POSTAL 4 Review: Surviving Edinson through the weekend

Postal 4: No Regerts is not something I would've expected in the current year, given the outrageous nature of the game, yet here we are. Yes, it is spelled as Regerts and not Regrets, and much like the misspelled word, the full release feels like a mistake at various points.

Developed by Running With Scissors, the developers of Postal 2, Postal 4 is at its core a crass, offensive video game relying on shock value, just like its predecessor.

However, the game seemingly took the predecessor's shortcomings along with the good, with negatives overwhelming the positives a bit too much.

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Woke up on a Monday

Postal 4: No Regerts follows the antics of Postal Dude and his dog Chop and is set right after the end of Postal 2, where the town of Paradise gets Nuked. The new entry follows the dude through the new town of Edinson.

After the end of Postal 2 that left the Postal dude penniless and homeless, players will be helping out the dude earn money by doing mundane jobs and getting his home back, all the while surviving through the week.

The story is pretty outrageous and is what can be expected from the sequel to Postal 2, which was a boiling pot of questionable jokes- however, the story fumbles quite a lot in doing what it is meant to do, i.e., being outrageous and funny.

Postal 4 No Regerts screenshot (Image via Running With Scissors/Postal 4)

Portions of the game at times match the hilarity of its predecessor, while in most moments won't and are pretty bland. To facilitate the jokes and humor, all the main quests are properly voice-acted with the duties given to industry veteran John St. John, who is known for voicing Duke Nukem.

But that is not all. For the first time in the series, players can switch voice actors between Rick Hunter, the original voice actor from Postal 2, and Corey Cruise, who was the dude in Postal 3.

Voice swaps are not seen in games regularly, and the option is very much appreciated since it allows players to choose their favorite voice actor. I love Rick Hunter's take on the character, so I swapped the voice to his and basked in the nostalgia until I realized the myriad of problems this game has.

Surviving through the Tuesday

Postal 4: No Regerts follows non-linear gameplay, where a player can go and do tasks and work given to them at their leisure. The players will be given particular tasks every day to finish and make money out of, and some side quests in the middle.

One of the signature quests of Postal 4 (Image via Running With Scissors/Postal 4)

After getting the quests, what the players do is up to them, and how they approach them is for them to decide, with the whole of Edinson open for exploration.

Of course, being a bit naughty on the map would irk the townsfolk and the cops roaming the city, which would push them to chase the players. The Cop AI gets the job done, ensuring players have something to worry about, but not so much that it takes away the freedom to do what they want.

Apart from the above, there is freedom in how a player would like to do the missions, giving them the option to be passive or aggressive. Powerups pickup provides the player with a perk boost, such as invincibility or health boost, and more.

Wielding dual guns (Image via Running With Scissors/Postal 4)

Additionally, there are always collectibles to collect throughout the maps, such as plushies for a game mascot and special Postal missions to finish, which are time-based missions with rewards, and doing them will rake the dude with money.

Freedom of choice in video games is always welcome, which is what made Postal 2 lovable in the first place, and why many will enjoy Postal 4: No Regerts. However, none of this hides that the game is not without fault.

The game sometimes feels like it has been rushed out, where the majority of the time in playing the game goes into dealing with bugs and not very fun ones. Some bugs would break the game, some would softlock, and in one instance, it was so bad I had to restart the whole game.

The scooter race (Image via Running With Scissors/Postal 4)

I want to give the developers some benefit of the doubt for not being a AAA studio, but I expected better before releasing the game in 1.0.

Overall, the gameplay is fun, the game performance, however, is poor, and I am pretty sure the developers will fix the game up over the years, but the launch version is very unstable.

Carnage throughout the weekday

Now, what game is fun without some guns, right? Postal 4: No Regerts has twenty-four of them, with alternate fires. It's interesting how you get those guns and weapons.

The non-linear gameplay means that if a player wants, they can explore the map, find the weapons earlier than intended, and go and do their intended work.

using the alternate fire of Revolver (Image via Running With Scissors/Postal 4)

The choice of weapons is pretty lovely and unique and ranges from something as simple as a baton to something as wacky as the multi-purpose Spurt'N'Squirt 9000, giving a variety in gunplay. Additionally, armor and powerups are also there.

Unfortunately, not all guns are fun to use, and some felt they were lacking. I loved the revolver for feeling like a cannon and punchy with a great alternate fire system and the birdcage for being a unique weapon.

Unfortunately, certain guns like the shotgun feel entirely off in the way they sound and handle. Shotguns in nature should feel satisfied by being loud and damaging. Postal 4's shotgun felt like a regular revolver.

Additionally, you can kick people around, but the kick had zero heft, unlike Postal 2's. Overall, the quality of the weapons in the game could've been streamlined to be fun across the board.

The pigeon coop (Image via Running With Scissors/Postal 4)

Performance

Before we talk about the game's performance, I played and tested the game in two instances. One during the press builds and one post-launch, just to find any difference.

Unfortunately, there wasn't, and Postal 4: No Regerts is unoptimized. The game was run on a Ryzen 2600 and RTX 3060 at 1080p, and throughout the open areas, the game had drastic levels of variable frame rate.

Frames would go from 60 fps to dropping down to 25 fps in seconds for no reason as soon as an area was crossed, averaging around 30-40 at most. Indoors were more favorable, staying primarily at 60 frames.

Additionally, the game has zone loading, where each area change on the map will have a loading screen to it, which is absurd for the game in the current year, and of course, the glitches and bugs are toppings on the cake.

The game surely does not feel like there should be any reason to be this taxing on anyone's system, and this sure felt like a poor optimization job.

In Conclusion

Postal 4: No Regerts is for people who want a game where they just want to play it at their own pace. With my clear conscience, I want to ask people to hold their money and wait for at least a few years for the devs to polish the game out because this doesn't feel like it is out of early access.

However, if you are a Postal 2 fan, you may enjoy it. I say "maybe" because the game was a relic of its time, and the same jokes may not be fun for everyone.

I will give Running With Scissors credit where it is due. This is not another Postal 3. At the same time, this is not Postal 2 either. Without a doubt, there is a lot more work left for this game.