Judging by the socio-cultural shenanigans of the modern video games industry, it’s a wonder how the Postal series is still alive and pissing. In fact, Running With Scissors’ controversial IP is stronger than ever. While Postal 4: No Regerts ended up being quite divisive, HyperStrange’s excellent Boomer Shooter spinoff, Postal: Brain Damaged, and the upcoming Postal 2 Redux solidify its status as an oddball, a shadow out of time in a rapidly changing world. POSTAL: Brain Damaged – These Sunny Daze is another testament to this fact. Advertised as an additional chapter in 2022’s glorious FPS, the DLC has the Postal Dude punch, drink, and piss his way through a sunbaked swarm of brainwashed fanatics in the hunt for people with ginger hair. Just when you thought Postal couldn’t get more weirder…
The DLC starts with the Postal Dude enjoying some sun with his arsenal on the beach when it’s announced that Ronald Dixon has been elected as president of the United States by a single vote. His first executive order? Eradicate the real threat to national security— red-haired people. He plans to exile gingers to Iceland and confiscate their property through the security agency CATE. It doesn’t take 5 seconds for them to confiscate Dude’s arsenal. We can’t have that, can we? The Postal Dude then goes on a murderous rampage to kill agents of CATE and confront POTUS himself. Just another day in Paradise…
These Sunny Daze is a by-the-book DLC that sticks closely to the marketing material. It features several new maps, new guns, and new enemies, but the core gameplay remains unchanged. In short, it’s more of the same. In the case of These Sunny Daze, that’s a good thing, because it’s built on top of the excellent Brain Damaged. Everything that worked in the base game works here, and the things that felt lacking are also present. This might sound like a cliche, but if you liked Brain Damaged, you’ll definitely like These Sunny Daze.
Similar to Brain Damaged, These Sunny Daze lets the dude run, jump, hook, kick, slide, piss, and obliterate a wide variety of politically incorrect foes in a multitude of ways. The gameplay remains very skill-based thanks to the fluid and fast-paced movement system similar to FPS of old. This is to say that your experience with the game on higher difficulties will depend entirely on your mastery of the movement system. The last two tiers of difficulty settings are very punishing, and there are many sections where it will seem unfair to unskilled players. Despite not featuring hitscanning enemies, a couple of shots is all that it takes to bring the Dude down to single-digit HP, and there are hundreds of enemies per level. At the same time, if you are good at games like DUSK and AMID EVIL, there’s an insane level of gratification to be had as you skillfully fly through the map, dealing damage and reflecting it back to the enemies. The power-ups like Guns Akimbo and super-powered pees also make a return, for your relieving pleasure.
The new additions in These Sunny Daze come in the form of five new weapons and a roster of new enemy types. The shovel, pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, and bow from Brain Damaged have been replaced with their new counterparts. In place of the shovel, there’s the Nyanbrella, which doubles as a drill as well as a shield. The Not-So Smart Pistol has been replaced with a water gun that shoots beer. The double-barreled shotgun is now the Wiener-Grinder that shoots cans of beans. The Nailbiter is no more, and in its place is the Bubblegun that can also shield you from projectiles, and finally, the dildo bow has been replaced with a sniper rifle that shoots Uranium syringes. Aiding in traversal is the sticky hand, a grappling hook that can pull you towards enemies as well as hook points in the levels.
The gunplay is solid as ever, and all the weapons feature alternate fire modes. However, they all feel like reskins of existing weapons and serve more or less the same function. In fact, aside from the sniper, I prefer the weapons from Brain Damaged. They just feel better, in my opinion. The newly added 10 or so enemies are a plus, though. From Tera Chads to Twitch thots to gay seamen (hehe) to hot dog carts are new additions for your murderous pleasure. Plus, some of the base enemies also make a return. The more, the merrier.
Despite being beach-themed, a big chunk of the DLC missions takes place in standard locations like ship interiors and sewers (yes, there are Civvie jokes). While these levels are big and allow for freeform movement, they do feel quite generic. Each level can take an average player anywhere from 15-40 minutes to finish, and the whole DLC can be completed in about 2-3 hours. I do not know if I missed any bonus levels, but the DLC came to a pretty swift end just as I was starting to get into the flow of things. After the DLC’s one and only boss battle, I was expecting to be treated to 2 more levels. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I generally enjoyed what’s on offer, and the iconic crackhead aesthetic and crude humor are present everywhere you look.
Real Talk
These Sunny Daze is a worthy follow-up to Brain Damaged. While not as big as an old-school expansion pack, it retains everything good with Brain Damaged and adds a few more hours of content. The ending left me wanting more, and I hope it doesn’t take 3 more years for us to get another DLC.
FINAL SCORE: 75/100
