Postal 4: No Regerts

Last updated

Postal 4: No Regerts
Postal 4 cover art.jpg
Developer(s) Running with Scissors
Publisher(s) Running with Scissors
Series Postal
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows
April 20, 2022 [1]
PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
March 21, 2023
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

Postal 4: No Regerts [lower-alpha 1] is a 2022 first-person shooter game developed and published by Running with Scissors. It was released on October 14, 2019, for Windows through Steam's Early Access program, a decision which was made to acquire public funding for the project and to involve the Postal community in the game's development process. [3] Running with Scissors described the game as the "true sequel" to Postal 2 , contrasting it with Postal 2's unsuccessful 2011 sequel Postal III , which was strongly panned by critics and players. Postal 4 was released on April 20, 2022 to largely negative reception, with multiple reviewers criticising the game's performance, poor gameplay, and dated humor. [4] The game was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on March 21, 2023.

Contents

Synopsis

Set several years after the events of Postal 2's second expansion, Paradise Lost, the Postal Dude and his pitbull terrier, Champ, emigrate to the fictional town of Edensin, Arizona. On the way there, the Dude's car is stolen, forcing him to take on several jobs to make ends meet in the unfamiliar town, with the end goal of getting his car back.

Gameplay

Postal 4 borrows many of its gameplay features from its predecessor, Postal 2. The game is centered around different "errands" that The Postal Dude must complete each day, which include being a prison guard, a sewer worker, and an animal catcher on Monday, a variety of tasks for a gang from "South of the Borderland" on Tuesday, such as border smuggling and turf tagging, working for the mayor of Edensin on Wednesday, including a successor to the petition errand from Postal 2, working for the local mafia on Thursday, with tasks including testing prototypes for video games and rigging an election, and working for the enigmatic kingpin controlling Edensin on Friday, including raiding an ancient temple, dealing with a mercenary militia at the local mall, and plugging a dam before a doomsday cult can use it to contaminate the town's water supply. [5] It also returns the series to a first-person perspective, which was eschewed by Postal III in favor of third-person, though a update later gave players the option to switch to a third-person at any time. Planned gameplay elements include additional weapons, optional "side errands", different outfits for the Dude, and cooperative multiplayer. [6]

Reception

According to review aggregator Metacritic, Postal 4: No Regerts received "generally unfavorable reviews", [7] ranking worst out of 824 games rated in 2022. [11] [12] Multiple publications criticised the game's unentertaining gameplay, frequent bugs and performance issues, and poorly executed and dated jokes. [8] [9] [10] GameSpot reviewer Richard Wakeling called it a "genuinely awful experience that should be avoided at all costs". [8]

The story and writing was widely criticised by gaming publications. Hardcore Gamer reviewer Chris Shive stated that the game "plays it too safe" with humor resembling "a parody of what was edgy in 2003", but ultimately still enjoyable by the series' fanbase. [4] Conversely, IGN and Wakeling described the game's jokes as poorly written and reliant only on shock value. Writing for the former, reviewer Travis Northrup stated he felt that unlike media such as South Park and Grand Theft Auto V , the provocative humor was not backed up by intelligent writing, leading to a game that he described as having the "subtlety and nuance of an enraged ape throwing its dung". [9] [8]

The gameplay was also heavily criticised by multiple reviewers. Wakeling referred to the game's AI opponents as "dumb and outright broken at times", and its overall gameplay as a "monotonous chore". [8] IGN called the weapons "terrible to fire", and noted that "there's no reason to think at all during combat" as the player reappears immediately where they left off after dying. [9] Chris Jarrard criticised the behaviour of the game's NPCs in his review for Shacknews , saying that they "just wander around the town with no real purpose or agency". Hardcore Gamer was more positive, describing the mechanics as "janky" and "mediocre". [4]

A large portion of reviewers frequently experienced errors and poor performance during gameplay, sometimes impeding their progress. Jarrard stated he "experienced multiple hard crashes" and described the game as a "stutter fest". [10] Northrup stated that he experienced "people phase through the environment and important objectives disappear until I reloaded my save file", and Wakeling called it "riddled with technical issues" to the point of being unable to complete one available ending, with many bugs remaining from the game's early access period. [9] [8]

Notes

  1. ↑ The word "regrets" is misspelled intentionally. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Postal</i> (video game) 1997 video game

Postal is a 1997 isometric top-down shooter video game developed by Running with Scissors and published by Ripcord Games. A sequel to the game, Postal 2, was released in 2003. Two additional sequels, Postal III and Postal 4: No Regerts, were released in 2011 and 2022, respectively. Director Uwe Boll bought the movie rights for the series and produced a film of the same name. A March 2001 re-release of the game, called Postal Plus, included a "Special Delivery" add-on. A remake of the game, Postal Redux, was released for Microsoft Windows on May 20, 2016, and was later released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch digital stores. At the end of 2016, the game's source code was released under the GNU GPL-2.0-only. At the end of 2019, Running With Scissors released the game as freeware.

<i>Postal 2</i> 2003 video game

Postal 2 is a 2003 first-person shooter video game developed by Running with Scissors and published by Whiptail Interactive. It is the sequel to the 1997 game Postal and was released for Microsoft Windows in April 2003, macOS in April 2004 and Linux in April 2005. Postal 2, as well as its predecessor, has received notoriety for its high levels of violence, stereotyping, and black comedy. Unlike the first installment, Postal 2 is played from a first-person perspective, rather than an isometric perspective. The game is the first in the series to feature an open world.

<i>Postal III</i> 2011 video game

Postal III is a third-person shooter video game developed by Trashmasters and Running with Scissors, and published by Akella. It was released for Microsoft Windows in December 2011. Postal III is the third game in the Postal series, being the sequel to Postal 2, follows series protagonist, The Postal Dude, who, after leaving Paradise in the previous entry's Apocalypse Weekend expansion pack, finds himself in the middle of Cathersis, Arizona after running out of gas, and must find a way to escape. Ports for OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 were announced, but were ultimately canceled. Originally, the game was intended as a sequel to Postal 2, but after significant backlash from critics and fans, Running With Scissors now considers the game a spin-off, and has retconned it as non-canonical.

<i>SimCity Societies</i> 2007 video game

SimCity Societies is a city-building simulation video game developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, and is part of the SimCity series. The gameplay is significantly different from previous SimCity titles, with a greater focus on social development. SimCity Societies was released in 2007, and received mixed reviews, with praise for the game's improved accessibility and visuals, but criticism for being oversimplified and having poor performance.

Postal is a series of shooter video games created by Running with Scissors known for its high-speed gameplay, violence and off-color humor. The series' mainline games span several shooter sub-genres, including top-down shooters, first-person shooters, and a third-person shooter. The series has spawned several spin-off games and other media, including an eponymous film adaptation by Uwe Boll.

<i>The Last of Us</i> 2013 video game

The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective. Players use firearms and improvised weapons and can use stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus. In the online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.

<i>The Sims 4</i> 2014 video game

The Sims 4 is a social simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the fourth major title in The Sims series, following The Sims 3 (2009). The game was released in North America on September 2, 2014, for Windows, an OS X version was released in February 2015, and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released in November 2017. The game was moved to a free-to-play model on October 18, 2022, monetized by the purchase of various paid downloadable content packs that have been developed since its release.

<i>Ghostbusters</i> (2016 video game) 2016 video game

Ghostbusters is an action video game developed by FireForge Games and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Taking place after the events of the 2016 film, the game features four-player cooperative gameplay where players control new Ghostbusters characters to defeat enemy ghosts.

<i>Observer</i> (video game) 2017 video game

Observer is a psychological horror video game developed by Bloober Team and published by Aspyr. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2017, followed by versions for Linux, macOS and Nintendo Switch. An upgraded and expanded version called Observer: System Redux was released in November 2020 for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, for Amazon Luna in March 2021, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in July 2021. Observer follows Daniel Lazarski, a detective known as an Observer, who can hack people's minds as a method of interrogation.

<i>Celeste</i> (video game) 2018 video game

Celeste is a 2018 platform game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression who aims to climb Celeste Mountain. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including a personification of her self-doubt known as Badeline, who attempts to stop her from climbing the mountain.

<i>Tunic</i> (video game) 2022 video game

Tunic is a 2022 action-adventure game developed by Isometricorp Games and published by Finji. It is set in a ruined fantasy world, where the player controls an anthropomorphic fox on a journey to free a fox spirit trapped in a crystal. The player discovers the gameplay and setting by exploring and finding in-game pages of a manual that offers clues, drawings, and notes. The backstory is obscured; most text is given in a constructed writing system that the player is not expected to decipher. Tunic's isometric perspective hides numerous pathways and secrets.

<i>Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden</i> 2018 video game

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a turn-based tactical role-playing video game developed by Swedish studio The Bearded Ladies and published by Funcom. Based on the tabletop role-playing game Mutant Year Zero, the game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in December 2018. A Nintendo Switch version of the game was released on July 30, 2019.

<i>WWE 2K22</i> 2022 video game

WWE 2K22 is a 2022 professional wrestling sports video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K. It is the twenty-second overall installment of the video game series based on WWE, the ninth game under the WWE 2K banner, and the successor to 2019's WWE 2K20. It was released on March 11, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The follow-up title, WWE 2K23, was released on March 14, 2023.

<i>Shadow Warrior 3</i> 2022 video game

Shadow Warrior 3 is a first-person shooter game developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital. The sequel to Shadow Warrior 2 (2016), the game released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 1, 2022 and was released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on February 16, 2023.

<i>Taxi Chaos</i> 2021 video game

Taxi Chaos is a 2021 racing video game developed by Team6 Game Studios and released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Playing as a taxi driver, gameplay involves delivering customers to their destinations within a time limit. The game was viewed by critics as a spiritual successor to Crazy Taxi (1999). It received mixed reviews.

<i>The Gunk</i> 2021 video game

The Gunk is an action-adventure video game developed by Image & Form and published by Thunderful Publishing. The game was released on December 16, 2021 for Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S.

<i>MLB The Show 22</i> 2022 video game

MLB The Show 22 is a baseball video game by San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, based on Major League Baseball (MLB). It was released for the PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, as well as Nintendo Switch, a first for the franchise. The seventeenth entry of the MLB: The Show franchise, it was released on April 5, 2022. Los Angeles Angels two-way player and 2021 American League MVP Shohei Ohtani is featured as the cover star. A special manga style art by Takashi Okazaki of Shohei Ohtani is featured on the cover art for the MVP and Digital Deluxe editions of MLB The Show 22.

<i>My Hero Ones Justice 2</i> 2020 video game

My Hero One's Justice 2, known in Japan as My Hero Academia: One's Justice 2, is a 2020 fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. The game is a sequel to My Hero One's Justice and based on the manga series My Hero Academia by Kōhei Horikoshi.

<i>What the Dub?</i> 2021 video game

What the Dub? is a 2021 multiplayer party game developed and published by Wide Right Interactive. It was released on April 8, 2021, to positive reviews.

<i>Breathedge</i> 2021 video game

Breathedge is a survival game developed by Redruins Softworks and published by HypeTrain Digital. Players control a character stuck on an adrift spaceship.

References

  1. ↑ Romano, Sal (March 28, 2022). "POSTAL 4: No Regerts launches April 20". Gematsu. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Mike (October 15, 2019). "The Postal Dude Returns in 'Postal 4: No Regerts'!". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  3. ↑ Morton, Lauren (October 14, 2019). "Postal 4 announced and launched on Steam Early Access today". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Shive, Chris (April 18, 2022). "Review: Postal 4: No Regerts". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Postal 4: No Regerts Review - Nothing But Regrets". GameSpot. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  6. ↑ "POSTAL 4 - Early Access Roadmap | Trello". trello.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  7. 1 2 "POSTAL 4: No Regerts Critic Reviews for PC - Metacritic". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wakeling, Richard (April 18, 2022). "Postal 4: No Regerts Review - Nothing But Regrets". GameSpot . Archived from the original on April 23, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Northup, Travis (April 18, 2022). "Postal 4: No Regerts Review". IGN. Archived from the original on April 23, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 Jarrard, Chris (April 18, 2022). "Postal 4: No Regerts review - Nothing but regerts". Shacknews. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Best Video Games for 2022". metacritic.com. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  12. ↑ "The 10 Worst Video Games of 2022". Metacritic . Retrieved December 13, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.