Review: Postal: Brain Damaged is a fast-paced, disgusting boomer shooter that I can’t stop playing on the Nintendo Switch

Most people remember Postal from a bygone era when politicians looked at violence in video games as the newest way to corrupt the minds of our children. Lawyers brought cases to fight these evil video game companies and take down the still budding industry, not considering nuances and so much good that video games had already done. Nearly 20 years ago, Postal 2 was crude, rude, and hyper-violent. But, it was a pioneer for the next two decades.

After four iterations of the main series, Postal: Brain Damaged decided to take on a new genre for the franchise: the boomer shooter. Boomer shooters, for those that don’t know, are the term for a DOOM-like or Quake-like game; they’re fast-paced, with lots of weapons and enemies, which includes tons of gibs and things exploding. 

While still raunchy and full of the same toilet humor of the previous games, Postal: Brain Damaged is probably one of my favorites in the series. I go into detail below. 

Fair warning: Postal: Brain Damaged is not for children. It’s very much both a very mature and incredibly immature game, just like the series it hails from. If you’re already a fan of the franchise or okay with shows like South Park or Rick and Morty, you should feel right at home with it. But, it’s absolutely not safe for work (or most public spaces). 

Postal: Brain Damaged Gameplay and Story

The story of most Postal games is not meant to be the most important aspect of them. You play as the aptly named “The Postal Dude” as he handles mundane tasks on his to-do list like “get milk” and “pick up your paycheck”. The adventures happen based on how you play the game, which kicks off various events or issues, like turning the cashing of the paycheck mentioned above at the bank into (probably) robbing that bank instead.

Postal: Brain Damaged streamlines your usual to-do list to explain that you’re dreaming during the game. This time around, you’re clearly in a coma of some sort, dealing with the inside of your own brain (hence the name of the game) and chasing a version of yourself down. I won’t ruin the entirety of the story here, as it’s thin as it is. But, again, you don’t play the Postal games for the story.

The gameplay turns from the usual open-world style into a high-octane boomer shooter. If you’ve played games like the excellent Dusk or Amid Evil by New Blood Interactive, you’re familiar with this kind of gameplay. Postal: Brain Damaged fits nicely into the same family that DOOM started over 30 years ago. While it’s among its peers, I want to state that I don’t want to directly compare it to any of them and judge the game on its own merits, which it definitely has.

In the game, you get lots of gun options, just like other boomer shooters. From (not so) smart pistols to a shotgun that can work as a grappling hook, the weapons are great and actually are well thought out. The bow and arrow, known as the “Penetrator”, feels right out of the Saint’s Row games, for instance. There are a lot more weapons, each with increasingly humorous names and ways to utilize them.

As with all Postal games, you can urinate at will. In Postal: Brain Damaged, pissing is used to unlock certain areas or complete certain tasks. Or you can just pee on enemies if you want, just like any other Postal game. As mentioned, toilet humor is key to Postal’s infamy.

The entire game should take you around 8 to 10 hours if you’re casual about it like I was. However, you could technically beat the game in under an hour based on the speedrun times that the game shows you after each level. Good luck.

Design, Art, and Music

Postal: Brain Damaged wears its inspirations on its blood-soaked sleeve. The retro-looking pixel art lends to the throwback era that Brain Damaged is trying to invoke.

Enemies like the Clown Elemental immediately make you think of the Pain Elemental (or cacodemon) of the DOOM series. The constant barrage of enemies that comes with boomer shooters doesn’t allow you to appreciate the detail that went into each type, but you catch glimpses of how well-crafted each enemy is.

One look and you should feel transported into the 1990s. It’s super nostalgic for me, even throughout the grotesque visuals and grossness that Postal: Brain Damaged brings. 

The crude humor goes beyond the names of things, as visual gags often tie directly into the gameplay elements. It’s nice that the developers appreciated the context and level of lore surrounding Postal and made Brain Damaged feel right at home in the series.

The music is both a boon and a curse in Postal: Brain Damaged, however. Some music is just as high-octane, otherworldly, and hardcore as other games from the genre. In those instances, turn it up and let me blow out my eardrums any day.

But, oftentimes, the music gets stuck on a loop in an awkward place. In those cases, I just have to turn off the music altogether. It’s not super often that it happens, but when it does, it makes the experience annoying, especially if you’re stuck on a section for a little longer than you want to.

All in all, the design and art are superb, vibrant, and everything I’d want in a Postal boomer shooter. The music, on the other hand, depends on the level I’m on and whether I’m going to enjoy it.

Cons

Postal: Brain Damaged really impressed me. But, that doesn’t mean that it was a perfect game. As with most Postal games, you have to take the bad with the good.

Often, I found myself lost in an area. The majority of the time, I eventually figured it out. But, some levels went on much longer, due to lack of direction, than I care to admit.

A good example was a level where you’re in an arena at the end of the level. You have to urinate into four specific toilets around the arena as enemies chase you down. The idea of the level and how it’s meant to give you a constant urgency was fantastic. 

But, I sat on that section for well over a half hour, across multiple attempts, because I didn’t know how to finish it. In one playthrough, I killed every enemy in the arena and could just explore more. It finally dawned on me that the game hinted that I needed to use the shotgun in some way by giving me some extra ammo for it earlier on.

What I didn’t know was that you had to grapple hook with the shotgun onto the rollercoaster (and then hold on, because you will fly off, if you don’t). You ride the minecart-like coaster out of the map and finish the level. Nothing indicated that I had to do that.

Similar direction issues plague the game in various challenges. It doesn’t kill the game for me entirely, but it can get frustrating being stuck in a section with the previously mentioned looping, annoying audio for 15 minutes while trying to think of how to solve the puzzle.

The main con is the lack of direction some challenges have. But, you’ll eventually figure it out, if you’re smart enough (or if you can find a guide online since the PC version of this game is a tad older and this is a port). But, when it happens, it does bring you out of the game due to killing the pacing.

Is it cozy?

Here at Comfy Cozy Gaming, we look for cozy games. I wanted to break the mold a little bit and talk about why a game like Postal: Brain Damaged would ever make it to a site like this. 

The term “cozy” is a really difficult word to define, as everyone seems to have a different definition. While some people try to fit it into a nice little box, the definition is much simpler and ill-defined than you’d expect. It’s any game that you, the individual player, gamer, and reader find cozy.

Sure, I have the coziest, comfiest time playing games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the visual novel The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, or the apple-picking Game Boy-looking Bit Orchard. But, boomer shooters are also my kind of game to relax to.

Postal: Brain Damaged may have some real challenge levels, especially among some of the bosses or figuring out how each level works. But, that doesn‘t stop it from giving you infinite lives, plenty of ammo to fight with, and a great balance of how the enemies attack you.

Just because it is fast and explosive doesn’t mean that it can’t be cozy. Aside from the occasional directionless gameplay, Postal: Brain Damaged (among other boomer shooters) is a great way to turn off your brain and relax.

Final Verdict

Postal: Brain Damaged is a flawed yet fun boomer shooter that feels welcome to the slowly growing list of DOOM-likes. It gives long-time Postal fans something new for the franchise, without feeling entirely out of place. Hyperstrange, known for similar games in the FPS genres, developed the game with CreativeForge Games and gave it a lot of love and attention that the old Postal games deserve.

If you’re a big fan of boomer shooters, black humor, or some actual challenge in your cozy games, Postal: Brain Damaged will scratch the itch for you while you wait to see a doctor about why that itch is rashing and becoming discolored. 

I got to play the Nintendo Switch version early for this review and it plays like a dream (pun intended). The game is also available on Steam PC for $24.99, as well as on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The Nintendo Switch version comes out on February 2nd, 2024, for the same price.