If there was ever a place to share an early preview of the latest installment in the cult classic Postal Series, NY Comic Con is second to none.
Most gamers today are probably too young to have played Postal 2 when it came out back in 2003, but chances are, many have had a chance to play it today. In fact, I’d bet most dedicated gamers who follow the latest news, trends, and culture of gaming have at the very least some knowledge and respect ofr this 18 year old game. Despite the age, this series has seen a continual renaissance and revival throughout it’s life, first in the early 2010s when Valve’s Steam made it widely available again to a new audience and not too longer after as numerous famous YouTubers like Pewdiepie and Videogamedunkey have played it on their channels which reach millions and millions of viewers.
Given that, I was delightfully surprised to see Running with Scissors, the development team behind the Postal series tucked away on the Comic Con show floor with a demo in hand. Even more interesting was that I got the privilege to chat with Mike Jaret-Schachter from the development who’s been deemed the ‘Chief Bidet Officer’. Cult fans of the series probably already knew who he was as he’s literally engrained into the fabric of the game, but it was a genuinely amazing experience to meet him in person and to hear his unbridled passion for the series and for the fans. He recounted the rocky history of team after Postal 2, which included the strange chapter of Postal 3 which was admittedly not very good and very much only released in Russia. However he along with a few other developers came together to build a proper team and finally create the true successor to Postal 2, Postal 4, all on a shoestring budget funded more or less by their own meager pockets. Especially in this day and age, it was encouraging to see a team of game developers who are literally working for the love of the game and on their own time and money.
Taking a look at an early build, I was genuinely surprised at the graphics. Despite being in development still and by the Developer’s admittance, needing to undergo a visual upgrade, the game looked really good. It’s a little weird seeing a Postal game with the kind of graphical fidelity that the Unreal Engine can provide. With all that said, I’m super excited to see where this goes and glad I got the chance to highlight my favorite surprise from the floor of NY Comic Con 2021.
