Postal

Postal is a 1997 isometric shoot 'em up video game developed by Running with Scissors and published by Ripcord Games. The player controls an anonymous gun-toting man (informally dubbed the "Postal Dude") as he commits mass murder in the town of Paradise, Arizona under questionable circumstances. Each level sees players killing a given percentage of police officers, military personnel, and other armed "hostiles" before being allowed to progress, optionally slaughtering unarmed civilians caught in the crossfire. Running with Scissors (RWS), having previously developed licensed child-friendly games as Riedel Software Productions (RSP), sought to make Postal as outrageous as possible. Inspired by Robotron: 2084 (1982) and the act of "going postal", the game made use of isometric and top-down visual perspectives to distinguish it from the growing first-person shooter market. Upon its release for Mac OS and Windows in September 1997, Postal received a mixed reception from critics for its short length, unconventional controls, and repetitive gameplay. The game sparked controversy for its violence and gore, and was subsequently banned from several retailers and countries. The United States Postal Service filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against RWS before the game's release, and the case was eventually dismissed in 2003. An add-on to the game titled Special Delivery released in 1998. Postal would gain a cult following and become a franchise, with the direct sequel Postal 2 releasing in 2003. Following its original release, the game received ports to Linux, Mac OS X, Android, and Dreamcast. The source code of Postal was released under the GNU GPL-2.0-only license in 2016, and the game later became freeware in 2019. A remake of the game, Postal Redux, was released for Windows in May 2016, followed by Linux in 2018, Nintendo Switch in 2020, and PlayStation 4 in 2021.

Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 — Postal (video game) · retrieved October 19, 2026

Developer

Running with Scissors

Publisher

Ripcord Games, Whiptail Interactive

First release

November 14, 1997

Series

Postal

Cover

Official thumbnail

Record ID

Q1049783