Postal 2, a 2003 PC game known for open-ended design and “offensive” humor that ran the gamut from wannabe-South-Park to downright ugly, recently did something pretty clever.
We’re a bit late on this, but it’s cool enough to warrant talking about anyway. For more than a decade, Postal 2 contained a roped-off section in the game’s Paradise Mall. A sign read, “CLOSED FOR RENOVATION. Reopening June 2016.” June 2016 rolled around, and remarkably, given that Postal 2 is a game from 2003, the place reopened.
The new location leads to a pastiche of an HTC Vive VR headset, promising the player a glimpse of the future. They’re then transported to... a brick-and-mortar version of Steam, with a dick for its logo. Yep, it’s still Postal 2.
It’s unabashedly an ad for Postal Redux, a hi-def version of the first game in the series, but some of the small details in the “Steme” shop are funny. The shelves are littered with fake games like DOOT IV and Half-Loaf 3. The store clerk also advises you to not buy Postal 3, which is very, very good advice. After you exit The Future, your character says, “Well, I suppose that was worth the wait.”
Developer Running With Scissors began sporadically updating Postal 2 again in 2014, so this isn’t entirely unprecedented. Still, it’s pretty funny. Running With Scissors delivered on a joke 13 years in the making. Say what you will about the Postal series, but you’ve gotta give the developers credit for dedication.
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