History VideoGame / Postal

** As the [[HarderThanHard They Hate Me difficulty]] has 'everyone' in the game shoot you on sight, the petition errand in Tuesday is skipped as getting signatures would be impossible.

On October 14th, 2019, RWS made a suprising announcement: ''Postal 4: No [[InheritedIlliteracyTitle Regerts]]'', a brand new game in the same open-world vein as ''Postal 2'', released in Early Access that day. ''Postal 4'' sees the Dude (now voiced by Creator/JonStJohn, AKA VideoGame/DukeNukem) and Champ lose their car, and are forced to make ends meet in the quaint city of Edensin, Arizona. RWS released the game on Steam's Early Access platform to avoid making the same mistakes that befell ''Postal III'' during its development.

Another spin-off known as ''Postal: Brain Damage'' was announced for PC on 5 September 2020, and is slated for a late 2021 release. It's a {{Retreaux}} shooter that harkens back to the violent first person shooters of TheNineties, such as ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D''. Watch the announcement trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wu4sdkzGQo here]].

** All of them are outdone by an EasterEgg that took ''13 real-life years'' to pay off. One of the storefronts in the mall states that it's closed for renovation, and that it'll reopen in June 2016. Sure enough, in June 2016, the game was updated on Steam so that the fence in front of the storefront, starting from Wednesday, now has a [[Film/TheTerminator time-travel bubble-shaped]] hole in it that you can squeeze through, [[spoiler: and inside is a VR headset that reveals the now-open "Steme" game store, selling copies of ''Postal Redux''.]]

Before Uwe Boll brought us 2007's [[SoBadItsGood magnificent masterpiece of a film]], ''Postal'', there was the ''Postal'' video game series, developed by Running With Scissors, which started with 1997's ''Postal''. Arguably one of the most unsettling PC games ever created, and one that attracted a good dose of attention from the MoralGuardians, it puts you in the shoes of "The Postal Dude", who believes himself the OnlySaneMan in a world gone mad ([[AxCrazy he's not]]). As such, [[GoingPostal he goes on a bloody rampage]], shooting it out with cops, soldiers, and innocent bystanders alike. While it has attained some CultClassic status in recent years, it's generally considered to not have aged that well.

* InfantImmortality: Played with. [[spoiler:The final level in the original game is called "The Elementary School", but it's all scripted. The Dude shows up and opens fire on a playground, but the children aren't affected. Then he has his BSOD. On the other hand, the kids from that level seem to be the same shorter sprites you ''can'' kill during the game, so who knows?]]

* ShoutOut: One of the buildings in the Carnival level in ''Redux'' sports a green poster advertising [[VideoGame/{{Blood}} ''JoJo the Idiot Circus Boy'']]
* VillainousBSOD:

* CallBack: The final line in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzSBEsnyClc Early Access trailer]] is the Dude commenting "this looks worse than boxed-up syphilis" - calling back to the original CGW review for ''Postal 2'', which gave the game [[BrokeTheRatingScale zero out of five stars]].

* NonindicativeName: The Pigeon Mine is more of a grenade than a mine since it breaks open once thrown and there's not alt-fire to place it down like the normal grenade.
* OneBulletClips: Your total ammo for a weapon is all in one pool that is drawn from when you reload, rather than consolidating them into separate magazines; reloads at half a magazine neither make you lose ammo nor let you keep a round in the chamber. However, there are separate animations for reloading from empty and reloading mid-mag.

* BadCopIncompetentCop: Officer Greg is a complete asshole of a cop who in every scene he is in is one of the meanest characters you will see in the whole film. Some of his actions include:
** Murdering an innocent old woman, picking on and abusing a mentally handicapped man in a wheelchair for cheap money, having sex with The Postal Dude's wife behind his back and all around just being a complete douche. His partner John is simply depicted as an [[FunnyForeigner incompetent foreigner]] who watches and lets Greg do his terrible actions without question. Luckily, [[KarmicDeath they get their just deserts]] when [[spoiler:they get trapped in The Postal Dude's trailer because his wife is too fat to fit through the doorway just as the bomb destroys the block.]]

* BoomHeadshot:[[spoiler: How Richard is ultimately killed]].

* IncomprehensibleEntranceExam: The interview process for one Incompetence, Inc. involves ever more surreal and nonsensical questions, asked by a hostile stenographer who doesn't even bother to wait for answers, until the Postal Guy snaps entirely. His outburst gets him to the top of the list.
->'''Interviewer:''' Last question. What is the difference between a duck?
->'''Postal Guy:''' ...and? [''Beat''] What the hell is wrong with you people?! A duck?! I came here for a job!
* InfantImmortality: Averted. During the raid on the Nazi theme park, a huge gun fight breaks out resulting in the deaths of a lot of children. We even get an aerial shot of the mass of dead child bodies as a news reporter [[RefugeInAudacity pretends to be sad during her live coverage]] of the event.

** Additionally, the film contains audacious scenes, such as a suicide bomber giving somebody to hug before he explodes causing a [[LudicrousGibs shower of blood]], and [[HideYourChildren even children being gunned down]].

Before Uwe Boll brought us 2007's [[SoBadItsGood magnificent masterpiece of a film]], ''Postal'', there was the ''Postal'' video game series, developed by Running With Scissors, which started with 1997's ''Postal''. Arguably one of the most unsettling PC games ever created, and one that attracted a good dose of attention from the MoralGuardians, it puts you in the shoes of "The Postal Dude", who believes himself the OnlySaneMan in a world gone mad [[note]] ([[AxCrazy he's not]])[[/note]]. As such, [[GoingPostal he goes on a bloody rampage]], shooting it out with cops, soldiers, and innocent bystanders alike. While it has attained some CultClassic status in recent years, it's generally considered to not have aged that well.

That all changed with the 2003 sequel ''Postal 2'', which [[DenserAndWackier doesn't take itself nearly as seriously.]] The Postal Dude - now considerably less AxCrazy - is married and lives in a trailer park, and the game covers what has to be the weirdest week of his life, as every day the simplest errands become life-or-death battles. Cashing his paycheck? Robbers invade the bank and he gets caught in the crossfire. Returning a library book? Anti-book protesters ''[[BookBurning set the library on fire]] with him in it.'' It was followed by an expansion pack, ''Apocalypse Weekend'', which covers Saturday and Sunday of The Postal Dude's weirdest week, with new weapons and characters.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Postal 1'' doesn't [[PlayedForLaughs play itself for laughs]] much like ''Postal 2'' and ''Postal III'' do, being a lot more grim, dark and at times even frightening. This causes many surprises by fans seeking out the first game after playing the second one, expecting the same level of humor. It doesn't help that ''Postal 2'' is an open world first person shooter while ''Postal 1'' is a linear isometric shooter.

* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: The Postal Dude's name really ''is'' [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep "The Postal Dude"]]. Pay a parking ticket in the second game and the cop says, "And let that be a lesson to you, Mr. The Dude", and when he goes to collect a package later on he tells the clerk "last name's 'Dude'." His dad's gravestone is also labeled "T. Dude Sr." The ''Postal III'' intro lampshades this, the Dude saying that he "hates that fucking name". When asked if he has a real name, he sheepishly admits "I forget".

** The AerosolFlamethrower is a can of "Stynx" with The Dude's "Trippo" lighter as a flame.

* BossSubtitles: Parodying ''VideoGame/Borderlands''[='=] use of the trope with the bandits' leader in ''Paradise Lost''.

!!Examples:

[[caption-width-right:350:Running With Scissors insists that the actions depicted [[DontTryThisAtHome should not be reenacted in Real Life.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steamworkshop_webupload_previewfile_375392124_preview.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:245: Running With Scissors insists that the actions depicted [[DontTryThisAtHome should not be reenacted in Real Life.]]]]

[[quoteright:245:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/postal_2_cover_3615.png]]

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', although a 2016 update for the second game, which promises of a store which will open in 2016 (in-universe), pokes fun of it in one of the posters in the mall. See also ''VideoGame/{{Hatred}}'', the SpiritualLicensee of these games.

* TheCameo: A cheat code in Redux unlocks [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/{{Hatred}} Not Important/The Antagonist]]]] as a playable character, complete with his own voice lines.

* TitleDrop: One of the Dude's taunts is simply "Postal".

** [[spoiler:Both the original and the Redux endings can count as this. The original ending has the Dude attempting to shoot up an elementary school, finding out that his guns do nothing, and collapsing as the screen distorts. The Redux ending has him trying to kill one "hostile" in a church, coming across a funeral that may or may not be his own and collapsing to the ground as the casket is lowered and the "hostile" tally is fulfilled. Both end the same way, with the Dude incarcerated into an asylum to be studied.]]

* MultipleEndings: ''Redux'' actually has six endings, each one with their own minor differences. One for beating the game normally, one for beating Rampage Mode, one for beating the game on Hard/Nightmare Mode (which changes the loading screen messages to the journal entries from the original game's manual, as well), one for beating either the Super Delivery (Special Delivery and Super Postal levels) or Excess Postage (base game levels + Super Delivery levels) campaigns, and one for beating the game in co-op.

* RevolversAreJustBetter: Redux introduces a revolver that's '''very''' powerful.
* ShoutOut: One of the buildings in the Carnival level sports a green poster advertising [[VideoGame/{{Blood}} ''JoJo the Idiot Circus Boy'']]
* [[spoiler:StealthSequel: Redux is implied to be this, if not outright {{Alternate Continuity}}. The diary entries are all dated 20 years later, the psychiatrist is now voiced by Corey Cruise, and there are several changes to the endings.]]

** [[spoiler:The final level in Redux, "The End", has the Dude heading to church, finding it's locked and empty, then moving straight into a funeral, presumably his own (as the hostile count is a measly 1, and it's reduced to 0 when the coffin is lowered), before he has his breakdown.]]

* AndTheAdventureContinues: ''Paradise Lost'''s [[spoiler:escape ending has the Dude and Champ get out of town, while Krotchy goes on about the tenacity of the human spirit and how Paradise will continue on through thick or thin... [[NukeEm Boom]]. The Dude decides that he's had enough and walks off towards his car with Champ, ready for his next adventure]].

* CallBack: The final line in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzSBEsnyClc Early Access trailer]] is the Dude commenting "this looks worse than boxed-up syphilis" - calling back to the original ''Computer Gaming World'' review for ''Postal 2'', which gave the game [[BrokeTheRatingScale zero out of five stars]].

* HarderThanHard: The game has, believe it or not, [[ThirteenIsUnlucky thirteen difficulty levels]], but the last three levels (Hestonworld, Insane-O, and They Hate Me) really up the ante by having all [=NPCs=] armed with various weaponry and do twice as much damage with their weapons. The hardest, They Hate Me, takes it [[UpToEleven Up To]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Thirteen]] by having everybody shooting you on sight. The Steam version has an additional one named POSTAL difficulty which is identical to They Hate Me except you can't stockpile health items/healing items and are only allowed one save per map (two counting autosaves). The only good news is that you start off with a free "Bass Sniffer" radar with unlimited usage.