous animation work I’ve done. You just jump into a booth and dive in, but because it’s a ‘choose your own adventure’ style game, there’s so many different versions [of the script] that had to be recorded.
“It’s a mind melt for us as actors who are trying to make sure we’re all on the same page, but it was a great experience. I’m very proud of this project” he says.
Also starring in the game is Jeffrey Wright (The Batman, American Fiction) who was the first actor to sign up to the project, according to Paul. Wright previously featured in The Last of Us Part II (and later reprised his role as Isaac in HBO’s TV adaptation). The pair join a long list of Hollywood stars who are migrating into the games industry.
Earlier this year, Norman Reedus and Lea Seydoux spearheaded Death Stranding 2’s starry ensemble cast, while the likes of Keanu Reeves, Andy Serkis and Jodie Comer have all popped up in video games of late.
“The gaming industry is much bigger than the film industry” says Paul when offering an explanation as to why more Hollywood actors are taking up video game roles now. “It’s a massive space and they’re doing such extraordinary work within it” he adds.
He compares storytelling in a video game to that of a long novel. “In games, you have an opportunity to dive into lots of detail and really tell a story. Whereas in films, you’re limited to 90 minutes usually. At most, you’ll get three hours” the actor ponders. “I’m excited for people [to have that experience] and choose their own adventure in Dispatch. There’s a lot of story to be told there and I think it will take them to some unexpected places.”
