Postal: when a game makes subversiveness its spearhead
, by Quentin
Today, we take a look back at a license and a development studio that have bet on provocation. For the developers, attracting the wrath of the press and many countries has become a playground over time. Let's retrace the history of Running With Scissors, the company behind the Postal series.
Running With Scissors
Never has a studio lived up to its name so well: those who continually run towards the next controversy by drawing on absolute bad taste for their creations. Founded in 1985 in Tucson, Arizona, Mike Riedel and Vince Desiderio initially called the company Riedel Software Productions, a much more common name, with little impact.
Under this name, they released a number of games, including children's titles such as Tom & Jerry and Bobby's World for the Super Nintendo. But, as you've probably guessed, it's not really these creations that motivate the studio's troops.
So the creators changed course and became Running With Scissors, at the same time announcing the development of Postal. The year was 1997...
A first game that already draws controversy
You'll soon realize that provocation is a way of life for the company. After all, they pride themselves on "publishing outrageous games just for the fun of it" and having works that feature "a wonderfully excessive amount of violence".
Throughout their careers, they never cease to play with the limits, generally crossing them quite easily. What's more, they forge a sulphurous image and become part of a kind of counter-culture movement.
Beyond that, the first Postal launched in 1997, and even if it wasn't really a critical or even commercial success, it still found its audience. This allowed this small independent team to produce other games... or rather, other Postal games.
It must be said that he was greatly helped by controversy. Joe Lieberman, then a U.S. senator, went on record to say:
"The three worst things about American society are Marilyn Manson, Calvin Klein Underwear ads and the Postal video game."
Following this, 14 countries banned the title from being marketed, and it was even blacklisted in America. The scandal machine was well and truly underway.
Today, it's true that this first game will hardly shock you, given that Postal moves in a 2D, top-down setting. Above all, it's a game that's over 25 years old! However, for its time, especially in a puritanical society, the excessive display of violence and blood quickly got people talking. What's more, the characters used rather risque language.
It was also the fact that violence was seen as totally gratuitous. You played the role of a man in a long black coat and sunglasses who arrives on a map without much context, whose sole aim is to generate mass murder.
It is under this questionable premise, to say the least, that the license takes root.
Postal 2: well... what if we went even further?
The year was 2001. Postal could have been stopped in the wake of the Columbine massacre that shook the United States in 1999, when two students entered their high school to commit a horrific massacre, taking the lives of 15 people. We're telling you about it because music and video games were collateral victims of this dark incident. The political world denounced certain artists and cultural works as being responsible for this horror.
Two years later, Postal 2 was born. With developers declaring that they were conducting a "sociological experiment ", leaving violence to the discretion of each player, given that no mission required killing.
This time, we're treated to a fully 3D game, making it even more immersing. But it's not just about the technical aspects. The whole gameplay has been integrated into it, allowing you to use your imagination to commit many crimes.
And this time, everything is there to create the ultimate work of bad taste: using a cat as a silencer for your weapon by inserting it into its hindquarters, being able to urinate on everything and everyone, dismembering everyone around you, decapitating animals or even burning women and children.
Postal 2 spares absolutely no expense when it comes to violence and outrageousness, giving the illusion within the studio that fallout doesn't exist and that justice doesn't scare them.
Not content with relying on savagery, they were also accused of perpetuating racist and homophobic stereotypes. As a result, the game will once again be banned in many countries, including New Zealand.
Once again, the game was not a critical success. The press judged it harshly for its lagging graphics, short length and non-existent storyline. Gamers, on the other hand, particularly the Internet community, saw in the creation of Running With Scissors a true gem of freedom.
Unfortunately, for our part, we feel that the game's gratuitousness and lack of message make it extreme just for the sake of it. It's a far cry from the satirical writing of a universe like South Park, which also indulges in this kind of outrageousness, but always with a context that makes the violence and the words much more intelligible.
Postal... 3? And why not!
You have to admit that the developers have a certain persistence. They intend to keep this license alive and kicking, even if it means doing nothing else! Did you think that other titles were being developed in advance? Well, not at all! Running With Scissors has done nothing but Postal since the first game, releasing various expansions in addition to the original games.
The third episode is accompanied by the release of a film directed by Uwe Boll. According to the developers, the feature film "was supposed to be released in over 1,000 cinemas, but ended up being shown in 11 cinemas because the director is an idiot." This sets the tone.
Postal 3 neither invents nor reinvents anything, leaving gamers and the press with a more than disappointing game, receiving a Metacritic average of 24/100. Lovers of the saga will go on to forget it, as will the creators, who soberly declare on their site that "Postal fans are disappointed and confused about what happened."
You're not going to try and make Postal 4, are you? What? Why are you laughing?
It's been said over and over again that the shortest jokes are the best... Yet in 2019 Postal 4 No Regerts (yes yes, there's no typo on your editor's part) is coming out. However, it's being released in early access in a deplorable state. In fact, it's still in early access in 2024.
It has to be said that the sauce of a deliberately outrageous sandbox game no longer holds up so well. We're certainly witnessing the total exhaustion of a license that has nonetheless lasted more than 25 years, which is still commendable in and of itself.
We've warned you about the content of these games so you know what you're getting into, but we invite you to try them out if you feel like it. If only for curiosity's sake, and to rub shoulders with a game that, in its own way, has left its mark on the video game industry.
And for those of you who have already had the chance to get your hands on it, what was your experience with Postal? Let us know in the comments.