Postal 4: No Regerts is A Not So Terrible Game for Terrible People

The title begins with a down on his luck tale about the pursuit of the American dream. Our hero,

for lack of a better term, begins his journey out in the desert on the outskirts of town of Edensin.

His home has mysteriously up and left him, and he is left alone with no home, wife or money.

To rectify this he does what any sensible person would do which is look for a job, which is to say

he gets a Sharpie and writes on a discarded piece of cardboard that he’s willing to engage in crude

acts for money. Once the sign is in hand, it’s off to town to show it to as many random people as

possible who are shockingly rude in expressing their lack of interest in buying what he’s selling.

The world of Postal 4 is open for the player to explore how they see fit and there’s the option to

be as violent or pacifistic as the player chooses.

Exploring the town does remind us that this is in fact an entry in the infamous Postal series.

Adult language, crude sight gags and other instances of deliberately-offensive comedy pepper

the landscape. Eventually one of the dozens of prospective employers who rejects the characters’

services happens to point him in the direction of employment, and once it’s been established that

despite what the cardboard sign says the adult film industry is not among the suitable professions

for this guy, he’s given some options at more honest work. Considering this is Postal, guard at the

local jail seemed like the the type of work that was in order.

The Postal 4 take on county jail employment is pretty accurate: all the cells mysteriously get open

on a day when no other staff showed up for work, but there are plenty of firearms lying around. The

player needs to secure all the cellblocks by entering keys into the terminals to lock everything down

while controlling the inmate population. And controlling the inmate population usually means a shotgun

blast to the face. One could say that is a realistic depiction of 12 gauge to the face at three feet, but even

at its goriest there was a cartoonish quality to the horrific violence.

Postal 4 supports both controller and mouse and keyboard inputs but based on the Early Access build

mouse and keyboard is the way to go. The gameplay is in the true spirit of the Postal series, which

seems to be adequate gameplay mechanics mixed with over-the-top attempts at poor taste and low

brow humor. From what we’ve been able to play, Postal 4 falls into the style over substance category.

The gameplay is just polished enough where it could be an enjoyable if forgettable experience. What

makes it memorable is trying to live up to the legacy of the moniker proudly warn by its predecessor

Postal 2: The Worst Game Ever. From an Early Access build there isn’t enough material to judge if it

reaches that lofty title, but currently the content suggests that “a terrible game for terrible people” will

likely be a fitting label. Fans of the satirical and outrageous nature of the series may regert missing out

on this one.