Postal 2 Summary
Running With Scissors’ Postal 2 is the 2003 sequel to the original 1997 Postal. An open-world shooter, Postal 2 was first available on Windows PC. The title made its way to Mac and Linux in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Much like its predecessor, Postal 2 was the subject of controversy thanks to its violent and offensive content. While the original game in the series featured an isometric viewpoint, Postal 2 switches to a first-person perspective.
Critical reception to the title is mixed, with several reviewers noting that the game doesn’t have the mechanics to back up its controversial humor and violence. Still, the game has a cult following likely generated by the controversy surrounding the title. The nation of New Zealand notably banned the title in 2004, resulting in a potential $50,000 fine or 10 years of jail time for purchase or distribution of the game.
The game’s developers have since stated that the intention was for Postal 2 to hold a mirror of the worst aspects of Western society. As such, the game is a satire on violence, gender and race dynamics, and consumerism. The title holds a 50% rating on review aggregate site Metacritic but has sold more than 4 million units.
Postal 2 Premise
In Postal 2, players assume the role of the “Postal Dude”. He is a tall and unassuming man who must complete mundane tasks in the fictional town of Paradise, Arizona. Over a two-week duration, players can be as violent or as non-violent as they like while completing these tasks. The game has a reactive open world, with NPCs and enemy AI reacting to the player’s actions. In other words, the more violent the player, the more chaotic the environment becomes.
Each day in Postal 2 begins with a list of tasks the “Postal Dude” must complete. Despite the potential to complete these tasks civilly or non-violently, the game makes it difficult to do so. Violence often becomes the player’s only option in several scenarios. By the last day in the two weeks (the second Friday) the apocalypse occurs, throwing society into collapse around the player.
Players have access to a wide variety of firearms and other implements of destruction, and wanton chaos causes law enforcement to get involved. NPCs that populate the game world go about their daily lives and have pre-programmed behaviors, which the player can choose to disrupt if they wish. The title has received several expansions which add new scenarios for the player to engage with, each of them continuing the trademark shootouts and violence of the base game.
Postal 2 Main Characters
The town of Paradise, Arizona is home to a colorful cast of characters. In addition to the player-controlled “Postal Dude”, players will encounter cults, terrorists, everyday citizens, and even celebrities. All of these in-game characters are caricatures and sendups of their real-world counterparts. Heavily stereotype-driven and satirical, most characters are inteded to be comedic. The main characters in Postal 2 include:
- Postal Dude: The player-controlled character is “Postal Dude”. A tall, thin man with red hair and a goatee, the Postal Dude is faced with a series of mundane tasks each day. How he chooses to go about these tasks affects the town and the people around him. These tasks are usually given to him by his overbearing wife.
- Postal Dude’s Wife: The Postal Dude’s Wife is the driving force behind the game’s framing device and plot. She is the Postal Dude’s nemesis and a perpetual thorn in his side.
- Gary Coleman: Child star Gary Coleman is a prominent character in Postal 2. He lends both his likeness and his voice to the character, whom the Postal Dude has several interactions with.
- Uncle Dave: Uncle Dave is Postal Dude’s uncle and the leader of a doomsday cult in Paradise, Arizona.He bears a resemblance to the Postal Dude despite being older. He is depicted as a sleazy and untrustworthy individual.
Games in the Postal Series
Despite its low ratings and controversy, the Postal series remains a cult-favorite. Several of the early games in the series have seen multiple ports and re-releases. Additionally, many of the games have several DLC expansions. The games in the Postal series include:
- Postal (1997)
- Postal: Special Delivery (1998)
- Super Postal (2000)
- Postal 2 (2003)
- Postal 2: Share the Pain (2003)
- Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend (2005)
- Postal III (2011)
- Postal 2: Paradise Lost (2015)
- Postal Redux (2016)
- Postal 4: No Regerts (2022)
Postal 2 Cheats
Cheats for Postal 2 are identical across all versions of the game. Whether playing on PC, Mac, or Linux, players simply need to press the Tilde (~) key to open the command console. In order to activate cheats, type in sissy and press Enter. With cheat mode activated, players can enter any of the following cheats:
| Effect | Cheat Code |
| God mode (invincibility) | alamode |
| All weapons | packnheat |
| Extra ammunition for current weapons | payload |
| All weapons, maximum ammunition, and invincibility | iamsolame |
| Extra doughnuts | piggytreats |
| Extra money | jewsforjesus |
| Extra dog treats | boyandhisdog |
| Extra catnip | iamtheone |
| Extra cats for silencers | lotsapussy |
| Extra health pipes | jones |
| All radar items | swimwithfishes |
| Rocket cameras | fireinyourhole |
| Body armor | blockmyass |
| Gimp suit | smackdatass |
| Police uniform | iamthelaw |
| Full health and four medkits | healthful |
| NPCs become Gary Coleman | whatchutalkinbout |
| NPCs become fanatics | osama |
| Guns that use cat silencers shoot cats | rockincats |
| Disable cat shooting guns | dokkincats |
| No clipping (walk through walls) | ifeelfree |
| Flight mode | likeabirdy |
| Disable flight and no clipping | walk |
| Slow motion | slomo |
| Disable slow motion | slomo 1 |
| Set errand complete/turn on hate player groups | SetThisErrandComplete(errand name) |
| Set all of indicated day’s errands complete/turn on hate player groups | SetThisDaysErrandsComplete(day number) |
| Set all of the current day’s errands as complete/turn on hate player groups | SetTodaysErrandsComplete() |
| Reset all errands/ turn off hate groups | SetAllErrandsUnComplete() |
| Set all errands complete | SetAllErrandsComplete() |
| Set/reload the day | WarpToDay(day number) |
| Select level | Goto(level name) |
| Change player to opposite morality | ChangeDude() |
| Reset police and wanted status | ResetCops() |
| Play demo indefinitely | set gamestate demotime 9999 |
| Stop all non-player animations | playersonly |
| Scissors machine gun | nowwedance |
| One shot kills | headshots |
| Ricocheting cat bullets | boppincats |
| Disable ricocheting cats | splodincats |
| Switch to third-person view | behindview 1 |
| Switch back to first-person view | behindview 0 |
Postal 2 Cheat FAQs
How do you unlock the cheat menu in Postal 2?
To unlock cheats, simply open the command console in-game by pressing the Tilde (~) key. Type in sissy to enable cheating.
Do cheats turn off achievements for Postal 2?
Yes – using cheats with Postal 2 will disable all earnable achievements for the game.
Can you complete Postal 2 without killing anyone?
Yes – despite the game’s reputation as a “violence simulator,” characters only react to the player. While it is difficult to beat the game without engaging in violence, it is possible. The game was deliberately designed and coded to allow players to complete it without ever harming a single person.