The gameplay would be disturbing if you saw someone in real life from far away doing all the things you see in postal 1 Imagine seeing footage from a news chopper filming a man maniacally gunning down and killing every cop and innocent person he saw while laughing… that is disturbing.. It’s just easy to dissociate because it’s a video game
What if -- and hear me out -- the "Easy" and "Medium" level cards are what the Dude actually wrote down, while the "Hard" and "Nightmare!" cards are what he _thinks_ he wrote down.
Honestly I think it’s the other way around. I believe the only reason you can “decipher” the true meaning of the entries on harder modes is because you need to “understand” the game in order to survive the harder mode. Like maybe we mastered the postal dude so much by playing the game that we start to understand his crazed rambling. That or in a more “In universe” way, postal dude begins to “”””understand””” his own madness, and thus in his mind, the war journal reads more coherently. Edit: wait, now that I think of it, this explication actually works more in the “easy being what he wrote done while hard is what he thought he wrote down” theories favor. My bad. But if it’s in the reverse I think that can add a new tragedy to the postals dude mind. It would show that dude is so far down the rabbit hole that even his own journal starts to read like jibedish even to him. Like the words are being put through some kind of madness translation.
Kinda reminds me of a video I saw from early in Postal 2, when he shows people what looks to him like a picture of him and his dog. But the way they react makes it very clear he's probably not showing them a picture of Champ, and is probably showing them a picture of his Dachshund instead. The one he's not supposed to take for walks outside.
I think it's rather the fact that, through their difficulty, the easier and harder modes tell two different narratives. Easy tells the story of the demon; a creature with infinite potential for destruction and an unsatiable bloodlust. The hard difficulty tells the story of the dude; an individual fighting for their life, at war with everyone around them, hoping they live to die another day.
That quote from Jon gave me shivers in regards to the original elementary school attack ending from the game. “The original ending no longer applies, because it was suppose to depict something completely unthinkable”
@@ryanthemostwantedfurry1281a lot? Bruh Im from germany and as far as I know shooting up schools is Americas Nationalsport, with competing athletes going for new records every month
@@MrMojoRisin69 a 70 year old dude with a scattergun injuring some people with birdshot cause he was probably annoyed by noises & thought 'fuck it im old anyway' is kinda different to schools getting shot up by young people with issues monthly.
"Your responsible for what the Postal Dude does, but don't receive any of the punishment." Man, that does make the ending seem even worst than I thought.
Yeah no, if there was a choice in the matter i'd understand, you just do what you do to progress, responsibility or punishment implies there's a choice to do a right and a wrong but there isn't.
@@lordcrusader861 I like to view it from a 4D perspective. You’re the demon, you made the postal dude go around killing those innocent civilians, using all kinds of weaponry to lead out your task of murdering as many people as you physically can. You follow what the game tells you but you may kill the bystanders for entertainment, doing more than what is necessary, like with the parade being set aflame. After all is said and done, you step away from your desk or play something else, whilst the Postal dude suffers through what you made him do. You did all that killing, but you got no punishment. Obviously I don’t mean you should be thrown in the slammer in real life, it’s just that’s how I personally view the game.
(Not) Fun fact; I was told why post office shootings were so common back then when I got hired by the USPS. It's generally attributed to two reasons - Many post office workers were war veterans, since it was hard for them to find work outside of government jobs. They of course had a number of mental illnesses that were untreated back then, like ptsd. I never thought about it before being told in orientation, but it's sad and makes a lot of sense.
@@calebobry6211 That people who worked as these jobs were often at the low of society. People who went insane and had nothing to lose. Or at least I’m pretty sure that that’s the reason
my favorite theory of all time is the idea that postal dude was legit going insane over the existence of humanity he is a overworked tired man living in the corner of a shitty neighborhood, everyday he sees the worst in humanity and everyday the sounds outside his home drive him more and more over the edge till one day he wakes up, goes outside and he does not see humans anymore he cant see people, just demons or beasts he fights confused and afraid thinking he is killing monsters out to get him and when he gets to the elementary school he stops and snaps out of his crazed mind, he cries at the sight of children ignorant to the world and just having fun, playing and enjoying each other company
And on that same day he finally snapped and saw humans as demons he got evicted he was an extremely paranoid man who thought the government sent out a gas that made everyone crazy and he was the only sane person left and on top of everything else in his life it all came down after months prolly even years of seeing the worst the last straw that broke the dude's mind was being evicted.
I played Postal 1 redux not long ago and man...it isn't fun. Not in a gameplay sense, but it's like every aspect of the game really tries to tell you not to continue in a subconscious way.
The first Postal never was fun. I played through about two levels back in the day and I hated it. Postal 2 was freakin' killer though! Also, the graphics looked like they slammed the levels together from a clipart CD, if you remember, those stupid clipart CD's were all the rage in the 90's. Then there's that game Hatred on Steam and it's also not very good, but it's a thousand times better than Postal 1
@@sibanbgd100 Yeah, in 1997, so you can’t really blame it for the gameplay or how it looked then versus now. Plus, gameplay-wise, both games are practically the same. Also that, Hatred only wishes it were as dark and gritty as Postal is. Because good god Postal was dark and not edgy fluff like Hatred was.
@@PlasticCogLiquid I think the art and aesthetic added to the eeriness to it, especially the music, to the concept of being inside the mind of a broken man whose a mass shooter and to the theory of whether it’s truly him behind the murder or us the player that is responsible. But to each their own, but imo Hatred is definitely not better, not even by a long shot.
I first noticed how messed up the game was when you got to the outskirts early in the game and had a insanly brutal quote: ''The air ripens with the odors of the dead and dying. It smells like...victory.'' That quote alone made this game extremly disturbing.
@@ackreikthecouncils.6449 greatest movie ever made tbh. Isn’t kinda funny how the first postal is also called REDUX and there’s a redux version for apocalypse now that is extended. Just thought that was nice
@@aniquinstark4347 "YET HERE YOU ARE, PLAYING AS-" Good lord, how amazing it is that one bad video still leaves its impression on people even 5 years or so later.
Though it's entirely possible to run through Postal 1 without killing a single Innocent, you couldn't NOT throw a firebomb at the marching band when you were 12. It was like putting Oreo pudding in front of you and saying, "Don't eat it."
@@coolwolf506 Postal is divided into Innocents and Hostiles. Hostiles are the ones shooting at you and the Hostiles have to be eliminated to clear the level. But that's the rub of Postal, isn't it? Outside of Postal Dude's perspective, what's a Hostile, anyway?
I think that was the point. You have fire bombs, you see the marching band, your lil brain says "haha, burned player goes toot". But that was the trap. When they burn, they are screaming. The fire spreads and attacks other pedestrians. Police and self armed people see the mad man with fire bombs. When the embers die out, only charred corpses are left, and a huge sense of wrongness. You wanted to play, so keep going. Play.
@@Postaldude__ I forgot to mention that line is vince, but I cant even remember where its used now, Ive definitely heard it somewhere though, maybe a random npc hurt sound?
The closest thing to Postal 1 in reality for something so mentally ill or forces you to be SO VIOLENT and depraved that you have no moral compass is the mass shooter suspect, Charles Whitman's brain tumor. In the aftermath of the UT Tower shooting and request of autopsy from his own suicide note, they found a "Pecan-sized" brain tumor that pressed against apart of the brain for anxiety and fight or flight response. His final notes tells us all that we need to know and to me, is the most similar to Postal 1 dudes "Demon". Whitman had many journal entries as well but these two stand out. "However, lately (I cannot recall when it started)I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur, and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks." And the last one after killing his parents and wife on the same day: "8-1-66. I never could quite make it. These thoughts are too much to me".
I think the true horror is it was originally created as an original concept, but in a post columbine world mass killings with demented diary entries are not only no longer a work of fiction, they aren't even shocking enough to breach international news.
the first postal game is quite an interesting mix of isometric top-down shooter and horror game, playing it for free on steam made me curious enough to play the second game and even watch the movie.
It’s crazy how much of a difference there is between the tone of the two games. The movie is kind of a guilty pleasure, it’s so dumb but it also has some good satire and some scenes get me laughing my ass off.
At the end of the day, I think emulating P2 for the movie was the right choice. As stupid as it turned out, I think it ended up doing a lot of things pretty well. Didn’t realise Boll had any passion for the project, but I guess that does kinda shine through in the movie. First I’m hearing bout Rampage. Even though it was direct to video the fact that _”It was Boll's first film to gain mainly positive reviews.”_ has piqued my interest. I’ll check it out!
I stand by my theory that the original postal is a political statement about mental healthcare and mental health awareness, this game was accused of glorifying this violence but the same people who accused it would neglect mental health at every turn. What makes this game so scary is that it's not a game, these things happen in reality and we as a society only seem to care when it's too late.
I think Postal has always had a political message. I mean, just look at the petition in Postal 2. That in an of itself is commentary. Just more obvious.
@@grimgrahamch.4157And like all political messages, CERTAIN PEOPLE will say "and this is why our politics should infest literally everything and all dissent should be snuffed, haha chud"
I feel like the really grim thing about Postal 1 is how it contrasts to all the other postal games, and what it feels like to me, the rationale was. RWS tried to make a horror game, essentially, and got lambasted and skewered in the media for it. So they said 'fuck it' and turned it into this absurdist comedy, even then still receiving vicious criticism. At the end of the day, Postal 1 was something Americans were not prepared for, because of how dark it was, because it required introspection, it was easier to just reject it. I feel like RWS started off wanting to make stereotypically 'smarter' games and became disillusioned after Postal 1...
They should have kept at it. The original Postal is an achievement even if it was unrecognized at the time. The others aren't shocking at all, literally anyone can get up on stage and say a bunch of slurs while jerking off, it's not subversive to pander to an audience just because that audience pretends you're the only one doing it.
I don't think they completely quit the idea media is always on about the "games cause violence" bs and I all do is sit there and groain like shut up man it's a game let them do what they want
*_"Population pressure and the stress of modern life may cause an increase in violent tendencies. The urban environment is the incubator for all sorts of undesirable behaviors. However much his atrocities disgust us, he may actually consider himself a hero. This is common among those who, in the popular slang, "go postal". In his tortured mind, he may feel he was battling against impossible odds. It is not unusual for some individuals to believe that the entire fate of the world rests with them. In the end, our subject displays all the classic symptoms of paranoid delusions. We may never know exactly what set him off but, rest assured, we will have plenty of time to study him."_*
Interesting thing: In postal redux, corey cruise (the voice of postal dude in 3 and brain damaged) voiced that monologue of text. Yeah, rick hunter and corey cruise both worked on redux.
Nice to see someone showing Postal 1 so much love. A lot of people write it off as trite and overly edgy, but they're not looking past the surface. There are so many incredibly interesting layers to this game.
What really gets me about this game, is that there is no antagonist. A lot of games have a main antagonist. Amon in Starcraft 2, The Prophets in Halo 2-3, Wesker in Resident Evil 1 and 5, stuff like that. But some games change up the formula by making the antagonist into something less tactile. Say Frostpunk for example, you're definitely fighting something, and that is the weather. It's a nice change of scenery, making your antagonist into something you have no control over. Cry of Fear is an amazing game, and while you could say that the "Doctor" could be the main antagonist, he's more of a plot device to further reinforce that YOU (or rather, who Simon perceives himself to be) are the antagonist. Simon also has a lot of mental issues, and tries to solve them one way or another with the tools he's given, and finally getting his ending, good or bad. Not gonna spoil endings here, obviously, but let's say every ending he gets (except maybe 1) is pretty much set in stone, that he sorts himself out. This bring me to POSTAL 1. The same could be said about Postal dude. Mental issues, figuring his shit out with the tools he's given, yadda yadda. But there's a huge difference in the gameplay. Simon, in Cry of Fear, is quite literally, fighting his own demons. Each enemy represents something about him or those around him. He can SEE his demons and fight them. Postal dude doesn't know what he's fighting. He's not even aware he's sick. Simon at least had the idea that he wasn't all that great in the head, Postal dude has no fucking clue. He legitimately believes that he's cleansing the people. He's doing "good". It really hammers in the idea that these mental illnesses are not as easy to point out as someone who doesn't have them, seems to think. You cannot see what his illness is. He doesn't tell you. The narration doesn't tell you. I'm not a psychologist to evaluate his illness, but I doubt as psychologist could just point and figure what he has. It would be best to just lock him up before any more damage is done, which is, well, the ending. The people are innocent, the ones who fight back are innocent, Postal dude, albeit absolutely off his troley, is innocent in a twisted way. The people who lock him up at last, are also innocent. I may be over analyzing this game to hell and back, but I feel as if this here is one of the most accurate pieces of media when it comes to showing the struggles of mental illness, and how most of the time, the ill don't have the slightest clue they are off their rocker, despite it looking so apparent to an outsider. Thanks to whoever read this wall of text, kek
@@CoralCopperHead He sees himself as a hero. The story is narrated by him until he's locked up. He's the hero of his story, and we're playing his story.
My dark theory: The image of Postal dude backed up into a corner shows the aftermath of his arrival at the Elementary School… His utter mental breakdown coming to a close as he emotionally crumbles to pieces, with the police finally locking him up in a place housing many other disturbed individuals, where he’d spend the remainder of his life
To me Postal 1 and 2 are like thought experiments. Postal 1 was "Can we make game that is fun to play, but an emotional, visual, and sound trainreck?" Postal 2 is "How do we offend as many people as possible?"
For me Postal 1 is a depressing reminder of the reality of mass shootings or other violent crimes commited by mentally unstable people. People driven to insanity by stress or other factors until they do terrible things, and as much as we try to dehumanize them, they probably had their reasons to commit such atrocities; nonsensical ones, sure, but reasons that at least they thought made sense. And forgetting about those people and what led them to do what they did is exactly the thing that allows for more such people to appear. Postal 1 is one of the most disturbing games I've played because of how many thoughts it brings to my mind and how it breaks the feeling of safety I and many others take for granted
I love how it portrays a legitimately mentally broken person Not a silly edgelord but rather a person going though a breakdown so severe they dont understand the atrocities they are committing The man in postal 1 seems more scared and confused than bloodthirsty
What i find frightening about Postal 1 is that the Postal Dude looks so inhuman during the air force base's loading screen, he doesn't look like a man there, he looks like a demon in pure joy in what he's doing. But his mind is saying otherwise when you read the journal entries.
As someone who has been on the verge of a complete psychotic breakdown a few times in my life that is kinda how it is. You try to justify or explain away what you're doing or attempting to do. Who you're hurting or attempting to hurt. Eventually you either come to your senses and break down in tears as Postal Dude does at the end of the game or you fully give into the new joy you've found. You stop being human. At that point there is no going back. No ammount of psychiatric help can save you or bring you back to some sort of santiy. To this day I'm still teetering on the edge of that and i haven't come close to a breakdown sense highschool so it's been like 10 years. It's scary because you feel like you start to slip away as you fade to just being a voice in your own head as something else takes control only to realize what took control is a peace of you trying to split off. But everyones situation is different. For me it's caused by a mix of PTSD, Bi Polar disorder, and a form of Dissociative identity disorder. So i have a psychopath lurking in my brain who splits off from me when I'm under extreme stress or anger and can take control which is not exactly a great feeling because I'm still conscious just relegated to the back seat watching everything happen. It really is like something else takes over my body. Even argues with me. It's fucking horrifying.
@@NoBop2000 I'm sorry to hear that. You must overcome your fear and anger. And perhaps grab a suitable plushie for you. Might help you during some extreme stress.
If I remember correctly the dude in postal 1 thunks the airforce is using chemical to turn people crazy and he is simply trying to save himself and stop the spread of these chemicals In truth he suffers a full on psychological break and goes on a rampage in his own delusions
I still find the "the City" level loading screen the perfect sum up of the game, and of its protagonist on the lower difficulties. Also: considering the imagery, the parade level is the last level where the protagonist is sane, as the loading screen is normal and the one after it is distorted.
Now I see why Postal 2 had these sinister vibes from time to time slip through. P2 menu, as a kid, with it's music was really disturbing and scary to me and the Apocalypse Weekend with the hospital felt to me like a horror game.
I recall seeing a theory somewhere that basically talked about postal 2 being a prequel of some level and apocalypse weekend being the interlude leading into postal 1
(I apologize in advance for my poor English) Also, when completing Rampage mode in Postal Redux, you will see another ending. Against the background of amazing artwork, such a speech sounds: "After overseeing the subject for some time, the primary assessment has entered closing stages. The subject's next of kin have refused to cooperate with the ongoing evaluation. While the subject remains largely unresponsive to outside stimuli, caretakers have reported brief moments of coherency. Here in these increasingly sporadic times of lucidity, he describes himself as embarking on a self-proclaimed everlasting crusade, some sort of unending rampage. It isn't certain exactly who he's competing against, but he seems he desires the judgement of some unknown figure. Communication with this unseen force suggests an inability to distinguish between his delusions and reality. Observations show him withdrawing further and further into himself. Diagnosis is unclear at this point as despite our continued efforts, the subject's condition seems to only deteriorate with time. He appears to be trapped inside his own mind in an endless struggle against himself..."
So I remember my uncle had this game and as a kid I thought it was really neat. All the subtext flew way over my head and I never even thought much of the demonic and nightmarish imagery and sounds because I was so used to DOOM which my uncle also played. I just thought it was what shooters were supposed to be like. I didn't think about it too much. As a kid I remember thinking it was a very cool "realistic" fantasy of going around shooting everyone in the neighborhood. As a kid this was a cool idea to me, not because I wanted to really do it or anything but in my mind it was like a simulation, a "what if I was pitted against everyone, how well might I do?" No part of me has even been all that violent and I haven't hurt anyone seriously to date. As a kid I had even less understanding of the morbidness of this game and violence in general, it was just something I had always been around and I was conditioned to find it entertaining. I did understand the rules of reality and why fantasy is not something to emulate so there was never any danger there. Anyway, that probably makes me sound like a psychopath but it was just a normal, American upbringing. I have to date not shot anyone and don't plan to. I have grown to abhor real world violence (and I never reveled in really seeing people get hurt) and understand better my fascination with fictional violence as being a sort of coping mechanism and something to release pent up rage and stress. It's not something I ever plan to act out in reality. One thing I did always recall and confused me from the game was that first entry of "The Earth is hungry. Its heart throbs and demands cleansing. The Earth is also thirsty." As a child I imagined the Earth having an actual heart that was demanding food and drink and it always stuck with me because it was such a surreal idea presented with no real context for my childhood mind to make heads or tails of. Now of course it's easy to understand that it's true meaning being a literal demon/voice from some mental health condition is demanding the postal dude kill people. That quote has stuck with me though and it permeates in my mind at times as a memorable passage.
I had same thing in different way. I would say, that as a child we like to learn about different interactions and what our close people like to do, only to get horrified in adult stage how cruel we can be.
I'm just now looking into the first one after so many years and Postal Guy in the first one feels a lot like one of the strayed side-characters in a Silent Hill game that was lost in the loop and never made it out like the protagonist does
POSTAL 1 was the first and probably only game to give me nightmares after playing it, especially now in modern day, since these shootings are so regular, it's absolutely terrifying.
We just had 2 major shootings last month that took place in Texas (Elementary school) and New York (supermarket). It's so baffling and heartbreaking what the USA have become for the citizens that we live in constant fear of being shot by a unstable psychopath in supposed to be a "safe zone."
*Medium difficulty:* "My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred and I always wanted to die violently." *Hard difficulty:* "My enemies are after me, babe. I'm wearing a bulletproof vest at all times."
It’s almost sad that RWS is clearly capable of making things like this, that can make people feel unsafe, you know, true art, yet what they’re best known for is fart jokes: the video game. I said “almost”, because I just saw that they got Rick Hunter back for Postal 4.
@@joakimberg7897 Yeah but they just stick to the Postal franchise, don't get me wrong there is no problem with that. But they have the potential to make a new horror IP like Postal 1 but they never try.
@@FlyMeTonight I think most people don't want them to make horror games. And I wouldnt say theyre known for fart Jokes, but over the top racist homophobic violence Jokes, so to speak.
@@FlyMeTonight there’s a vr exclusive game they’re working on that’s set in the postal universe but it follows different characters and is an entirely different type of game. They talked about it a while ago on their podcast I’d say about 9 months ago at most. it’s called “Assault and Battery” they even filed a trademark for the name in 2020
The fact that postal 1 is so dark and depraved is what makes it my favorite in the series. I liked the hardcore edge it has, that the other games kinda lack. I wish RWS would make another one in this same kind of style.
@@zombieoutbreakprod to me that doesn't matter. I don't want it to "shock the masses" I just want it to be raw, and real. Another game like this can be made and I'll still love it's raw edge.
"Edgy" nowadays would be making an RPG where personal pronouns are restricted to evil characters and the main female character is a housewife damsel in distress. 😂
I remember watching my dad play this game as a kid. I'd draw the RWS logo in my coloring book lol. There was a contest if you wrote a postal story, and my dad (being a postal worker) wrote about his boss at the time. RWS mailed him a poster that they signed during the holidays, i guess they had a very small crew back then because there's like 7 signatures on it. My mom hated the game and threw out the giant OG strategy guide they also mailed. I wish they still had all the stories that were sent in, it would have been fun to read them. I feel like writing this will put me on an FBI watch list, but i guess it goes to show you how different of a time 97 was
I personally never leaned into the "Demon" being the one to push Postal Dude over the edge, as that always felt like a cop-out. Kind of like what Hotline Miami did. It takes depth away from his character imo. There are good people in real life who are mentally unwell and untreated who just snap one day and hurt others, and we don't blame any demons when they do so.
Well I'd say the reason he snapped is because he is extremely paranoid and had lived through the worst of life for months even years and him getting evicted was the last straw for him and the demon inside his head just encourages him to do bad things because he already snapped
I don't think the "demon" is necessarily a literal demon from Hell. It could be the name for a malevolent alternate personality, or the name for the voices inside the schizophrenic Postal Dude's head, or some other possibility that I swear I thought of but then completely forgot when I started typing this reply out. Like, names and titles can be metaphorical.
Honestly, Postal always seemed interesting. Especially the whole part of Postal Dude being mentally insane and just having a comolete breakdown that causes him to go on a rampage. Worst part is, it's something that could be possible in our world...
@@theketaminekid1241 tf has reddit had to do with the comment? The guy is right, mass shootings always happen and will continue to happen if people can't do something about it
I went through a Psychosis for about a year or two, and I get how the Postal 1 guy feels. He's definitely on the defense (in his mind the people around him are like something out of a nightmare, like a sick joke that everyone is in on and he is the only one who can see it). I've had that feeling. Never went violent though, but I can see where Postal dude is coming from.
Postal 1 is really unique the first of its kind video game, the closest games to it are manhunt and cry of fear or afraid of monsters. I theorize the postal dude was a mentally ill man for months maybe even years and then his psychosis hit him(which is the scary part there is probably someone out there that is mentally sick but is hiding it and at one point it all crashes down on him). Its the most dark and grim game that there is its images, music all represent the postal dude(which is why its similar to cry of fear) and one of the few games to show true horror its a shame people don't pay much attention to games with the 'insanity horror' but anyways postal is a unique and very mysterious game when it comes to its lore... we can only speculate but we never will find a real answer it will forever remain Unknown which is it's horror the fear of the Unknown we just can't understand the dude.
@@ABuffWizard co-op is different, you play as two police men who prevent the horrible accident at the end. Though good luck finding someone as in my experience i could never find a public server of the game that was active.
6:58 is one of the most heart breaking quotes a games manager could say. Creators of a game known for breaking standards of societal norm and pushing the envelope of what a studio could get away with. The most extreme thing they could think of has sadly become an almost daily reality. Something a game that’s known for showing horrible situations has something they wanted to show as being the worst thing they could think of, has become a reality. Think about that. They were trying to be fucked up. Reality has become so fucked up that its too much for Postal.
Call me crazy, but I think the gaming industry could use more games like Postal 1. Testing the cultural boundaries of society and pushing the envelope via controversy. It’s always fun to see boomers melt down over virtual violence.
@@RedemptionDenied666 Sad thats the case. I think seeing the eyes through a Wehrmacht solider could be interesting considering the majority of those enlisted weren't Nazis rather just regular people serving the country
Postal 1 makes you feel uneasy. Hatred is just funny with how edgy it is. I also find it funny that we call the protag not important since he did say that was his name
There's something very interesting about the psychological horror of Postal 1, much of it stemming from the fact that it's something that could very well happen in real life, that "monsters" can be real under the wrong circumstances, tho I am happy that they decided to go for a more explicitly dark humor route in Postal 2, that's the vibe I mostly associate with the Postal series, this very unique atmosphere of brutal violence and absurdity.
yea i love postal 2, played it twice, even (that's not much but i never generally play games for multiple times). It's violent, but in a fun way, with a way to go wery much overboard, making you think... yeah, what i did was fucked up. but the dark humor and satire leaves you smiling. connect the violence to the general vibe of postal 1,and it will leave you with nightmares at night
I know this video is a little old, but as a fairly new postal fan, I legitimately love just how much character the Dude actually has. He wasn't an evil guy, just a paranoid schizophrenic that had a mental break. Does that excuse his actions? Absolutely not. But thinking about the original posters for the games reveals so much about the person he actually was. He was known to be a little weird, yet ultimately caring, and his classmates voted him most likely to succeed (which in all honesty could have totally been a joke played on him). I just really like how nuanced 1997/Redux Dude is, his character is so insanely rounded.
Got this for $15 awhile back I remember opening the game and just sitting there for a good 10 seconds just gazing at the horrors infront of me and I started the game only for more "unsettling" horrors "The earth is hungry its heart Throbs and demands cleansing The earth is also thirsty"
My experience of Postal 1 was dream-like, I would say. Postal 2 is also dreamlike, but it's dreamlike in a funky way, while Postal 1 feels like nightmares, random thoughts, morbid curiosity and youthful forgetfulness/naivety fused into a strange mixture of memories. Even now when I recall my playthrough of Postal 1, it feels more like a dream than something I played when I was a child. Forgetfulness certainly played a part in me feeling this way, but the game certainly feels detached from reality in many ways. Thanks for this video.
My theory is postal 1 takes place after the events of postal 2. In postal 2, we can see that the dude tries to solve every issue at first in a peaceful way like a normal human being. People around him are always the problem makers which causes chaos and ends with dude killing them all. It seems like his mental condition is in the process of declining because of the insane people around him, but he still tries to stay mentally healthy. Postal 1 might be showing his failure to do so and having a complete mental breakdown.
makes you think, huh? World is a better place now, than in the past... But you can't imagine someone doing that in the 19th century. Did something happen to the human psyche? Did new weapons, and access to them allow for it to happen? or did we simply not hear about it happening, due to not having access to media, before?
@@WikterRor2807Maybe it's a problem caused by a lack of good men with easy access to weapons, and a glut of malraised children and criminal immigrants with easy access.
This kind of reminds me of a quote from Farcry 3 that the mc Jason says. “I know - I never thought I'd be able to kill someone. The first time it felt wrong. Which is good, right? But now... it feels like winning.”
Being a guy that’s gone through a psychotic break, I can’t help but feel for Postal dude in Postal 1. Yes, the acts you commit in game are horrible, but when you see the world through his lens..you see a scared, paranoid, schizophrenic man who’s uncontrollable thoughts/delusions have pushed him to do these things out of defense for himself. As someone that’s gone through psychosis (granted I didn’t physically harm anyone) it’s really hard to put into words for a “normal” person. All I can tell you is I hit my head really hard one day, and after about an hour or so my brain starts wigging out. Felt watched from above, uncontrollable thoughts, uncontrollable emotions, thoughts that I could speak telepathically, thoughts I was God, harassing people, name calling, paranoid thoughts that..some surprisingly came true which only made the delusions worse cause now it seemed the delusions are real. Thoughts people were trying to steal my identity, thoughts people were trying to fuck with my car, getting assaulted by family/friends family because they’re angry with me. Almost committing suicide to a love letter I wrote my ex cause the voices were convincing me it was a good idea. Delusions that ex was coming back. All out of my own control. I had no control. My eyes may have been open, I may have been speaking, but the man everyone knew was gone and replaced by a fucking freak. All over a head injury. People are quick to jump to “they’re insane” when really it’s “they need help, bad”. After the psychotic break all that’s left is a very apathetic shell. A lot of shame, a lot of guilt, a lot of self disgust, and honestly PTSD caused by your own brain. Flashbacks to the psychosis event you so desperately try to run away from. It’s hell. A hell you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Actually, I take that back. I wish it on judgmental people that fail to empathize, but feel entitled to empathy. Maybe they need a taste of psychosis so they can understand it a bit more.
It’s easy to look at the psychotic and go “You’re a crazy nutjob! How can you act that way??” When the unfortunate reality is..they don’t want to. Everything about them is out of their own control. And when they come back to reality, chances are they’re not gonna be happy with themselves for their actions.
I played through Postal redux and Postal 2 recently and i noticed that some of the tones of Postal 1 are still somewhat present in Postal 2, when i entered the mental hospital an uneasy feeling swept over me. like all of the goofy noises and sounds of Postal 2 went silent and this dreadful aura filled the space. was quite cool
Yeah, Postal 2 still has this stuff, it's just more off to the sides. A good amount of areas are unsettling. One I remember is in the mall kitchen. Past the jokey "ha ha meat is dog", you can barely notice a tiny bloodstain and fingers sticking out from the fridge. Never seen anyone mention it, either.
Honestly there's a lack of that type of horror games on today's market. The type where the horror doesn't come from spooky monsters/serial killers/whatever chasing you, but from what the protagonist does and thinks. It's hard to make a game that scares you with the gravity of what you as the protagonist do, as opposed to just throwing monsters at you. Postal 1 can be played like an action shooter, but it's a much better horror. One where the monster is you...
I love how he speaks about Doom, when he talks about games that can be played in pacifist way, like it's not a violent game where you mow down a literal hell of demons, and then the "Even Postal 2", which advertised itself as "Only as violent as you are", which spoke directly about how it can be played in the most relaxed way
POSTAL shows that the scariest thing isn’t vampires, zombies, demons, ghosts, or other supernatural elements. It’s the human mind, and how it can break like a twig.
I wish RWS would come back to that era of Postal in some way. I just really like the way they created it, so creepy and disturbing, I don't think any other game really showed a schizo mind in this kind of way. The journal entries and the horror art really is great, plus the amazing soundtrack. The Postal lore about the dudes psychotic mind just seems very cool to me. I guess they like the approach they took, i love the silly postal but i wouldn't like for it to just be remembered as that. Plus people who like very edgy stuff would appreciate it. Maybe we will see that in some No Regrets DLC.
"or adults like YOUR DAD" no joke I learned about Postal 2 because I was calling my dad up on his birthday or my birthday or something and we hadn't talked in a while so we were just talking about what games we'd been playing and he just started describing postal 2 in explicit detail to me and I remember feeling like... a mixture of horror and "I need to see this game immediately"
Shiittt, I remember going to supermarket with my dad and on the shelf, me and my dad saw postal X. He bought it instantly when he checked back of the box. This verison included every dlc. AWP, Eternal Damnation and Christmas edition.
My friends and I all played it when it came out. Oh the discussions on what it all meant and the like. How crazy and detached from reality it was. Looking back, it's unnerving how much closer we become, where mass shootings are now just a blip on the news. Also, the sound design is one of the best. It adds the unnerving feeling throughout. As the crowd and voices die down, literally, the droning becomes more prevalent. You can't escape it until everyone is dead, if I remember right (it's been a long while).
Just gotta say, as an edgier gentleman with no intent to recreate the actions of the Postal Dude, postal redux is my favorite game of all time, due to it's ability to hit like a semi, rather than the lawn mower hatred rides on. I like to be challenged mentally, not feel mentally challenged
I like the idea of the ending. The player is the "demon" posessing the postal dude, and now he has to live with it. That's how I interpret it, anyway. It's fun when games can incorporate the player as a character like that. Reciever 2 and Superhot both do this quite well, also.
Having beaten the game for the first time recently (playing the series in order), I thought the scream when selecting something on the main menu was a distorted evil laugh.
Back then, I honestly didn't know what Postal was and I even used to mistake the title for Portal. Come to find out the game's about a mentally ill man committing mass murder with incredibly dark undertones (obviously). Quite the surprise honestly.
Given how many shooter type games we had in my school's computer club, I'm actually surprised someone didn't sneak this in. And I was a sophomore in high school when Columbine happened. I feel like I remember seeing the game but I never played it. Although I'm sure someone I know owns it. I liked your even narration. It added a layer of heaviness to the already chilling nature of the game.
@@ABuffWizard i feel like postal: brain damaged was him fighting the demon version of himself (unless thats literally the plot, i havent played the game but seen a few cutscenes), and triumphing over it all, with the killing spree finally over, as he kills his demon.
postal 1 feels like you are playing a game you never are gonna play again, because it's a dream. either that or it feels like after playing too much on a row just makes you want to leave the computer and do something else, with this feeling that (personally for me) induces the game, making you feel like you had a long or bad day.
Sad to know that they changed the original ending not because it was to offense but because it would barely have its impact like it did back then Thats justs beyond sad but besides that yeah you nailed postal 1, it is truly a very dark game
The game is worth a thousand words really. There's so many angles to approach it too. Be it like to a degree there was truth to his insanity. All things considered, the first level is a eviction notice after a night of hearing death outside and wearing a kevlar vest, to which you go outside and are greeted with Police armed with rocket launchers. Or that much of it was in his head ect. Regardless, this is my personal guilty pleasure favorite of the series, even if 2 has more content value. The theme and the concepts it presents you is unlike anything else. The atmosphere of insanity is truly great too. I wish more people covered this game. As a side note, have you seen the new ending for Redux? It's canon there's 3 spree killers who were inspired by Dude and broke him free at the end of the coop game.
Great write up. I didn’t know that was the canon, I thought it was an Easter egg. Like a play on the fact that there are different iterations of Dude, real or imagined. The more ya know!
@@ABuffWizard Well I prolly should dial back on it being canon but it does seem implied. They're self aware n whatnot. I forgot the summary that someone put out regarding the whole challenge thing too. There's just a bunch of fascinating things about the game that one can only describe so much in text.. I still think the idea of inspired spree killers breaking him free ultimately sounds more on point considering the way the scene goes. But idk, maybe I like a certain idea more than others. The one about challenges being something like a battle ongoing in his head on killing people was interesting too. I forget how it went though, there was good food for thought about all the bodies on the ziggaraut.
I originally played postal 1 because I got introduced to the series with postal 2 and thought it would be more silly edgy fun, but fucking hell I remember feeling so empty yet anxious by the end of it, like I was emotionally drained yet never more paranoid. Honestly I have been trying to chase another game that makes me feel like that but I don’t think I’ll ever find another one.
I honestly would love to seem RWS try this style again, the atmosphere of Postal 1 is actually great and genuinely unnerving. Some of that imagery is so striking and almost Silent Hill esque. I'd love for a Postal 5 to suddenly be another Uturn back to this style, goofy should still be the main tone for Postal but at least one more shot at this style would be super interesting.
It almost felt like that was the intention with the hillbilly mission in P4 (and in general it did include a lot of throwbacks to P1.) But it was only a fleeting moment before it was back to poop _jokes_ and sexual innuendos.
I remember playing Postal years ago, one of Vanilla copies - a Disk. I remember listening to the outro while looking at it’s art and there lies a baby amongst the pile of people … shit was wild lol
I've only ever seen Postal 2 for many years, due to goofy and unhinged humor stuff. But when I looked into Postal 1, I was shocked. Gross, disturbing, twisted industrial games have always drawn my attention, and Postal 1 was definitely a game that checked all the boxes. Silent Hill, Cry of Fear, Lost in Vivo, and Postal 1 are games that frighten me, but also are some of my favorite in the horror genre.
I can't remember where, but I remember somewhere in an interview Vince desi said that even as far as the games have gone, he will never have kids (or at least killable ones) in a postal game
@@WikterRor2807 I don't really understand the taboo. I know that game devs have to avoid it because it causes trouble with ratings and everything, but I don't really understand how it's so much worse to have a child be killed in a game. Children die in horrible ways in real life unfortunately, so why avoid it so vehemently in games?
@@WikterRor2807 I just don't get why it's so much worse than any other terrible thing. You can kill kids in fallout 1 and it clearly paints you as the bad guy for doing it. Most games refuse to give you the freedom entirely so you've gotta use mods to do it. It's not like they're forcing you to do it by including it.
6:47; Wow, considering the crap RWS is making now (idk, I haven't seen good in Postal 3), and also considering how the industry goes freaking hard on censorship because "muh feelings", the developper's response to removing that ending feels incredibly chilling (almost like the game itself), and feels justified unlike the other, recent censorships. Thanks for showing what this game really is about, since myself, I only knew the series from 2 and onward, which of course are freaking weird, but you made me do a 180 on how I may feel about this and now, I wanna try it. The idea you get a different narrative from the Difficulties is a great idea in my opinion, rewarding you with something new and almost game-changing for better skill.
Postal 1 is... an experience. What drew me in was the level cards, with the horrific soundtrack and disturbing visuals, I'm a zoomer who grew up in the slenderman era of youtube and my friends and I stuck to our corner of urban legends. I quite enjoy games that go full psycho horror and despite being a psychopath simulator Postal 1 is one of the few games I can find that satisfies my wanting of darker horror games. I seldom can find a modern game that does it.
I got Postal for my birthday the year it came out. My mom had no idea what she bought me. All it took was the sound of gunshots and someone yelling “MY LEGS! I CANT FEEL MY LEGS!” for it to go up on “The Shelf”.
Postal 1 is the Walten Files of video games. It has no remorse in its aggressive content, it embraces just how insane and horrible it is, and it just screams the word "Raw" at every corner. To be blunt, it's bloody brilliant
I kind of consider Postal 1 in its own horror category, and would place it alongside games like Manhunt in its themes. Horror games where you feel like a monster hit different.
No other games has made me feel the way Postal did while playing trough it, it was like finding out about a serial killer and obessively going down a rabbit hole of digging up every horrifying detail I could find but somehow even more personal. I doubt another game like this will be made in my lifetime.
Up to some time ago I'd agree, that definitely never. but some people weren't afraid to make a game like hatred... It doesn't seem impossible anymore. Implausible, sure... but not impossible
Postal 1 is in a group of media that makes me feel weird, like a sense of morbid curiosity. I wouldn't be able to handle actually playing it, but I'm compelled to learn more.
WATCH THE EX-PATREON BONUS VIDEO HERE: th-cam.com/video/IxnqWBOEgus/w-d-xo.html
Postal 2: everyone is batshit insane except you.
Postal 1: you’re the insane one.
have i seen this type of meme format
@@Kina1968 never claimed to be original.
what if in postal 2, the dude see the world in postal 2 as postal 1? he says everyone's a lunatic in the diaries.
changed profile pic 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
I like how its OK that we can kill civilians i n the GTA Franchise.
That image of the Postal Dude hiding in the corner, desperately clinging to a rifle like a child with a blanket or a teddy bear. That messed with me.
Lol wuss
Basically guts from berserk, but with firearms, and if guts just completely gave up and gave in to his darkness
@ramudasanjuu why? i wanna know your reason, genuinely curious
@@somebodyknowitall7131 There's no 'why', he's simply baiting.
@ramudasanjuu chud hands typed this
After seeing the loading screens, music, and diary entries the gameplay is honestly the least disturbing part
duh, gameplay is like whatever... they're just pixels, and not so many of them
Yeah, the soundtrack is like one the creepiest sounds I've ever heard.
The gameplay would be disturbing if you saw someone in real life from far away doing all the things you see in postal 1
Imagine seeing footage from a news chopper filming a man maniacally gunning down and killing every cop and innocent person he saw while laughing… that is disturbing..
It’s just easy to dissociate because it’s a video game
@@Salamander676 in real life, from war away - not disturbing either. Only if it'd happened in your town on city, I guess.
@@FinalBossOfTH-cam nah that's just you man lol
What if -- and hear me out -- the "Easy" and "Medium" level cards are what the Dude actually wrote down, while the "Hard" and "Nightmare!" cards are what he _thinks_ he wrote down.
i believe so, ywah
Damn, that's grim.
Honestly I think it’s the other way around. I believe the only reason you can “decipher” the true meaning of the entries on harder modes is because you need to “understand” the game in order to survive the harder mode. Like maybe we mastered the postal dude so much by playing the game that we start to understand his crazed rambling.
That or in a more “In universe” way, postal dude begins to “”””understand””” his own madness, and thus in his mind, the war journal reads more coherently.
Edit: wait, now that I think of it, this explication actually works more in the “easy being what he wrote done while hard is what he thought he wrote down” theories favor. My bad.
But if it’s in the reverse I think that can add a new tragedy to the postals dude mind. It would show that dude is so far down the rabbit hole that even his own journal starts to read like jibedish even to him. Like the words are being put through some kind of madness translation.
Kinda reminds me of a video I saw from early in Postal 2, when he shows people what looks to him like a picture of him and his dog. But the way they react makes it very clear he's probably not showing them a picture of Champ, and is probably showing them a picture of his Dachshund instead. The one he's not supposed to take for walks outside.
I think it's rather the fact that, through their difficulty, the easier and harder modes tell two different narratives. Easy tells the story of the demon; a creature with infinite potential for destruction and an unsatiable bloodlust. The hard difficulty tells the story of the dude; an individual fighting for their life, at war with everyone around them, hoping they live to die another day.
That quote from Jon gave me shivers in regards to the original elementary school attack ending from the game.
“The original ending no longer applies, because it was suppose to depict something completely unthinkable”
And nowadays, that unthinkable something happens... And alot...
As they say, Reality is sh!ttier than fiction.
@@ryanthemostwantedfurry1281a lot? Bruh Im from germany and as far as I know shooting up schools is Americas Nationalsport, with competing athletes going for new records every month
@@AbuHajarAlBugatti Got me in the first half not gonna lie xD
@@MrMojoRisin69 a 70 year old dude with a scattergun injuring some people with birdshot cause he was probably annoyed by noises & thought 'fuck it im old anyway' is kinda different to schools getting shot up by young people with issues monthly.
I still find it hilarious how the creators of Postal 1 (RWS) are some of the most polite people i have talked to.
I guess having the games as an outlet for being politically incorrect does that to you.
It's easier to understand the chaos if you look at it from outside.
sadly
positively venting your frustration can make you one of the nicest kindest souls in the world
@@magmad1ver The fuck do you mean "sadly"?
"Your responsible for what the Postal Dude does, but don't receive any of the punishment." Man, that does make the ending seem even worst than I thought.
The nightmares you get after beating the game is the punishment
Yeah no, if there was a choice in the matter i'd understand, you just do what you do to progress, responsibility or punishment implies there's a choice to do a right and a wrong but there isn't.
@samuel97120 meta choices do not count, choices that you do in video games and in real life do not carry the same weight.
You want to go to jail for beating a video game?
@@lordcrusader861 I like to view it from a 4D perspective. You’re the demon, you made the postal dude go around killing those innocent civilians, using all kinds of weaponry to lead out your task of murdering as many people as you physically can. You follow what the game tells you but you may kill the bystanders for entertainment, doing more than what is necessary, like with the parade being set aflame. After all is said and done, you step away from your desk or play something else, whilst the Postal dude suffers through what you made him do. You did all that killing, but you got no punishment. Obviously I don’t mean you should be thrown in the slammer in real life, it’s just that’s how I personally view the game.
I feel like the second game shows the world through the eyes of Postal Dude while the first shows what's actually happening.
I prefer to see Postal 2 as a self-parody of Postal 1's concept, mocking how grim it is.
@@DR3ADNOUGHT yeah,
I'm pretty sure that the loading screens are how the Dude is seeing his world
That’s why the first game is top down and the second is first person
So he's probably related to the Pyro.
(Not) Fun fact; I was told why post office shootings were so common back then when I got hired by the USPS. It's generally attributed to two reasons - Many post office workers were war veterans, since it was hard for them to find work outside of government jobs. They of course had a number of mental illnesses that were untreated back then, like ptsd. I never thought about it before being told in orientation, but it's sad and makes a lot of sense.
_The More You (Unfortunately) Know_
wow
I'm late ik but what was the second reason?
@@calebobry6211 That people who worked as these jobs were often at the low of society. People who went insane and had nothing to lose. Or at least I’m pretty sure that that’s the reason
The thought that Postal 1 dude could potentially be a veteran, makes it all the more sad.
my favorite theory of all time is the idea that postal dude was legit going insane over the existence of humanity he is a overworked tired man living in the corner of a shitty neighborhood, everyday he sees the worst in humanity and everyday the sounds outside his home drive him more and more over the edge till one day he wakes up, goes outside and he does not see humans anymore he cant see people, just demons or beasts he fights confused and afraid thinking he is killing monsters out to get him and when he gets to the elementary school he stops and snaps out of his crazed mind, he cries at the sight of children ignorant to the world and just having fun, playing and enjoying each other company
Feels less like a theory and more like a synopsis.
That hits something in me. I don’t like this but it feels like it’d be the most sense nowadays.
Sounds like the plot of Taxi Driver, but more grim
And on that same day he finally snapped and saw humans as demons he got evicted he was an extremely paranoid man who thought the government sent out a gas that made everyone crazy and he was the only sane person left and on top of everything else in his life it all came down after months prolly even years of seeing the worst the last straw that broke the dude's mind was being evicted.
So he's tired of neoliberal capitalism ?
I played Postal 1 redux not long ago and man...it isn't fun. Not in a gameplay sense, but it's like every aspect of the game really tries to tell you not to continue in a subconscious way.
i mean.... yea the screams in the loading screen are enough to make me not want to play it
The first Postal never was fun. I played through about two levels back in the day and I hated it. Postal 2 was freakin' killer though! Also, the graphics looked like they slammed the levels together from a clipart CD, if you remember, those stupid clipart CD's were all the rage in the 90's. Then there's that game Hatred on Steam and it's also not very good, but it's a thousand times better than Postal 1
@@PlasticCogLiquid Postal 1 came out in 1997. Hatred (2015) being almost exactly the same and only slightly more (gameplaywise) good is laughable
@@sibanbgd100
Yeah, in 1997, so you can’t really blame it for the gameplay or how it looked then versus now.
Plus, gameplay-wise, both games are practically the same.
Also that, Hatred only wishes it were as dark and gritty as Postal is.
Because good god Postal was dark and not edgy fluff like Hatred was.
@@PlasticCogLiquid
I think the art and aesthetic added to the eeriness to it, especially the music, to the concept of being inside the mind of a broken man whose a mass shooter and to the theory of whether it’s truly him behind the murder or us the player that is responsible.
But to each their own, but imo Hatred is definitely not better, not even by a long shot.
I first noticed how messed up the game was when you got to the outskirts early in the game and had a insanly brutal quote: ''The air ripens with the odors of the dead and dying. It smells like...victory.'' That quote alone made this game extremly disturbing.
First when you kill feels wrong, then it feels just like... victory
That's a play on Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore's "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" quote.
I got chills just from its game quote:
Blessed are the meek, for they make easy targets
@@casualobserver5124 good thinking dude, apocalypse now is something else
@@ackreikthecouncils.6449 greatest movie ever made tbh. Isn’t kinda funny how the first postal is also called REDUX and there’s a redux version for apocalypse now that is extended. Just thought that was nice
“Audio/Visual Nightmare” is the best descriptor of Postal 1 I’ve heard in a while.
Indeed.
666 likes damn
I member when people like Extra Credits freaked out about the release of HATRED but forget this game existed years before
"You didn't ask for this. You didn't choose this..." That video is so stupid that it's burned into my mind like the fitnessgram pacer test.
@@aniquinstark4347 "YET HERE YOU ARE, PLAYING AS-"
Good lord, how amazing it is that one bad video still leaves its impression on people even 5 years or so later.
lol that was a rarely idiotic video
You... "member"? No offense, seriously, but would you mind sharing your age?
@@James-py4je imagine seeing a minor spelling mistake and asking someone’s age over it
Though it's entirely possible to run through Postal 1 without killing a single Innocent, you couldn't NOT throw a firebomb at the marching band when you were 12. It was like putting Oreo pudding in front of you and saying, "Don't eat it."
oh, so the police officers arent innocent people doing their job?
@@coolwolf506 Postal is divided into Innocents and Hostiles. Hostiles are the ones shooting at you and the Hostiles have to be eliminated to clear the level. But that's the rub of Postal, isn't it? Outside of Postal Dude's perspective, what's a Hostile, anyway?
"Oreo pudding" that exists?
@@dachel683 I hope so.
I think that was the point. You have fire bombs, you see the marching band, your lil brain says "haha, burned player goes toot".
But that was the trap. When they burn, they are screaming. The fire spreads and attacks other pedestrians. Police and self armed people see the mad man with fire bombs. When the embers die out, only charred corpses are left, and a huge sense of wrongness.
You wanted to play, so keep going. Play.
4:50 small correction, his main pain sound (the AAUURGH) is a stock sound, but vince did the FIIIIIIIRRE voiceline for him
Thanks for clarifying. I had trouble with a lot of the sources of info this video, so I do appreciate it!
@@ABuffWizard np, Ive heard his pain sound in a few other places like Beastie Boys - Body Movin (at 3:16) for example lol
@@DJL3G3ND You weren't kidding, so weird to see that sound used somewhere else. th-cam.com/video/uvRBUw_Ls2o/w-d-xo.html
Thats weird it really does sound like vince lol
@@Postaldude__ I forgot to mention that line is vince, but I cant even remember where its used now, Ive definitely heard it somewhere though, maybe a random npc hurt sound?
The scariest part about Postal 1, that there's a chance that something similar to it in real life happens.
The closest thing to Postal 1 in reality for something so mentally ill or forces you to be SO VIOLENT and depraved that you have no moral compass is the mass shooter suspect, Charles Whitman's brain tumor. In the aftermath of the UT Tower shooting and request of autopsy from his own suicide note, they found a "Pecan-sized" brain tumor that pressed against apart of the brain for anxiety and fight or flight response.
His final notes tells us all that we need to know and to me, is the most similar to Postal 1 dudes "Demon". Whitman had many journal entries as well but these two stand out.
"However, lately (I cannot recall when it started)I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur, and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks."
And the last one after killing his parents and wife on the same day: "8-1-66. I never could quite make it. These thoughts are too much to me".
I think the true horror is it was originally created as an original concept, but in a post columbine world mass killings with demented diary entries are not only no longer a work of fiction, they aren't even shocking enough to breach international news.
And it did. Look up Anatoly Onoprienko.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_postal
@@Jorvaskrr he only killed 52 human trash
the first postal game is quite an interesting mix of isometric top-down shooter and horror game, playing it for free on steam made me curious enough to play the second game and even watch the movie.
It’s crazy how much of a difference there is between the tone of the two games.
The movie is kind of a guilty pleasure, it’s so dumb but it also has some good satire and some scenes get me laughing my ass off.
At the end of the day, I think emulating P2 for the movie was the right choice.
As stupid as it turned out, I think it ended up doing a lot of things pretty well.
Didn’t realise Boll had any passion for the project, but I guess that does kinda shine through in the movie.
First I’m hearing bout Rampage.
Even though it was direct to video the fact that _”It was Boll's first film to gain mainly positive reviews.”_ has piqued my interest.
I’ll check it out!
@@Halonics I doubt Uwe could have pulled of a Postal 1 movie
There is a movie??
@@blipblop1112 Yeah came out in 2007, it's actually pretty funny and captures Postal 2 quite well.
I stand by my theory that the original postal is a political statement about mental healthcare and mental health awareness, this game was accused of glorifying this violence but the same people who accused it would neglect mental health at every turn. What makes this game so scary is that it's not a game, these things happen in reality and we as a society only seem to care when it's too late.
Completely agree. Which makes even more sense when you consider that they changed the ending in redux, as another comment pointed out
Yea the games message clearly is take care of them or they will take care of you.
I think Postal has always had a political message. I mean, just look at the petition in Postal 2. That in an of itself is commentary. Just more obvious.
@@grimgrahamch.4157And like all political messages, CERTAIN PEOPLE will say "and this is why our politics should infest literally everything and all dissent should be snuffed, haha chud"
I feel like the really grim thing about Postal 1 is how it contrasts to all the other postal games, and what it feels like to me, the rationale was. RWS tried to make a horror game, essentially, and got lambasted and skewered in the media for it. So they said 'fuck it' and turned it into this absurdist comedy, even then still receiving vicious criticism. At the end of the day, Postal 1 was something Americans were not prepared for, because of how dark it was, because it required introspection, it was easier to just reject it. I feel like RWS started off wanting to make stereotypically 'smarter' games and became disillusioned after Postal 1...
They should have kept at it. The original Postal is an achievement even if it was unrecognized at the time. The others aren't shocking at all, literally anyone can get up on stage and say a bunch of slurs while jerking off, it's not subversive to pander to an audience just because that audience pretends you're the only one doing it.
I don't think they completely quit the idea media is always on about the "games cause violence" bs and I all do is sit there and groain like shut up man it's a game let them do what they want
Stupid Americans, I wish their country was destroyed
Postal 2 still has some weird crap going on, like in that one level in Apocalypse Weekend.
@@ammagon4519There's a difference between "weird stuff" and introspective horror.
*_"Population pressure and the stress of modern life may cause an increase in violent tendencies. The urban environment is the incubator for all sorts of undesirable behaviors. However much his atrocities disgust us, he may actually consider himself a hero. This is common among those who, in the popular slang, "go postal". In his tortured mind, he may feel he was battling against impossible odds. It is not unusual for some individuals to believe that the entire fate of the world rests with them. In the end, our subject displays all the classic symptoms of paranoid delusions. We may never know exactly what set him off but, rest assured, we will have plenty of time to study him."_*
true
Interesting thing:
In postal redux, corey cruise (the voice of postal dude in 3 and brain damaged) voiced that monologue of text.
Yeah, rick hunter and corey cruise both worked on redux.
@@a.k8185 both worked on paradise lost too
@@DJL3G3ND And on Postal 4 now.
@@mrscruffles801 And Jon St John
In the OG credit image of the well with the dead bodies, there is actualy a baby shot in the back besides the dude cut in half in the center.
There’s also a deer and a stop sign.
@@ABuffWizard yep, there is also DN
@@c4ns3r53 Deez Nutz
@@ABuffWizard fuckin goog man
Nice to see someone showing Postal 1 so much love. A lot of people write it off as trite and overly edgy, but they're not looking past the surface. There are so many incredibly interesting layers to this game.
There’s definitely a lot more under the hood than people might expect!
Postal redux ends up with dude realizing all the deeds he has done.
i mean this technically what being edgy nowadays is. Not looking past the surface.
Peeing infected urine on people and then bashing their heads off with a shovel was pretty interesting to me.
I think it gets its flak from Hatred and the Postals after it. Postal 1 is my favorite to this day.
That dev quote about the last level is horrifically devastating, no other way to put it really
comparing Postal to hatred it's like trying to compare a complete psychopath to the kid who's trying to be edgy
It's not really correct mostly because Hatred was MADE for shits and giggles
@@JetstreamRat so if you compare it to Postal 2 then it still comes short
@@JetstreamRat it's really not a bad game, but I just see it as a budget combo of Postal 1 and 2
people who play the first postal and call themselves crazy psychopaths thinking it’s cool are the real edgelords
@@frenziogeo people that call themselves crazy psychopaths are edgelords. Postal has nothing to do with it.
What really gets me about this game, is that there is no antagonist.
A lot of games have a main antagonist. Amon in Starcraft 2, The Prophets in Halo 2-3, Wesker in Resident Evil 1 and 5, stuff like that.
But some games change up the formula by making the antagonist into something less tactile. Say Frostpunk for example, you're definitely fighting something, and that is the weather. It's a nice change of scenery, making your antagonist into something you have no control over.
Cry of Fear is an amazing game, and while you could say that the "Doctor" could be the main antagonist, he's more of a plot device to further reinforce that YOU (or rather, who Simon perceives himself to be) are the antagonist. Simon also has a lot of mental issues, and tries to solve them one way or another with the tools he's given, and finally getting his ending, good or bad. Not gonna spoil endings here, obviously, but let's say every ending he gets (except maybe 1) is pretty much set in stone, that he sorts himself out.
This bring me to POSTAL 1. The same could be said about Postal dude. Mental issues, figuring his shit out with the tools he's given, yadda yadda. But there's a huge difference in the gameplay. Simon, in Cry of Fear, is quite literally, fighting his own demons. Each enemy represents something about him or those around him. He can SEE his demons and fight them. Postal dude doesn't know what he's fighting. He's not even aware he's sick. Simon at least had the idea that he wasn't all that great in the head, Postal dude has no fucking clue. He legitimately believes that he's cleansing the people. He's doing "good". It really hammers in the idea that these mental illnesses are not as easy to point out as someone who doesn't have them, seems to think.
You cannot see what his illness is. He doesn't tell you. The narration doesn't tell you. I'm not a psychologist to evaluate his illness, but I doubt as psychologist could just point and figure what he has. It would be best to just lock him up before any more damage is done, which is, well, the ending. The people are innocent, the ones who fight back are innocent, Postal dude, albeit absolutely off his troley, is innocent in a twisted way. The people who lock him up at last, are also innocent.
I may be over analyzing this game to hell and back, but I feel as if this here is one of the most accurate pieces of media when it comes to showing the struggles of mental illness, and how most of the time, the ill don't have the slightest clue they are off their rocker, despite it looking so apparent to an outsider.
Thanks to whoever read this wall of text, kek
Great write up, love seeing this kinda thing.
Yeah there is. You're playing as him.
@@CoralCopperHead He sees himself as a hero. The story is narrated by him until he's locked up. He's the hero of his story, and we're playing his story.
@@deathkorpsgrenadier2419 Most villains also see themselves as heroes, so yeah
@@CoralCopperHead a protagonist is the main character of a story
My dark theory:
The image of Postal dude backed up into a corner shows the aftermath of his arrival at the Elementary School…
His utter mental breakdown coming to a close as he emotionally crumbles to pieces, with the police finally locking him up in a place housing many other disturbed individuals, where he’d spend the remainder of his life
but thats already a theory and already has been confirmed by RWS
It has?
To me Postal 1 and 2 are like thought experiments. Postal 1 was "Can we make game that is fun to play, but an emotional, visual, and sound trainreck?" Postal 2 is "How do we offend as many people as possible?"
2:50 "Graphic design is my passion"
Apparently, some artists that draws tom and jerry helped with the loading screen
@@N_0_S_t_al_gicben-zo FR?
For me Postal 1 is a depressing reminder of the reality of mass shootings or other violent crimes commited by mentally unstable people. People driven to insanity by stress or other factors until they do terrible things, and as much as we try to dehumanize them, they probably had their reasons to commit such atrocities; nonsensical ones, sure, but reasons that at least they thought made sense. And forgetting about those people and what led them to do what they did is exactly the thing that allows for more such people to appear. Postal 1 is one of the most disturbing games I've played because of how many thoughts it brings to my mind and how it breaks the feeling of safety I and many others take for granted
wow edgelord cringe lol
@@satisfiedconsumer649 waaw
I love how it portrays a legitimately mentally broken person
Not a silly edgelord but rather a person going though a breakdown so severe they dont understand the atrocities they are committing
The man in postal 1 seems more scared and confused than bloodthirsty
What i find frightening about Postal 1 is that the Postal Dude looks so inhuman during the air force base's loading screen, he doesn't look like a man there, he looks like a demon in pure joy in what he's doing.
But his mind is saying otherwise when you read the journal entries.
As someone who has been on the verge of a complete psychotic breakdown a few times in my life that is kinda how it is. You try to justify or explain away what you're doing or attempting to do. Who you're hurting or attempting to hurt. Eventually you either come to your senses and break down in tears as Postal Dude does at the end of the game or you fully give into the new joy you've found. You stop being human. At that point there is no going back. No ammount of psychiatric help can save you or bring you back to some sort of santiy. To this day I'm still teetering on the edge of that and i haven't come close to a breakdown sense highschool so it's been like 10 years. It's scary because you feel like you start to slip away as you fade to just being a voice in your own head as something else takes control only to realize what took control is a peace of you trying to split off. But everyones situation is different. For me it's caused by a mix of PTSD, Bi Polar disorder, and a form of Dissociative identity disorder. So i have a psychopath lurking in my brain who splits off from me when I'm under extreme stress or anger and can take control which is not exactly a great feeling because I'm still conscious just relegated to the back seat watching everything happen. It really is like something else takes over my body. Even argues with me. It's fucking horrifying.
Take care of yourself mate.
Thanks for sharing your story.
@@NoBop2000 I'm sorry to hear that. You must overcome your fear and anger. And perhaps grab a suitable plushie for you. Might help you during some extreme stress.
@@NoBop2000 Stay strong man, find things that can help calm you and unwind your stress
@@NoBop2000 Go stupid, go crazy, AHAHHAHHAHHHHH
If I remember correctly the dude in postal 1 thunks the airforce is using chemical to turn people crazy and he is simply trying to save himself and stop the spread of these chemicals
In truth he suffers a full on psychological break and goes on a rampage in his own delusions
Meanwhile...
To be fair, they started to come for him on the first level... unless he had already done something terrible.
Remember, it's all in your head.
@@reallydontlikethem shut up obamas
That is true though
I still find the "the City" level loading screen the perfect sum up of the game, and of its protagonist on the lower difficulties.
Also: considering the imagery, the parade level is the last level where the protagonist is sane, as the loading screen is normal and the one after it is distorted.
Now I see why Postal 2 had these sinister vibes from time to time slip through. P2 menu, as a kid, with it's music was really disturbing and scary to me and the Apocalypse Weekend with the hospital felt to me like a horror game.
I recall seeing a theory somewhere that basically talked about postal 2 being a prequel of some level and apocalypse weekend being the interlude leading into postal 1
(I apologize in advance for my poor English)
Also, when completing Rampage mode in Postal Redux, you will see another ending. Against the background of amazing artwork, such a speech sounds:
"After overseeing the subject for some time, the primary assessment has entered closing stages. The subject's next of kin have refused to cooperate with the ongoing evaluation. While the subject remains largely unresponsive to outside stimuli, caretakers have reported brief moments of coherency. Here in these increasingly sporadic times of lucidity, he describes himself as embarking on a self-proclaimed everlasting crusade, some sort of unending rampage. It isn't certain exactly who he's competing against, but he seems he desires the judgement of some unknown figure. Communication with this unseen force suggests an inability to distinguish between his delusions and reality. Observations show him withdrawing further and further into himself. Diagnosis is unclear at this point as despite our continued efforts, the subject's condition seems to only deteriorate with time. He appears to be trapped inside his own mind in an endless struggle against himself..."
Poor English? Nope! No bad grammar here chief!
@@jjba_fan3113 wow, thank you!
I relate to that.
@nuclearstuff9442 🤓
So I remember my uncle had this game and as a kid I thought it was really neat. All the subtext flew way over my head and I never even thought much of the demonic and nightmarish imagery and sounds because I was so used to DOOM which my uncle also played. I just thought it was what shooters were supposed to be like. I didn't think about it too much. As a kid I remember thinking it was a very cool "realistic" fantasy of going around shooting everyone in the neighborhood. As a kid this was a cool idea to me, not because I wanted to really do it or anything but in my mind it was like a simulation, a "what if I was pitted against everyone, how well might I do?" No part of me has even been all that violent and I haven't hurt anyone seriously to date. As a kid I had even less understanding of the morbidness of this game and violence in general, it was just something I had always been around and I was conditioned to find it entertaining. I did understand the rules of reality and why fantasy is not something to emulate so there was never any danger there.
Anyway, that probably makes me sound like a psychopath but it was just a normal, American upbringing. I have to date not shot anyone and don't plan to. I have grown to abhor real world violence (and I never reveled in really seeing people get hurt) and understand better my fascination with fictional violence as being a sort of coping mechanism and something to release pent up rage and stress. It's not something I ever plan to act out in reality.
One thing I did always recall and confused me from the game was that first entry of "The Earth is hungry. Its heart throbs and demands cleansing. The Earth is also thirsty." As a child I imagined the Earth having an actual heart that was demanding food and drink and it always stuck with me because it was such a surreal idea presented with no real context for my childhood mind to make heads or tails of. Now of course it's easy to understand that it's true meaning being a literal demon/voice from some mental health condition is demanding the postal dude kill people. That quote has stuck with me though and it permeates in my mind at times as a memorable passage.
I’m genuinely stunned at how many people have so much to say about this game and are sharing their experiences with it.
Thanks for the write up!
You explain things very well. All you said was almost verbatim my childhood
As someone that didn't understand english the first time I played this game, I just thought he looked cool. lol
Note that the “Earth is hungry” thing was why the Aztecs preformed their sacrifices-it was necessary to prevent the Earth from eating everything.
I had same thing in different way.
I would say, that as a child we like to learn about different interactions and what our close people like to do, only to get horrified in adult stage how cruel we can be.
I'm just now looking into the first one after so many years and Postal Guy in the first one feels a lot like one of the strayed side-characters in a Silent Hill game that was lost in the loop and never made it out like the protagonist does
POSTAL 1 was the first and probably only game to give me nightmares after playing it, especially now in modern day, since these shootings are so regular, it's absolutely terrifying.
@@dr.seytan4310 ⚠️Warning it’s a jumpscare video⚠️
Sorry about that, they’ve left a dozen comments linked to the same vid. Blocked now. (:
@@ABuffWizard thank god I didn't click on that link at night!
We just had 2 major shootings last month that took place in Texas (Elementary school) and New York (supermarket). It's so baffling and heartbreaking what the USA have become for the citizens that we live in constant fear of being shot by a unstable psychopath in supposed to be a "safe zone."
@@haaxxx9 wierd how all the shooting seem to happens in "gun free" zones huh?
*Medium difficulty:* "My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred and I always wanted to die violently."
*Hard difficulty:* "My enemies are after me, babe. I'm wearing a bulletproof vest at all times."
6:23 "To the collective relief of almost everyone..." That one guy: GOD DAMMIT
It’s almost sad that RWS is clearly capable of making things like this, that can make people feel unsafe, you know, true art, yet what they’re best known for is fart jokes: the video game.
I said “almost”, because I just saw that they got Rick Hunter back for Postal 4.
Huh? RWS is awesome
@@joakimberg7897 Yeah but they just stick to the Postal franchise, don't get me wrong there is no problem with that. But they have the potential to make a new horror IP like Postal 1 but they never try.
@@FlyMeTonight I think most people don't want them to make horror games.
And I wouldnt say theyre known for fart Jokes, but over the top racist homophobic violence Jokes, so to speak.
@@FlyMeTonight there’s a vr exclusive game they’re working on that’s set in the postal universe but it follows different characters and is an entirely different type of game. They talked about it a while ago on their podcast I’d say about 9 months ago at most. it’s called “Assault and Battery” they even filed a trademark for the name in 2020
They like to piss off prudes 😁
The fact that postal 1 is so dark and depraved is what makes it my favorite in the series. I liked the hardcore edge it has, that the other games kinda lack. I wish RWS would make another one in this same kind of style.
Only thing is edge like this doesn't have the same sting today as it did back then.
@@zombieoutbreakprod to me that doesn't matter. I don't want it to "shock the masses" I just want it to be raw, and real. Another game like this can be made and I'll still love it's raw edge.
ehh i like that it turned into funny meth game
but yeah they could make a different game of this style
"Edgy" nowadays would be making an RPG where personal pronouns are restricted to evil characters and the main female character is a housewife damsel in distress. 😂
I remember watching my dad play this game as a kid. I'd draw the RWS logo in my coloring book lol. There was a contest if you wrote a postal story, and my dad (being a postal worker) wrote about his boss at the time. RWS mailed him a poster that they signed during the holidays, i guess they had a very small crew back then because there's like 7 signatures on it. My mom hated the game and threw out the giant OG strategy guide they also mailed.
I wish they still had all the stories that were sent in, it would have been fun to read them. I feel like writing this will put me on an FBI watch list, but i guess it goes to show you how different of a time 97 was
This game literally looks like something you'd found in the darkweb
I personally never leaned into the "Demon" being the one to push Postal Dude over the edge, as that always felt like a cop-out. Kind of like what Hotline Miami did. It takes depth away from his character imo. There are good people in real life who are mentally unwell and untreated who just snap one day and hurt others, and we don't blame any demons when they do so.
Well right Richard didn’t do anything
He just kinda exist
He’s more like the grim reaper
Well I'd say the reason he snapped is because he is extremely paranoid and had lived through the worst of life for months even years and him getting evicted was the last straw for him and the demon inside his head just encourages him to do bad things because he already snapped
I don't think the "demon" is necessarily a literal demon from Hell. It could be the name for a malevolent alternate personality, or the name for the voices inside the schizophrenic Postal Dude's head, or some other possibility that I swear I thought of but then completely forgot when I started typing this reply out.
Like, names and titles can be metaphorical.
I've honestly always interpreted Richard as some sort of mental illness thing tbh
Honestly, Postal always seemed interesting. Especially the whole part of Postal Dude being mentally insane and just having a comolete breakdown that causes him to go on a rampage. Worst part is, it's something that could be possible in our world...
It's not just possible, it has happened. Many many many times. And will happen many many many more.
@@smward87 reddit vibe
Yeah nigga that’s the joker movie made a billion dollars
@@theketaminekid1241 tf has reddit had to do with the comment? The guy is right, mass shootings always happen and will continue to happen if people can't do something about it
@theketaminekid1241 There was actually an elementary school shooting that happened a couple of years ago. Let that sink in.
I went through a Psychosis for about a year or two, and I get how the Postal 1 guy feels. He's definitely on the defense (in his mind the people around him are like something out of a nightmare, like a sick joke that everyone is in on and he is the only one who can see it). I've had that feeling. Never went violent though, but I can see where Postal dude is coming from.
In about twenty years, everyone will be the postal dude.
@@satisfiedconsumer649Yeah, no. Saying "it's inevitable" is the worst possible perspective to have it.
@thunderspark1536 Says the furry Lmao
Postal 1 is really unique the first of its kind video game, the closest games to it are manhunt and cry of fear or afraid of monsters. I theorize the postal dude was a mentally ill man for months maybe even years and then his psychosis hit him(which is the scary part there is probably someone out there that is mentally sick but is hiding it and at one point it all crashes down on him). Its the most dark and grim game that there is its images, music all represent the postal dude(which is why its similar to cry of fear) and one of the few games to show true horror its a shame people don't pay much attention to games with the 'insanity horror' but anyways postal is a unique and very mysterious game when it comes to its lore... we can only speculate but we never will find a real answer it will forever remain Unknown which is it's horror the fear of the Unknown we just can't understand the dude.
Thanks for the musings. I’ve played Manhunt, but haven’t heard of Cry of Fear or Afraid of Monsters. I’ll have a look at them when I get a chance!
@@ABuffWizard cry of fear is free on steam, afraid of monsters, i do not know.
I’ll snatch up Cry of Fear for sure!
Any idea if the co-op campaign is different to the single player?
@@ABuffWizard co-op is different, you play as two police men who prevent the horrible accident at the end. Though good luck finding someone as in my experience i could never find a public server of the game that was active.
Alrighty, thanks for the info!
Is it better to play single player campaign first?
6:58 is one of the most heart breaking quotes a games manager could say. Creators of a game known for breaking standards of societal norm and pushing the envelope of what a studio could get away with.
The most extreme thing they could think of has sadly become an almost daily reality.
Something a game that’s known for showing horrible situations has something they wanted to show as being the worst thing they could think of, has become a reality.
Think about that.
They were trying to be fucked up.
Reality has become so fucked up that its too much for Postal.
And despite that, Postal is the bigger issue people take umbrage with
Call me crazy, but I think the gaming industry could use more games like Postal 1. Testing the cultural boundaries of society and pushing the envelope via controversy. It’s always fun to see boomers melt down over virtual violence.
hah sure.
although a game like. that in 3d and new gen graphics would raise hell in the war against violent video games.
It has always been happening since DOOM came out in 1993
They should make World At War 2 where you play as the axis
@@magicman3163 that'll never happen In a million years
@@RedemptionDenied666 Sad thats the case. I think seeing the eyes through a Wehrmacht solider could be interesting considering the majority of those enlisted weren't Nazis rather just regular people serving the country
"Some designer lost his tiny mind"
-Dude
Postal 1 makes you feel uneasy. Hatred is just funny with how edgy it is. I also find it funny that we call the protag not important since he did say that was his name
Buff Wizard talking about Postal 2: _Whimsical music while explaining the controversy_
Buff Wizard talking about Postal: _Instant Horror Channel_
3:29
song is "ice" in silent hill shattered memories. good game.
really fuckin sad game too
There's something very interesting about the psychological horror of Postal 1, much of it stemming from the fact that it's something that could very well happen in real life, that "monsters" can be real under the wrong circumstances, tho I am happy that they decided to go for a more explicitly dark humor route in Postal 2, that's the vibe I mostly associate with the Postal series, this very unique atmosphere of brutal violence and absurdity.
yea i love postal 2,
played it twice, even (that's not much but i never generally play games for multiple times).
It's violent, but in a fun way, with a way to go wery much overboard, making you think... yeah, what i did was fucked up.
but the dark humor and satire leaves you smiling.
connect the violence to the general vibe of postal 1,and it will leave you with nightmares at night
I know this video is a little old, but as a fairly new postal fan, I legitimately love just how much character the Dude actually has. He wasn't an evil guy, just a paranoid schizophrenic that had a mental break. Does that excuse his actions? Absolutely not. But thinking about the original posters for the games reveals so much about the person he actually was. He was known to be a little weird, yet ultimately caring, and his classmates voted him most likely to succeed (which in all honesty could have totally been a joke played on him). I just really like how nuanced 1997/Redux Dude is, his character is so insanely rounded.
6:58 this goes really hard
Got this for $15 awhile back I remember opening the game and just sitting there for a good 10 seconds just gazing at the horrors infront of me and I started the game only for more "unsettling" horrors
"The earth is hungry its heart
Throbs and demands cleansing
The earth is also thirsty"
I like how it just says "The earth is hungry, it's heart throbs and demands cleansing" and then it just goes like "oh and the earth is also thirsty".
i love the aesthetic of the menu. the song is so nice for some reason too. game is very atmospheric
My experience of Postal 1 was dream-like, I would say. Postal 2 is also dreamlike, but it's dreamlike in a funky way, while Postal 1 feels like nightmares, random thoughts, morbid curiosity and youthful forgetfulness/naivety fused into a strange mixture of memories. Even now when I recall my playthrough of Postal 1, it feels more like a dream than something I played when I was a child. Forgetfulness certainly played a part in me feeling this way, but the game certainly feels detached from reality in many ways. Thanks for this video.
My theory is postal 1 takes place after the events of postal 2. In postal 2, we can see that the dude tries to solve every issue at first in a peaceful way like a normal human being. People around him are always the problem makers which causes chaos and ends with dude killing them all. It seems like his mental condition is in the process of declining because of the insane people around him, but he still tries to stay mentally healthy. Postal 1 might be showing his failure to do so and having a complete mental breakdown.
Good theory, but wouldn’t say it fits in canon with the ending of Apocalypse Weekend and Paradise Lost.
"it is no longer an unthinkable nightmare, but a very depressing reality"
God.
makes you think, huh?
World is a better place now, than in the past... But you can't imagine someone doing that in the 19th century.
Did something happen to the human psyche? Did new weapons, and access to them allow for it to happen? or did we simply not hear about it happening, due to not having access to media, before?
@Wikterror 2807 The world was never a good place and it never will be
@@alfalldoot6715 ok edgelord
@@WikterRor2807Maybe it's a problem caused by a lack of good men with easy access to weapons, and a glut of malraised children and criminal immigrants with easy access.
@@WikterRor2807 Worse was being done on a national scale by the most influential countries in the 19th century, but I see what you mean.
This kind of reminds me of a quote from Farcry 3 that the mc Jason says.
“I know - I never thought I'd be able to kill someone. The first time it felt wrong. Which is good, right? But now... it feels like winning.”
Being a guy that’s gone through a psychotic break, I can’t help but feel for Postal dude in Postal 1. Yes, the acts you commit in game are horrible, but when you see the world through his lens..you see a scared, paranoid, schizophrenic man who’s uncontrollable thoughts/delusions have pushed him to do these things out of defense for himself.
As someone that’s gone through psychosis (granted I didn’t physically harm anyone) it’s really hard to put into words for a “normal” person. All I can tell you is I hit my head really hard one day, and after about an hour or so my brain starts wigging out. Felt watched from above, uncontrollable thoughts, uncontrollable emotions, thoughts that I could speak telepathically, thoughts I was God, harassing people, name calling, paranoid thoughts that..some surprisingly came true which only made the delusions worse cause now it seemed the delusions are real. Thoughts people were trying to steal my identity, thoughts people were trying to fuck with my car, getting assaulted by family/friends family because they’re angry with me. Almost committing suicide to a love letter I wrote my ex cause the voices were convincing me it was a good idea. Delusions that ex was coming back. All out of my own control. I had no control. My eyes may have been open, I may have been speaking, but the man everyone knew was gone and replaced by a fucking freak. All over a head injury. People are quick to jump to “they’re insane” when really it’s “they need help, bad”.
After the psychotic break all that’s left is a very apathetic shell. A lot of shame, a lot of guilt, a lot of self disgust, and honestly PTSD caused by your own brain. Flashbacks to the psychosis event you so desperately try to run away from. It’s hell. A hell you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Actually, I take that back. I wish it on judgmental people that fail to empathize, but feel entitled to empathy. Maybe they need a taste of psychosis so they can understand it a bit more.
It’s easy to look at the psychotic and go “You’re a crazy nutjob! How can you act that way??” When the unfortunate reality is..they don’t want to. Everything about them is out of their own control. And when they come back to reality, chances are they’re not gonna be happy with themselves for their actions.
Postal 1: I have a dark story, lots of violence, and I'm very realistic (not in graphics).
Postal 2: haha funny cat gun silencer go brrrr
Ever since i got a cat... I couldn't bring myself to press this button 😆😆😆
I played through Postal redux and Postal 2 recently and i noticed that some of the tones of Postal 1 are still somewhat present in Postal 2, when i entered the mental hospital an uneasy feeling swept over me. like all of the goofy noises and sounds of Postal 2 went silent and this dreadful aura filled the space. was quite cool
Yeah, Postal 2 still has this stuff, it's just more off to the sides. A good amount of areas are unsettling. One I remember is in the mall kitchen. Past the jokey "ha ha meat is dog", you can barely notice a tiny bloodstain and fingers sticking out from the fridge. Never seen anyone mention it, either.
I mean its definetly more on the comical side @@Saihalji
Honestly there's a lack of that type of horror games on today's market.
The type where the horror doesn't come from spooky monsters/serial killers/whatever chasing you, but from what the protagonist does and thinks.
It's hard to make a game that scares you with the gravity of what you as the protagonist do, as opposed to just throwing monsters at you.
Postal 1 can be played like an action shooter, but it's a much better horror. One where the monster is you...
Yeah also I hope that for some ungodly reason there's developer who brave enough to make horror using postal 1 formula
I love how he speaks about Doom, when he talks about games that can be played in pacifist way, like it's not a violent game where you mow down a literal hell of demons, and then the "Even Postal 2", which advertised itself as "Only as violent as you are", which spoke directly about how it can be played in the most relaxed way
POSTAL shows that the scariest thing isn’t vampires, zombies, demons, ghosts, or other supernatural elements.
It’s the human mind, and how it can break like a twig.
wow
Yeah why many video games not trying postal 1 horror formula
@@rofidnurramadhan330 maybe its too complex or it will not profit? After all, RWS has the capability to create another one
I wish RWS would come back to that era of Postal in some way. I just really like the way they created it, so creepy and disturbing, I don't think any other game really showed a schizo mind in this kind of way. The journal entries and the horror art really is great, plus the amazing soundtrack. The Postal lore about the dudes psychotic mind just seems very cool to me. I guess they like the approach they took, i love the silly postal but i wouldn't like for it to just be remembered as that. Plus people who like very edgy stuff would appreciate it. Maybe we will see that in some No Regrets DLC.
"or adults like YOUR DAD" no joke I learned about Postal 2 because I was calling my dad up on his birthday or my birthday or something and we hadn't talked in a while so we were just talking about what games we'd been playing and he just started describing postal 2 in explicit detail to me and I remember feeling like... a mixture of horror and "I need to see this game immediately"
Shiittt, I remember going to supermarket with my dad and on the shelf, me and my dad saw postal X. He bought it instantly when he checked back of the box. This verison included every dlc. AWP, Eternal Damnation and Christmas edition.
Damn that's told perfectly. The dark vibe is extreme in this video, plus it feels like watching an documentation about somthing
My friends and I all played it when it came out. Oh the discussions on what it all meant and the like. How crazy and detached from reality it was. Looking back, it's unnerving how much closer we become, where mass shootings are now just a blip on the news. Also, the sound design is one of the best. It adds the unnerving feeling throughout. As the crowd and voices die down, literally, the droning becomes more prevalent. You can't escape it until everyone is dead, if I remember right (it's been a long while).
Just gotta say, as an edgier gentleman with no intent to recreate the actions of the Postal Dude, postal redux is my favorite game of all time, due to it's ability to hit like a semi, rather than the lawn mower hatred rides on.
I like to be challenged mentally, not feel mentally challenged
hahaha
This games is so terrifying. The music alone is so dark and tense
The ending of postal one sounds like postal dude is scream because of pain of something in or with him in the cell
I like the idea of the ending. The player is the "demon" posessing the postal dude, and now he has to live with it. That's how I interpret it, anyway.
It's fun when games can incorporate the player as a character like that. Reciever 2 and Superhot both do this quite well, also.
Having beaten the game for the first time recently (playing the series in order), I thought the scream when selecting something on the main menu was a distorted evil laugh.
Back then, I honestly didn't know what Postal was and I even used to mistake the title for Portal. Come to find out the game's about a mentally ill man committing mass murder with incredibly dark undertones (obviously). Quite the surprise honestly.
Given how many shooter type games we had in my school's computer club, I'm actually surprised someone didn't sneak this in. And I was a sophomore in high school when Columbine happened. I feel like I remember seeing the game but I never played it. Although I'm sure someone I know owns it.
I liked your even narration. It added a layer of heaviness to the already chilling nature of the game.
Thanks, Grimm!
I appreciate you sharing, glad you enjoyed it!
@@ABuffWizard i feel like postal: brain damaged was him fighting the demon version of himself (unless thats literally the plot, i havent played the game but seen a few cutscenes), and triumphing over it all, with the killing spree finally over, as he kills his demon.
The first postal game is the most interesting in the series and cannot be compared to the others
Once i ended the game, I only thought of one word, insanity
postal 1 feels like you are playing a game you never are gonna play again, because it's a dream. either that or it feels like after playing too much on a row just makes you want to leave the computer and do something else, with this feeling that (personally for me) induces the game, making you feel like you had a long or bad day.
Sad to know that they changed the original ending not because it was to offense but because it would barely have its impact like it did back then
Thats justs beyond sad but besides that yeah you nailed postal 1, it is truly a very dark game
Great video! We are currently working on a feature length Postal documentary and appreciate your hard work here.
The game is worth a thousand words really. There's so many angles to approach it too.
Be it like to a degree there was truth to his insanity. All things considered, the first level is a eviction notice after a night of hearing death outside and wearing a kevlar vest, to which you go outside and are greeted with Police armed with rocket launchers. Or that much of it was in his head ect.
Regardless, this is my personal guilty pleasure favorite of the series, even if 2 has more content value. The theme and the concepts it presents you is unlike anything else. The atmosphere of insanity is truly great too. I wish more people covered this game.
As a side note, have you seen the new ending for Redux? It's canon there's 3 spree killers who were inspired by Dude and broke him free at the end of the coop game.
Great write up.
I didn’t know that was the canon, I thought it was an Easter egg. Like a play on the fact that there are different iterations of Dude, real or imagined.
The more ya know!
@@ABuffWizard Well I prolly should dial back on it being canon but it does seem implied. They're self aware n whatnot. I forgot the summary that someone put out regarding the whole challenge thing too. There's just a bunch of fascinating things about the game that one can only describe so much in text..
I still think the idea of inspired spree killers breaking him free ultimately sounds more on point considering the way the scene goes. But idk, maybe I like a certain idea more than others.
The one about challenges being something like a battle ongoing in his head on killing people was interesting too. I forget how it went though, there was good food for thought about all the bodies on the ziggaraut.
I originally played postal 1 because I got introduced to the series with postal 2 and thought it would be more silly edgy fun, but fucking hell I remember feeling so empty yet anxious by the end of it, like I was emotionally drained yet never more paranoid. Honestly I have been trying to chase another game that makes me feel like that but I don’t think I’ll ever find another one.
Dead Space, Silent Hill. They made me feel like you just described.
ALSO Spec Ops: The line.
Mother Russia Bleeds
I honestly would love to seem RWS try this style again, the atmosphere of Postal 1 is actually great and genuinely unnerving. Some of that imagery is so striking and almost Silent Hill esque. I'd love for a Postal 5 to suddenly be another Uturn back to this style, goofy should still be the main tone for Postal but at least one more shot at this style would be super interesting.
It almost felt like that was the intention with the hillbilly mission in P4 (and in general it did include a lot of throwbacks to P1.)
But it was only a fleeting moment before it was back to poop _jokes_ and sexual innuendos.
I remember playing Postal years ago, one of Vanilla copies - a Disk. I remember listening to the outro while looking at it’s art and there lies a baby amongst the pile of people … shit was wild lol
I've only ever seen Postal 2 for many years, due to goofy and unhinged humor stuff. But when I looked into Postal 1, I was shocked. Gross, disturbing, twisted industrial games have always drawn my attention, and Postal 1 was definitely a game that checked all the boxes.
Silent Hill, Cry of Fear, Lost in Vivo, and Postal 1 are games that frighten me, but also are some of my favorite in the horror genre.
I can't remember where, but I remember somewhere in an interview Vince desi said that even as far as the games have gone, he will never have kids (or at least killable ones) in a postal game
It's a weird taboo, to me, but in some ways I understand it.
@@WikterRor2807 I don't really understand the taboo. I know that game devs have to avoid it because it causes trouble with ratings and everything, but I don't really understand how it's so much worse to have a child be killed in a game. Children die in horrible ways in real life unfortunately, so why avoid it so vehemently in games?
@@xdeathcon it's that so whoever plays gets the memo. This thing is so abhorrent that even in games you can't do it.
@@WikterRor2807 I just don't get why it's so much worse than any other terrible thing. You can kill kids in fallout 1 and it clearly paints you as the bad guy for doing it. Most games refuse to give you the freedom entirely so you've gotta use mods to do it. It's not like they're forcing you to do it by including it.
6:47; Wow, considering the crap RWS is making now (idk, I haven't seen good in Postal 3), and also considering how the industry goes freaking hard on censorship because "muh feelings", the developper's response to removing that ending feels incredibly chilling (almost like the game itself), and feels justified unlike the other, recent censorships.
Thanks for showing what this game really is about, since myself, I only knew the series from 2 and onward, which of course are freaking weird, but you made me do a 180 on how I may feel about this and now, I wanna try it. The idea you get a different narrative from the Difficulties is a great idea in my opinion, rewarding you with something new and almost game-changing for better skill.
Crybaby
Postal 1 is... an experience. What drew me in was the level cards, with the horrific soundtrack and disturbing visuals, I'm a zoomer who grew up in the slenderman era of youtube and my friends and I stuck to our corner of urban legends. I quite enjoy games that go full psycho horror and despite being a psychopath simulator Postal 1 is one of the few games I can find that satisfies my wanting of darker horror games. I seldom can find a modern game that does it.
I got Postal for my birthday the year it came out. My mom had no idea what she bought me. All it took was the sound of gunshots and someone yelling “MY LEGS! I CANT FEEL MY LEGS!” for it to go up on “The Shelf”.
poor lady probably thought it was like PaperBoy
How ironic that a town called "Paradise" is where a game like Postal takes place.
Postal 1 is the Walten Files of video games. It has no remorse in its aggressive content, it embraces just how insane and horrible it is, and it just screams the word "Raw" at every corner. To be blunt, it's bloody brilliant
I kind of consider Postal 1 in its own horror category, and would place it alongside games like Manhunt in its themes.
Horror games where you feel like a monster hit different.
No other games has made me feel the way Postal did while playing trough it, it was like finding out about a serial killer and obessively going down a rabbit hole of digging up every horrifying detail I could find but somehow even more personal. I doubt another game like this will be made in my lifetime.
Up to some time ago I'd agree, that definitely never.
but some people weren't afraid to make a game like hatred... It doesn't seem impossible anymore.
Implausible, sure... but not impossible
@@WikterRor2807 Hatred doesnt really do anything for me, it feels very sterile in comparison.
@@Anonymouthful it feels wrong somehow
Postal 1 is in a group of media that makes me feel weird, like a sense of morbid curiosity. I wouldn't be able to handle actually playing it, but I'm compelled to learn more.