Overview
Postal 2 has a bunch of difficulties. This guide is to aid you in your quest to survive for more than five minutes on the harder ones.
Introduction
So you’ve bought Postal 2, heard about how uber violent it is and thought to yourself “Hey, I want more”
Look no further. This guide is meant to help you in your journey. Specifically in playing the game’s harder difficulties. Note that this guide is for the base Postal 2 game pre-expansions.
There are some things to note. Postal 2 has a whopping 13 difficulties. Most of them are just slight upgrades in how much damage you take vs how many NPCs have weapons. But here’s a list of all of them and the major effects.
Liebermode (Only police and mooks during objectives have guns. Random NPCs in town run away from you)
Too Easy
Very Easy
Easy
Remedial
Average
Aggressive
Hard
Very Hard
Manic
Hestonworld (Everybody in the city has a gun. They will immediately go hostile as soon as you pull one out or start breaking the law. IE: Breaking into a person’s house and stealing things.)
Insane-o (The same as the above except everyone also has grenades, RPGs, cowheads etc.)
They Hate Me (The Postal Dude is now Paradise’s Most Wanted. You will always be wanted, police and shopkeepers will shoot on sight. Along with RWS employees and most pedestrians. However not all NPCs will have guns and to my knowlege it doesn’t operate like Insane-o. Arguably the buggiest difficulty in the game as it doesn’t always operate the same way.)
POSTAL (NPC’s in the world not only have guns but are also always aggressive to the player. Not only that but you are restricted to using a single save file per map and you cannot store health items in your inventory. Health items like Crack Pipes are also less potent.)
Impossible (Same as the above only you die super quickly and enemies are much more powerful. Near impossible to complete without going full aggro on every NPC in the game.)
Now picking what difficulty you’d like to play on is entirely personal preference. Lets go over the Postal Dude’s arsenal to see how you can even the odds.
Weapons
Your weapons are some of the most important things to learn about when playing this game. General strategies on using them are vital inorder to survive on the higher difficulties.
1. Mighty Boot: If you have ever played this game you know how satisfying pressing Q is. The Mighty Boot is just as useful here as it is in Duke Nukem 3D. Practically useless for killing enemies, however as a utility for breaking objects and opening doors. It saves you quite a lot of headaches you normally would have.
2. Shovel: The Shovel is the first weapon you get in the game, so discard it quickly. On harder difficulties it’s damage output is too low for you to care about using it.
3. Police Baton: Probably the most useless weapon in the game, even on the lowest difficulties. It’s damage is so low that it will be near suicide taking on Krotchy with it.
4: Scissors: Do not underestimate the Scissors. A good surprise attack on a mook or a random guy who’s house your breaking into will be the death of them. Just bare in mind that they aren’t a weapon to rely upon, especially as the game goes on.
5. Tazer: A must use weapon for almost any situation. The Tazer is a necessity on the higher difficulties. It gradually recharges ammunition but it’s pool is very low. Take the time to sneak up on enemies and stun them with the tazer so you can finish them off with something else.
6. Pistol: While probably being one of the most practical weapons on the easier difficulties. The Pistol is reduced to a piddling mess of just average on the harder ones. Especially as the game goes on it barely compares to the other firearms. Use it to alert enemies to your presence or to set off traps like cowheads. Otherwise relish in it’s ability to headshot.
Also note the Pistol’s usefulness varies depending on difficulty. On difficulties above They Hate Me it can take 2-4 headshots to down a single enemy.
7. Machine gun: Your go-to gun for any situation in the game. From Hestonland onward the majority of characters in the game carry one. You’ll eventually have so much ammunition you wont know what to do with. Just bare in mind to stay in midrange while firing it as it loses effectiveness as you get farther away.
8. Shotgun: This is a gun you will fall in love with. It’s useful all throughout the game as an amazing closerange weapon. It’s plentiful enough in ammunition to be used regularly, just don’t try relying on it too much. As the other guy might have a shotgun too.
9. Bazooka: Due to it’s ability to home in on targets, it’s a must use for bosses and crowds on the harder difficulties. Conserve your ammunition and watch that rocket fly as they scream Postal Dude in hell.
10. Napalm Launcher: Found late in the game the Napalm Launcher is useful for a much needed AOE spread. It fires a projectile that douses the area in fire. Perfect for taking out a bunch of guys that are giving you grief. While you wont find much Napalm ammo in the game it’s proximity to the final day allows you to simply let loose with it.
11. Cowhead: By far the most bizarre weapon in the game. You find the cowhead on NPCs while playing Insane-O. On every other difficulty it can be found in ovens and elsewhere. The Cowhead causes an AOE attack when you throw it, which kills enemies pretty effectively. However it’s primary use stems from it’s secondary fire. Where you can place it back onto the ground. If subsequently fired upon it will explode and deal AOE damage while you stay a safe distance away.
12. Hand Grenade: While a useful albiet strangely rare weapon on every difficulty under Insane-O. The Grenade becomes a guilty pleasure during it. NPCs will frequently sport them, allowing you to snag some much needed love from Uncle Sam. Use the grenade as liberally as you see fit.
13. Molotov: Same as the grenade except it sets enemies on fire. It also has an AOE burst on impact with anything, including walls and yourself. Great care has to be used with the molly but it will save you a lot of time reloading your last savegame.
14. Gascan: A utility more then anything else. The gascan is very useful in keeping enemies away from you, and potentially setting traps. You can douse a line of gasoline from a safe position and simply wait until an enemy steps near it. Then use secondary fire to drop a match which will immediately ignite it. There’s a lot of gascans in the game so remember to use them as often as possible.
15. Sniper Rifle: A dream more then anything else. The Sniper rifle is almost the perfect gun in this game, it’s unfortunate that it’s ammunition extremely rare. Use it sparingly, for it leaves as soon as it entered your posession.
16. Urine: What is more or less a cute joke has become a way of life on the hardest difficulties. Peeing on enemies distracts and can potentially stun them for a few seconds. Moreover, it works on crowds of enemies if you can aim properly with it. On the latter two difficulties it is almost mandatory to go in peeing.Trust me on this, you will see what a gamebreaking crutch urinating is.
Urine also has utility uses as well. If you find yourself doused in fire, immediately aim upwards and douse yourself out. It works every time and is a very valid strategy while using molotovs.
Those are your weapons. Now lets move onto general strategies
General strategies
Camping is okay on the harder difficulties. Because you’ll be doing it, and very often at that. Most every house in the game has a bathroom you can hang out in. While in there, alerting an enemy to your presence and unloading on them is a very common and useful strategy.
2. Taze and go
On Insane-O and They Hate Me. A great strategy is the Taze and Run. Basically, as soon as an enemy sees you, you taze them and run like hell away. The reason being that it will alert all the enemies and NPCs toward where you tazed him. A good sneaky player can rob some houses while the AI is too dumb to find out where you are.
3. Pyromaniac
Use fire as liberally as you can. On Insane-O molotovs become very plentiful, as does gasoline. Due to your ability to douse yourself out with urine, you can potentially sneak up on enemies by lighting them on fire. The best part about this strategy is when you light enemies on fire, they will also ignite anyone they’re close to. Including you. The bad part, they can also run into your camp spot. So take them out quickly with the shotgun or douse them out if they get too close.
4. Crack pipes are your friend.
You will be unable to buy Crack Pipes on They Hate Me. But that doesn’t mean you cannot reap the benefits of stealing them. Break into random people’s houses and steal their crack. It immediately raises your HP to 120, however it will gradually lower from withdrawl after a while until you get more. Continuously sustaining your crack addiction and moving forward with your objectives helps to alleviate this.
If all else fails a general everything that moves strategy works too. As does sneaking about, just bare in mind to save as often as possible.
In closing
In closing remember to save often as possible and try to exploit the stupidity of the AI as possible. The game almost breaks it’s back on training the AI to be as stupid as possible on the hardest difficulties. Exploit every opportunity, or you’ll find yourself ♥♥♥♥ outta luck.
Enjoy and remember. It’s only as violent as you are.
