It was 1997. Most people were busy playing Mario 64 or getting lost in the cinematic sprawl of Final Fantasy VII. Then came Postal. It didn't look like much—a gritty, isometric shooter with hand-painted backgrounds that looked like they’d been dragged through a gutter. But it felt different. It was mean. It was cynical. Honestly, it was a lightning rod for every politician looking to blame something for the perceived "moral decay" of the youth.
Running With Scissors, the developers behind the madness, didn't seem to care about being liked. They leaned into the heat. They basically turned the "going postal" phenomenon of the 80s and 90s—a series of tragic real-world workplace incidents—into a digital playground for the disenfranchised and the darkly curious.
What Actually Happens in the Original Postal?
People remember the sequels more, but the first Postal is a surprisingly dark piece of media. You play as the Postal Dude. He thinks his house is being evicted. He thinks the town is infected with some kind of madness. Is he right? The game never really says. It just drops you into a suburban neighborhood and tells you to "eliminate hostiles."
The hostiles are often just people. Cops. Marching bands. Bystanders. It’s bleak. Unlike the later entries that turned everything into a South Park-style joke, the 1997 original feels like a slow-motion psychological breakdown. The sound design is what sticks with you. The screams aren't cartoony; they’re disturbing. It’s a messy, loud, and intentionally abrasive experience that forced a conversation about what was "too far" in interactive entertainment.
The Senator Joe Lieberman Factor
You can’t talk about Postal without talking about the US Senate. In the late 90s, Senator Joe Lieberman became the face of the crusade against violent video games. He labeled Postal as one of the "worst of the worst."
Did this kill the game? Nope. It was the best marketing Running With Scissors could have asked for. They literally put the "Digital Poison" labels and the negative reviews on their own boxes. It was a masterclass in "all press is good press." While the industry was trying to act professional and corporate, Postal was in the back of the class throwing spitballs and lighting things on fire.
The Shift to Postal 2: First-Person Absurdity
If the first game was a dark thriller, Postal 2 (released in 2003) was a raunchy, offensive, and bizarrely brilliant sandbox comedy. This is the game most people think of when the franchise comes up. You aren't just shooting people; you're running errands.
"Get milk."
"Return book."
"Get paycheck."
That’s the brilliance of it. The game doesn't actually force you to kill anyone. You can play through the entire week without harming a soul. But the world is designed to annoy you. The lines are long. The NPCs are rude. The cops are aggressive. It’s a social experiment disguised as a low-brow shooter. Most players eventually snap because the game makes "being good" incredibly inconvenient.
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The mechanics were janky. Let's be real. The Unreal Engine 2 was screaming for mercy. But the freedom was unparalleled. You could use a cat as a silencer (don't ask), pour gasoline on the sidewalk, or just wander around the town of Paradise getting into trouble. It was the ultimate "what happens if I do this?" simulator.
Why the Critics Hated It and Fans Loved It
Mainstream reviewers mostly trashed the series. They called it "pure garbage" and "low-rent shock humor." And, looking back, some of it definitely is. The humor is very much a product of its time—edgy, often crude, and frequently hitting below the belt.
But fans saw something else. They saw a middle finger to the sanitization of gaming. In an era where every game was trying to be "epic" or "heroic," Postal was happy to be the dirt under the fingernails of the industry. It offered a level of interactivity that even the early Grand Theft Auto games lacked. You could talk to NPCs, pee on things (yes, really), and manipulate the AI in ways that were genuinely ahead of their time.
Vince Desi, the head of Running With Scissors, became a sort of folk hero for the "anti-PC" gaming crowd. He wasn't some corporate suit in a tie. He was a guy who just wanted to make weird, transgressive stuff. That authenticity, however messy it was, built a cult following that has lasted nearly thirty years.
The Postal Movie: A Rare Uwe Boll "Win"?
We have to mention the 2007 movie. Directed by Uwe Boll, who is legendary for making some of the worst video game adaptations in history, Postal is actually... weirdly okay? Or at least, it captures the spirit of the game better than most big-budget movies capture theirs.
It’s completely unhinged. It features a shootout at a theme park, a bizarre plot involving Al-Qaeda and the Bush administration, and even a scene where Uwe Boll plays himself and gets into a fight with the creator of the game. It’s not "good" cinema by any traditional metric. But as a companion piece to the Postal video game franchise, it’s exactly as chaotic and offensive as it should be.
Postal 4 and the Modern Era
Fast forward to the 2020s. Running With Scissors released Postal 4: No Regerts. They knew exactly who their audience was. They brought back Jon St. John (the voice of Duke Nukem) to voice the Postal Dude. They kept the errands. They kept the jank.
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Honestly, it received mixed reviews. Some felt the "edgy" humor didn't land the same way in the 2020s as it did in 2003. Others felt the technical issues were too much to ignore. But for the hardcore fans? It was like coming home. The game leaned into the "Early Access" model, letting players see the development process, warts and all.
Does it still matter?
In a world of hyper-polished, $200 million AAA games, Postal represents the persistent "indie" spirit of the 90s. It’s a reminder that games don't have to be prestige television. They can just be toy boxes. They can be gross. They can be stupid. They can be a way to vent frustration after a long day at a real-world job where you can't actually throw a donut at your boss.
Postal: More Than Just Shock Value
If you look past the gore and the crude jokes, the series—especially Postal 2—is a fascinating look at emergent gameplay. It’s one of the few games that actually reacts to the player's choices in a systemic way. If you start a fire in a crowded area, the AI doesn't just run in a circle; they try to find an exit, or they panic, or they try to put it out.
It’s also a time capsule of American anxiety. The original game reflected the fear of random violence in the 90s. The sequel reflected the post-9/11 cynicism of the early 2000s. It’s a mirror, albeit a very dirty, cracked, and distorted one.
The "Go Postal" Legacy
The term itself is mostly gone from our modern vocabulary, replaced by other tragedies and other tropes. But the game remains. It's available on Steam and GOG. The developers still update the old games. They even released the source code for the original Postal a few years back, allowing fans to port it to everything from the Dreamcast to the 3DS.
That’s the real secret of the franchise: community. The fans aren't just consumers; they’re part of the joke. They make the mods. They fix the bugs the devs missed. They keep the servers running. You can't kill a franchise that is fueled by that kind of grassroots loyalty.
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How to Experience Postal Today
If you’re curious about the series, don't just jump in anywhere. There’s a specific way to appreciate the madness without getting overwhelmed by the dated tech.
- Start with Postal 2: It’s the definitive experience. Get the Share the Pain or Paradise Lost versions. It’s cheap, it runs on a potato, and it’s the most "complete" vision of what the series wants to be.
- Try Postal: Redux: If you want to see the 1997 original, play the Redux version. It smooths out the controls and adds a "Rampage" mode that makes the gameplay feel more like a modern twin-stick shooter.
- Adjust Your Expectations: These are not Call of Duty. The movement is floaty. The graphics are old. The humor is frequently "cringe." Go into it with the mindset of exploring a digital museum of 90s rebellion.
- Explore the Steam Workshop: The modding community is the best part of the modern Postal experience. There are total conversions, new weapons, and fixes that make the games feel much fresher.
Postal is a loud, messy, and controversial piece of gaming history. It’s not for everyone. It probably shouldn't be. But as a landmark of free speech in games and a relic of a time when the industry was still figuring out its boundaries, it’s undeniably important. Whether you love it or think it’s a stain on the medium, you have to respect a developer that has spent thirty years refusing to apologize for their vision. In a corporate world, that’s a rare thing indeed.