Gamers who played the over-the-top, violent and more often than not offensive FPS Postal 2 back when it first released in 2003 likely don't remember seeing a "closed for renovation, reopening June 2016" sign in front of a vacant store within the game's mall.
The sign was nothing, it was just an unassuming piece of the game's background that nobody paid attention to given just how loud and ridiculous the rest of the game was. Who would remember such a thing?
The developers at Running With Scissors, that's who. They didn't forget their 13-years-in-the-making surprise, and earlier this summer they delivered on their promise. An update to the game back in June added a hole in the "under renovation" store's chain-link fence. Players brave enough to venture through it found themselves in a long, mostly dark and empty room with a table on the far wall. Above the table a sign reads "Witness the future!"
On that table is a virtual reality headset that looks remarkably similar to the HTC Vive. Strapping it on transports players to a magical (VR?) store called Steme (get it?!), where customers line up to buy new video games, as streams of green code straight from The Matrix crawl up and down the mall's walls. There is a number of funny gag games present in the store itself, such as Half-Loaf 3, previous Postal games and an obvious Counter-Strike rip-off.
The clerk also tells customers (and players) not to buy Postal 3, a game that wasn't actually developed by Running With Scissors and sports a "Mostly Negative" customer review rating on Steam. One of the top customer reviews on the Postal 3 store page simply reads "Just get Postal 2."
That's about all there is to it. It's short, sweet and, in true Postal fashion, more than a little bizarre. At the end, players receive an achievement called "I'm not even supposed to be here today!", where Running With Scissors takes the opportunity to thank players for sticking with them after all these years and congratulates them for waiting 13 years for the in-game Easter egg.
What could have possibly compelled the game's developers to fulfill a 13-year-old promise that nobody probably even remembered in the first place? It's hard to say, but we're sure glad they did. You can watch the full Easter egg for yourself below.
Postal 2 is currently $9.99 on Steam.
