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Postal III
Developers
PublisherAkella
WriterSteve Wik
SeriesPostal
EngineSource
PlatformMicrosoft Windows
ReleaseDecember 21, 2011
GenreThird-person shooter
ModeSingle-player

Postal III is a third-person shooter video game developed by Trashmasters and Running with Scissors, and published by Akella. It is the third installment in the Postal franchise and was released for Microsoft Windows in December 2011. The game follows series protagonist The Postal Dude who, after leaving Paradise in the previous entry's Apocalypse Weekend expansion pack, finds himself in the town of Catharsis, Arizona after running out of gas, and must find a way to escape. Ports for OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were announced, but ultimately canceled.[1][2][3][4]

Postal III was a critical and commercial failure. Following backlash from critics and fans, Running with Scissors declared the game a spin-off and retconned it as non-canonical. Akella entered bankruptcy and ceased operations in 2012.

Gameplay

[edit]

Postal III features a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective, unlike Postal and its sequel, which featured a isometric and first-person perspective, respectively. The gameplay is much more linear and mission based, also unlike Postal 2, though an open-world game mode was later added in an update. The player, taking the role of The Postal Dude, uses various firearms and melee weapons to defeat enemies, with the option to attack them either lethally or non-lethally. The player is also able to use cats they find throughout the environment of the game as silencers for their weapons, players can also combine cats with hand grenades and load them into their rocket launcher. [5]

The game features a karma system. The player can either use lethal forces on enemies, and obtain negative Karma, or non-lethal force and obtain good karma. The karma meter is displayed as an icon on the player's HUD, during the first five missions this icon is disabled. The karma system allows for different paths through the game's story, if the player uses excessive violence then the "good" path is unavailable for them.[5]

Postal III continues the trend set by Postal 2 allowing the player to urinate as a non-lethal attack against enemies, this can also be used to extinguish the player if they are on fire. Other non-lethal weapons the player has access to include a taser and pepper spay. [5]

Plot

[edit]

Postal III includes performances by a wide array of minor celebrities, including Ron Jeremy, Jennifer Walcott, and Randy Jones. The game also contains characters depicting Uwe Boll (director of the 2007 Postal film),[6] Sergei Mavrodi, Osama bin Laden and Hugo Chávez.

In Postal III, the Postal Dude emigrates to Paradise, Arizona's sister town of Catharsis after he destroyed Paradise with a nuclear bomb.[7] Due to the 2008 financial crisis, the Dude drives into town and becomes stranded because he can not afford a tank of gas. He must then find work and do various odd jobs to escape the town.[8]

Through the course of the game, the player can choose one of two paths: the "bad path", which includes joining in on the schemes of Mayor Chomo and Uncle Dave, or the "good path", which involves the Dude joining the Catharsis Police force. The game plays out in a fairly linear and cinematic way, although the player's actions affect the outcome of the story and the game. Although the "good path" is more difficult to play, it offers more storyline and a longer campaign.[9]

There are three endings to the game as Postal Dude must escape from the impending Venezuelan invasion with Hugo Chávez leading the charge.

  • Evil Ending: Escaping Catharsis by the skin of his teeth and leaving Chomo, Dave, and Bin Laden at the mercy of hockey moms, Postal Dude winds up at the mercy of the law enforcement, who are quick to give him and his dog the death penalty for his slaughter. His appeal to heaven completely fails and the Postal Dude is sent to hell.
  • Neutral Ending: Postal Dude succeeds in escaping Catharsis without resorting to murder or delivering swift justice and meets Jennifer "Jen" Walcott who tries to hijack his car but winds up marrying him instead and enjoying a honeymoon in Peru. He wins the lottery and has a bestselling book that details his personal view of the exploits in Postal 2. During a talk show interview, Champ bites on the groin of the talk show host.
  • Good Ending: Saving the world from Hugo Chávez, Postal Dude becomes one of the most popular yet controversial heroes of American history. He winds up becoming the President of the United States with Jen Walcott as his wife and head of the Secret Service who winds up annoying both sides of the political spectrum. As he moves into the White House, a certain nuclear button sparks his inner psychopath.

Regardless of the endings, the Postal Dude's final words are "I regret nothing!"

In Postal 2: Paradise Lost, a 2015 expansion for Postal 2 developed by Running with Scissors, the events of Postal III were retconned as being part of a dream sequence the Postal Dude had; he accidentally crashed his car into a stop sign and entered an 11-year coma from the trauma. Corey Cruise reprises his role in the expansion, voicing an Alternate Postal Dude alongside original voice actor Rick Hunter.

Development

[edit]

In 2006, Running with Scissors was struggling financially and contracted Akella, who had published Postal 2 in Russia, to create the next entry in the Postal series. Running with Scissors provided the initial design for the game, but was not very involved in development. Shortly after the beginning of development, the 2008–2009 Great Recession in Russia disrupted the game's development and put additional financial strain on Akella. During and after development, Akella refused to provide Running with Scissors access to the game's "source code, assets or developers tools."[10] Because of this, Running With Scissors was not able to provide any updates or patches for the game, and players were not able to create mods for it either.[11] In 2012, shortly after the game's release, Akella ceased operations after being on the verge of bankruptcy.[12][13]

Release

[edit]

The game was set to be released through the digital distribution platform Steam on December 20, 2011. However, the main release was delayed; some users were able to obtain the game through the GameFly storefront.[14] The game formally released on December 21, 2011.[15] The game was removed from sale on Steam on November 21, 2022, due to DRM issues.[16] On October 13, 2023, Running with Scissors announced that the game had returned to Steam with the DRM removed.[17]

Reception

[edit]

Postal III received "generally unfavorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[18]

GameSpot gave the game 3/10, while Game Informer also lambasted the game, giving it a score of 1/10 and saying that "the people behind Postal III don’t have the writing ability to back up their gutter-dwelling mouths. As it turns out, they also don’t have the design or programming chops to create a stable game. This makes it one of a handful of games to ever receive such a low score."[15][19]

In a much more positive review, QJ.Net stated that the game was "one of the most interestingly written, psychotic and harmful games I've ever played" and that the developers had "ended up with a product that looks good, sounds great and is often funny", but also complained that their "experience was marred with constant crashing and a lot of graphical glitches" as well as complaining that it often comes off as "mean spirited and lacking in heart".[22]

Original Gamer also gave a positive review, giving the game a rating of 7.5, deciding that it was "a good game, just not a great one". The reviewer praised its storyline, wide variety of weapons, and creativity while deriding the game's "linear level design and gameplay" and complaining that it takes "a while to get to the meat of the title". It also called out the game's use of good and bad paths, which he believed unfairly favored the good path, deciding that the game "punishes you for being bad, by being bad itself". That said, it concluded by saying that the "fun is there in Postal 3, you just have to work a little for it."[23]

Developer reactions

[edit]

In an interview about a month after release, Vince Desi, the head of Running with Scissors, admitted that the "fan reaction has been mixed" to Postal III, as well as stating that most of the complaints centered around the game having "too many bugs." Desi acknowledged that it was hard for him to hear from "diehard fans and hearing their complaints", but did emphasize that the developers have been "making updates to fix a lot of the problems" as well as stating that people who purchased the game at that time would have a "much better experience." He also commented that while Running with Scissors had "designed a very big challenging game with great variety", their development team and publisher "were under tremendous pressure and decided to release a different game, something that they could deliver." He did note that he was "glad that the publisher has tried very hard to make the necessary improvements" following the game's initial reception. He also commented that they were committed to making "sure that gamers get the best value they deserve" from Postal III.[24]

On August 25, 2012, developer and Postal franchise owner Running with Scissors removed Postal III from their store, stating that it was "in the best interest of the Postal Community" and encouraged gamers to instead purchase their earlier titles, stating that they are "a far superior product for a lot less money".[25] This came after revelations that Running with Scissors' relationship with Akella had broken down and that they no longer had any real involvement with the future development of Postal III.

Running with Scissors explained the situation by stating that Postal III "was licensed to a Russian publisher and developer who were supposed to produce the game to our design, with a much bigger team and budget than we had for Postal 2. Even taking those facts into account, it didn't work out very well. It was a mistake and one we will not repeat." They also added that "after the disaster that was Postal III due to the mistake of outsourcing it, we have decided to make the next game 100% in house."[26]

A later interview with Running with Scissors employee Jon Merchant further clarified the situation, stating that "Akella had vastly more resources than we had for Postal 2, so it seemed reasonable at the time they could produce a game that was at least equal to the game we made inhouse. Things started out well but I think they got hit pretty hard by the economic problems of 2007-8, and it all started to go downhill from there. The final product was very far removed from our original design, and horribly broken." He also commented that "the game is a broken mess and should not be sold. We stopped selling the game ourselves some time ago when it became apparent that neither us or the community would get the SDK tools. We don't regard it as the third POSTAL game, just a dodgy spin off that should never have happened."[10]

Vince Desi summarized the situation in a 2013 interview by saying that "some deals work, some don’t, PIII failed for many reasons. Worst of all we lost control of the project and that was the beginning of the shitfest. Historically we had a great relationship with Akella, our Russian publisher, and for the record the folks there were good people and I consider them my friends regardless of the fiasco PIII ... Again, it is a testimony to POSTAL fans around the world who have shown their loyal support beyond all odds and hurdles that allows us to keep on going."[27]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Postal III

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
is a third-person shooter video game developed by Trashmasters and published by Akella, with involvement from series creator Running with Scissors. Released in November 2011 for Microsoft Windows in Russia and worldwide via Steam in December 2011, it continues the Postal series' satirical depiction of violence through the protagonist known as the Postal Dude navigating the fictional town of Catharsis. The game features branching morality paths allowing players to choose "good," "bad," or "insane" approaches to missions, emphasizing interactive environments and exaggerated, over-the-top action. Development of Postal III was outsourced by Running with Scissors to Russian publisher Akella, who subcontracted programming to Trashmasters, leading to a rushed release during mid-development that omitted promised features such as multiplayer modes. This resulted in widespread technical instability, including frequent crashes, graphical glitches, and unoptimized performance, contributing to its reputation as one of the series' most flawed entries. Running with Scissors subsequently distanced itself from the title, citing inability to provide ongoing support and inherent quality issues, which culminated in its removal from Steam sales in 2022 due to problematic DRM before a limited return in 2023 without such restrictions. Critically, Postal III received poor reception, evidenced by a 2.5 out of 10 user score on from nearly 2,000 reviews, reflecting dissatisfaction with its incomplete state and deviation from of prior like Postal 2. While the Postal series as a whole has courted for its and dark humor parodying societal issues, Postal III stands out less for and more for failing to deliver on technical execution, underscoring risks in international development outsourcing for independent studios.

Game Information

Gameplay

Postal III is a third-person shooter video game featuring an over-the-shoulder perspective, a cover system, and regenerating health mechanics. Players control the protagonist known as the Postal Dude, accompanied by his pitbull companion Champ, navigating missions in the fictional city of Catharsis through interactive environments that respond dynamically to player actions. Gameplay emphasizes choice-driven progression via a karma system, where opting for lethal force accumulates negative karma, while non-lethal methods—such as using a taser—build positive karma, influencing NPC reactions, alternative story paths, and mission outcomes. Core mechanics revolve around third-person shooting with a diverse arsenal, including conventional firearms like the M60 machine gun and unconventional weapons such as the BadgerSaw—a chainsaw attached to a badger—and grenade-launching cats. Missions typically involve eliminating enemies in structured levels or open areas, often with vague objectives and no minimap, requiring exploration amid environmental interactions. Vehicle segments incorporate chaotic driving physics in the style of prior Postal titles, allowing players to traverse the city and engage in destructive pursuits. Standard controls utilize keyboard inputs for movement (W, A, S, D keys for forward, left, back, right), mouse for aiming and shooting, and additional keys for actions like reloading, switching weapons, and entering cover. The game's design supports replayability through branching narratives tied to behavioral choices, enabling different levels, scenes, and endings based on accumulated karma. NPCs exhibit varied responses to player conduct, ranging from hostility to cooperation, enhancing the satirical open-world parody elements.

Plot and Setting

Postal III is set in the fictional city of Catharsis, Arizona, depicted as a chaotic urban environment plagued by economic collapse, radical environmentalism, governmental corruption, and bizarre social factions. This location serves as a sister town to Paradise, the setting of prior entries in the series, following the nuclear destruction of Paradise in Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend. The plot centers on the protagonist, known as the Postal Dude, who arrives in Catharsis with his pitbull Champ after fleeing the apocalypse in Paradise. Stranded without fuel or funds, and facing the impending death of his ailing cat Uncle Dude—which requires costly treatment—the Dude resorts to performing increasingly outlandish tasks to generate income. The narrative unfolds under the influence of Catharsis's scheming mayor, who is obsessed with television ratings and promotes exploitative spectacles, drawing the Dude into conflicts with groups such as eco-zealots, a berserk cartoon mascot linked to terrorism, and various gangs. Player decisions branch the storyline into "good" or "insane" paths, influencing mission outcomes and escalating the level of violence and absurdity, though the core premise revolves around survival and monetary desperation in a satirical dystopian society. The game incorporates recurring series elements, including the Dude's mute demeanor and interactions with exaggerated antagonists, but emphasizes open-world traversal of Catharsis's districts amid these escalating events.

Development

Conception and Outsourcing

Following the release and commercial success of Postal 2 in 2003, Running with Scissors (RWS) conceived Postal III as a next-generation sequel in the series, shifting to a third-person perspective and setting the narrative in a fictional Catholic city called Revelations. The project aimed to incorporate motion-captured performances by celebrities, including film stars and Playboy Playmates, alongside expanded satirical elements building on the prior games' controversial humor and open-world violence. Planning formalized in early 2006, when RWS, facing financial difficulties, licensed the title to Russian publisher Akella for development and publication. RWS authored storyline and generated comprehensive documents specifying features, such as free-roaming missions and Source integration for and physics. However, actual was outsourced to Akella's studio Trashmasters, a smaller tasked with coding, asset creation, and technical execution. RWS retained high-level oversight, including periodic reviews, but the devolved primary control to the external developers to minimize RWS's direct amid their fiscal constraints. This model, common for expediting sequels through international partnerships, enabled an initial announcement for PC and Xbox 360 platforms in October 2006.

Production Challenges

Development of Postal III began in early 2006 when Running with Scissors (RWS) entered a partnership with Russian publisher Akella, outsourcing the bulk of production—including coding, additional art, audio, and playtesting—to Akella's teams. RWS contributed the script, design documents, and initial art assets, but relinquished direct control over implementation. Initially progressing smoothly, the project encountered severe setbacks amid Russia's economic downturn following the 2008 global financial crisis, which strained Akella's resources and prompted drastic cost-cutting measures. Akella reassigned development to an underfunded and inexperienced secondary team, often referred to as "Team B," leading to deviations from RWS's original vision, such as the elimination of planned multiplayer modes and console ports due to technical limitations. Communication breakdowns exacerbated issues, with RWS reporting no access to playable builds or oversight during the final 12 months of production. The game was rushed to release on December 20, 2011, in what RWS described as an "unfinished state, barely out of its Alpha stages," driven by Akella's financial desperation rather than completion readiness. Post-release, persistent technical flaws, including optimization problems and bugs, could not be adequately addressed because Akella retained exclusive control over the source code and assets, severing RWS's ability to intervene. This outsourcing arrangement, intended to expand RWS's capacity, ultimately resulted in a fractured collaboration, with RWS publicly disavowing significant involvement in the final product and highlighting the perils of delegating core development to an external entity under economic duress.

Release and Distribution

Platforms and Launch

Postal III was released exclusively for Microsoft Windows personal computers, despite initial plans for ports to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, macOS, and Linux that were ultimately canceled. The game launched in Russia via retail physical copies in November 2011, distributed by publisher Akella. A worldwide digital version became available on the Steam platform on December 21, 2011, also published by Akella. Running With Scissors offered limited physical editions for purchase through their official website around the same period.

Post-Launch Updates and Removal

Shortly after its release on , 2011, in and , 2011, internationally, developer Trashmasters released three post-launch patches—versions 1.10, 1.11, and 1.12—to address bugs, crashes, and issues reported by players. These updates focused on stability fixes, such as resolving progression blockers and improving compatibility, but a planned fourth patch under Trashmasters' control was never issued. Running with Scissors (RWS), the IP holder, provided no further support, having already distanced itself from the due to dissatisfaction with the outsourced development by Akella and Trashmasters. On August 25, 2012, RWS removed Postal III from its own online store, effectively disowning the title amid ongoing community backlash over its technical shortcomings and deviation from series norms. The game remained available on Steam until November 21, 2022, when it was delisted due to failures in its DRM system, which relied on defunct Russian servers operated by Akella, leading to authentication errors and unplayability for new purchases. RWS publicly welcomed the delisting, with representatives stating it aligned with their rejection of the game as a subpar entry unworthy of the franchise. Postal III was relisted on Steam on October 13, 2023, following an update that excised the problematic DRM, restoring functionality for DRM-free play while addressing some legacy bugs. It continues to be available on the ZOOM Platform without DRM dependencies. Community-driven mods and unofficial patches, such as attempts at version 1.13, have emerged to enhance stability, but these lack official endorsement and vary in reliability.

Reception

Critical Reviews

Postal III received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, who lambasted its technical shortcomings, unrefined gameplay mechanics, and failure to deliver engaging satire. On Metacritic, the PC version aggregated a score of 24 out of 100 based on 20 critic reviews, reflecting broad consensus on its subpar execution. Reviewers frequently highlighted persistent bugs, frequent crashes, and endless loading times that undermined playability. Artificial intelligence was described as non-existent, with enemies exhibiting rudimentary behaviors that failed to challenge players effectively. IGN's Nathan Meunier awarded the game 5.5 out of 10 on January 3, 2012, noting that while some humor landed as clever or disturbing in line with the series' provocative style, the "slapdash gameplay and technical issues" overshadowed any potential appeal, rendering missions frustrating rather than fun. GameSpot's Chris Watters gave it 3 out of 10 on January 10, 2012, criticizing stilted controls, poor level design, and an "utter lack of wit or cleverness" that caused the attempted gross-out humor to fall flat, describing the overall experience as a chore. PC Gamer's Jon Blyth scored it 21% on March 21, 2012, calling it a flawed shooter where bizarre scenarios, such as battling chefs over infected cats, lacked mechanical depth or polish to support the "crazy" premise. Other outlets echoed these sentiments; Rock, Paper, Shotgun's January 26, 2012, review acknowledged the game's boldness and occasional gruesomeness but deemed the shooting, melee combat, and core mechanics fundamentally poor, preventing effective satire. Bit-Tech's January 20, 2012, assessment labeled it a "terrible third-person shooter" mechanically, with flaws extending beyond content to basic functionality like unresponsive controls and repetitive escort missions. Critics generally agreed that Postal III's ambitions for open-world chaos and offensive content were sabotaged by outsourced development woes, resulting in a product that neither innovated on predecessors like Postal 2 nor appealed to newcomers.

Commercial Performance

Postal III experienced limited commercial success, with sales concentrated on the PC platform via Steam following its digital release in April 2012. Estimates indicate approximately 188,000 copies sold digitally, generating roughly $1 million in gross revenue from the base game. These figures reflect low market penetration, underscored by minimal player engagement, including an all-time peak of 88 concurrent users and an average daily count of around 7. Physical releases in Russia and Europe in late 2011, handled by publisher Akella, yielded no publicly reported sales data, though the game's poor critical reception likely constrained uptake. An Xbox 360 version launched in select regions but failed to achieve notable distribution or sales tracking. The title was delisted from Steam on November 18, 2022, after 11 years, primarily due to persistent DRM failures rendering it unplayable for new purchasers, compounded by its acknowledged technical deficiencies. Publisher Running with Scissors publicly welcomed the removal, describing the game as "shitty" and expressing relief at its unavailability. This event cemented Postal III's status as a commercial underperformer within the series, contrasting sharply with predecessors like Postal 2, which sold millions of units.

Developer and Fan Reactions

Running With Scissors (RWS), the studio behind prior Postal titles, licensed Postal III's development to Russian publisher and an associated team, providing limited involvement such as but exerting minimal creative control. Following the game's poor reception, RWS retroactively classified it as a non-canon spin-off to preserve series continuity. In response to Postal III's delisting from Steam on November 21, 2022, due to expired DRM servers rendering it unplayable, RWS expressed approval, tweeting: "With Postal 3's DRM issues and overall shittiness of the game itself, the game is officially no longer being sold on Steam. ... At least people will no longer buy that trash!" The studio has since affirmed no remake is planned, citing irredeemable flaws in the outsourced production. Fans largely rejected Postal III, decrying its technical instability, inaccurate controls, subpar AI, and failure to replicate the series' satirical edge, often labeling it the franchise's nadir. This backlash manifested in dismal user ratings, including a 24% Metacritic critic aggregate and one of Steam's lowest historical scores, fueling demands to excise it from canon and disregard its events in subsequent entries like Postal 4.

Controversies

Content and Satire Debates

Postal III features , including , , and mass shootings, alongside , , and crude stereotypes targeting groups such as pimps, vampires, and Hollywood executives. The game's missions, set in the fictional town of , involve over-the-top scenarios like urinating on enemies or exploding civilians for points, framed within a of the navigating economic hardship and absurd societal elements. These elements echo the Postal series' tradition of black humor, but debates on whether Postal III effectively satirizes , media , or cultural excess, or merely glorifies shock for its own sake. Critics have widely argued that the game's content lacks substantive commentary, rendering its offensiveness purposeless and ineffective as satire. A PC Gamer described it as having "none" of a point "either as satire, commentary, videogame or comedy," emphasizing that mere edginess without fails to provoke meaningful reflection on violence or society. Similarly, Rock Paper Shotgun characterized the satire as "tepid," criticizing the game's reliance on outdated mechanics and convoluted humor that dilutes any potential critique of American excess or media tropes. Game Informer contended that the developers lacked the writing skill to justify their provocative elements, resulting in content offensive "for all the wrong reasons" rather than as a deliberate parody. Some fans and series apologists defend Postal III as an extension of the franchise's satirical intent, viewing its exaggeration of violent impulses as a hyperbolic mirror to real-world frustrations and media hypocrisy on gore. However, this perspective is undermined by the original developer, Running with Scissors, who disavowed the title as a "broken mess" not representative of the series, implicitly rejecting claims of coherent satirical value amid its outsourced production flaws. The absence of developer-endorsed thematic depth, combined with poor narrative cohesion, has fueled consensus that Postal III's violence prioritizes gratuitous spectacle over causal or insightful realism, distinguishing it from earlier entries' more pointed parodies.

Development and Quality Issues

Development of Postal III began in early 2006 when Running With Scissors (RWS) partnered with Russian publisher Akella, outsourcing core production—including coding, modeling, and technical implementation—to Akella's subsidiary Trashmasters, while RWS retained oversight of game design, narrative, and art direction. This arrangement stemmed from RWS's limited resources following Postal 2's success, aiming to leverage Akella's prior collaboration on Postal 2's Russian localization. However, the partnership deteriorated due to inadequate communication, mismatched expectations, and Trashmasters' inexperience with the project's scope, resulting in a prolonged development cycle marked by delays and scope creep. The game launched on November 18, 2011, in Europe and December 20, 2011, in North America for Microsoft Windows, in a severely compromised state plagued by technical deficiencies. Players encountered frequent crashes, freezing, and failure-to-launch issues exacerbated by intrusive DRM that conflicted with modern systems and antivirus software. Core gameplay suffered from broken AI behaviors, unresponsive controls, incomplete level designs with clipping errors and missing assets, and underdeveloped mechanics such as companion dog interactions that often glitched or failed entirely. RWS attributed these quality shortfalls to Akella's rushed handoff, where the outsourced team performed only superficial crash fixes before being dismissed, leaving unresolved bugs and unpolished features intact to meet arbitrary deadlines. Post-launch, minimal patches addressed high-priority crashes but failed to resolve pervasive glitches, rendering large portions of the open-world sandbox unplayable or incoherent. RWS publicly disavowed the title by , retconning its events as non-canon in the Postal 2: expansion and ceasing support, citing the outsourcing debacle as a cautionary of external dependencies over in-house control. The game's DRM complications culminated in its delisting from on , , which RWS endorsed as a removal of a "literal trash" product unfit for the series' legacy. This episode highlighted risks in co-development models, where divided responsibilities amplified coordination absent rigorous milestones or contingency planning.

Legacy

Impact on the Postal Series

Postal III, released on November 18, 2011, by publisher Running with Scissors (RWS) but developed externally by a Russian studio, represented a significant departure from prior entries in the Postal series, leading RWS to disavow it as a core installment. The game's technical issues, including bugs and outdated mechanics, contrasted sharply with the sandbox-style freedom of Postal 2 (2003), resulting in widespread criticism that tarnished the franchise's reputation for irreverent, player-driven satire. RWS CEO Vince Desi explicitly stated that the studio does not regard Postal III as the third mainline game, describing it instead as a "dodgy spin-off that should never have happened," reflecting internal regret over limited oversight during its production. This fallout prompted RWS to retcon Postal III from the series canon; in the 2015 expansion Postal 2: Paradise Lost, resembling the game's plot are depicted as a hallucinatory experienced by the , the Postal , effectively nullifying its continuity. The decision underscored a commitment to preserving the established lore from Postal (1997) and Postal 2, where themes of escalating absurdity and civilian rampages defined the series' identity. By severing ties, RWS mitigated long-term damage to storytelling coherence, allowing subsequent content to build directly on Postal 2's foundation without referencing the failed entry. Commercially and developmentally, Postal III's poor reception influenced RWS's approach to titles, emphasizing in-house control and . The game was removed from RWS's store on , , as being "in the best of the franchise," and later delisted from in to unresolved DRM problems, with RWS citing its "overall shittiness" as a factor in non-reacquisition of . This delayed progression to a true sequel, with RWS skipping to Postal 4: No Regerts (released April 20, ), which reverted to open-world mechanics and garnered positive reviews for recapturing the series' chaotic essence. RWS has since affirmed no remake of Postal III will occur, prioritizing expansions like Paradise Lost to rehabilitate fan trust and sustain the franchise's cult following.

Cultural Reception and Availability

Postal III has garnered minimal positive cultural footprint within gaming communities, often invoked as a cautionary example of outsourced development pitfalls and tonal misfires in satirical , contrasting the reverence for earlier Postal titles. Fans and developers alike have distanced it from the series canon, with Running With Scissors retroactively labeling it a non-canonical spin-off amid backlash over its execution, which deviated from the franchise's toward perceived amateurish humor and technical flaws. Unlike predecessors that sparked widespread media debates on video game , Postal III elicited scant broader societal discourse, overshadowed by its commercial underperformance and internal production disputes rather than galvanizing censorship campaigns or meme proliferation. In terms of regulatory reception, Postal III was indexed in Germany on the list of media harmful to minors due to its graphic content, aligning with restrictions on prior series entries but without triggering outright bans in additional jurisdictions beyond the franchise's established precedents. Culturally, it has occasionally surfaced in retrospective analyses of early 2010s Eastern European game development, critiqued for embodying rushed localization and quality lapses that alienated Western audiences, though niche enthusiasts preserve it via archival playthroughs highlighting its unpolished ambition. Availability remains limited post-delisting from Steam on November 22, 2022, prompted by offline DRM servers and acknowledged product shortcomings, rendering the platform version unplayable for new purchasers without prior ownership. DRM-free editions persist on the ZOOM Platform and select digital retailers like GamersGate, alongside physical retail copies from its 2011 launch, ensuring accessibility for collectors despite no console ports or modern re-releases. Originally published for Microsoft Windows by Russian developer Akella on December 21, 2011, the game has not expanded to other platforms, confining its distribution to PC-centric legacy channels.

References

  1. https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Postal_III
  2. https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Postal_III
  3. https://store.steampowered.com/app/10220/Postal_III/
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  12. https://runningwithscissors.com/about/
  13. https://www.eurogamer.net/news191006postal3
  14. https://www.engadget.com/2006-10-19-postal-3-announced-for-xbox-360-pc.html
  15. https://runningwithscissors.com/feedback-friday-8-postal-iii-saturday-special/
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  25. https://steamcommunity.com/app/10220/discussions/0/152390648093230415
  26. https://www.metacritic.com/game/postal-iii/
  27. https://www.pcgamer.com/postal-3-review/
  28. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/wot-i-think-postal-iii
  29. https://bit-tech.net/reviews/gaming/pc/postal-3-review/1/
  30. https://gamalytic.com/game/10220
  31. https://steamdb.info/app/10220/charts/
  32. https://www.vgchartz.com/game/35046/postal-iii/sales
  33. https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/postal-3-delisted-on-steam-due-to-drm-problems
  34. https://steamspy.com/dev/Running%2BWith%2BScissors
  35. https://x.com/RWSstudios/status/1594519861719343104
  36. https://www.reddit.com/r/postal/comments/gqpp8h/i_know_its_kind_of_a_dead_horse_but_postal_iii_is/
  37. https://www.thegamer.com/postal-3-off-steam-running-with-scissors-happy/
  38. https://www.gameinformer.com/games/postal_iii/b/pc/archive/2012/01/30/postal-iii-review-offensive-for-all-the-wrong-reasons.aspx
  39. https://www.gog.com/forum/postal_series/postal_series_deeper_meaningplot
  40. https://whatculture.com/gaming/10-video-game-developers-who-hate-their-own-creation?page=9
  41. https://steamcommunity.com/app/10220/discussions/0/613940477853804226/
  42. https://steamcommunity.com/app/223470/discussions/0/620712999979154198/
  43. https://rwsstudios.tumblr.com/Postal3
  44. https://steamcommunity.com/app/10220/discussions/0/1368380934283860592/
  45. https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/z0y90v/running_with_scissors_with_postal_3s_drm_issues/
  46. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-notes/23115048
  47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_T3_vg1EV0
  48. https://delistedgames.com/postal-3/
  49. https://gamerant.com/postal-3-steam-delisted/
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