In the case of bizarre video games, Tom the Postgirl is definitely one of many oddest, creepiest, and downright most annoying titles I’ve performed. Beneath its cute graphics and Little Pink Driving Hood-esque protagonist lies a a lot darker secret. Really, a number of of them. You play as Tom, a brand new worker on the native put up workplace whose job is to ship mail to the residents round city. Sounds harmless sufficient, proper? Nicely, it doesn’t take lengthy to find that this seemingly charming city is hiding one thing sinister. It’s the form of place that feels prefer it belongs in a horror film, or perhaps a Silent Hill recreation.
Tom’s first day on the job is fairly easy. A personality I assume to be the postmaster tosses her a giant bag of packages and sends her out to fend for herself. Feels like your typical entry-level job, proper? As you journey across the overworld map, you may press A to enter completely different areas and ship stated packages.
Let me let you know about one of many first areas I made a decision to go to, so you may get an concept of how this works. It was referred to as The Kennel. I assumed I used to be in for some kind of disturbing animal state of affairs. However no. It was a lot worse.
From the skin, it seemed like a reasonably regular home, except for the Kennel signal above the door. Close to the doorway was a bulletin board coated in adoption notices. Beneath the phrase “ADOPT” had been images of youngsters, full with lists of their good and unhealthy qualities. You realize, such as you’d discover at an animal shelter.
Naturally, I assumed that was slightly unusual, however determined to analyze additional. I used to be given the choice to peep by means of the entrance window, and as somebody named Tom, I couldn’t move up the chance.
Inside, I noticed three youngsters. One was tied to a leash, one other was stuffed inside a cat service, and the third was licking its leg like an animal grooming itself. I simply stood there observing this weird scene. Wanting by means of one other window, I noticed a motherly-looking determine impatiently tapping her foot. I knocked on the door to ship the bundle, which she promptly snatched earlier than slamming the door in my face.
I may hear them opening the bundle inside, so naturally, I needed to take one other peek. This time, I discovered 4 or 5 youngsters consuming canned pet food like they hadn’t eaten in days. I simply stared on the display, mouth agape, considering, “what the hell am I taking part in?”
And after witnessing one thing like that, you’d assume Tom can be no less than slightly disturbed. Nope. Her eerie smile by no means leaves her face as she casually grabs her put up bag and strikes on to the following location. That’s just about the idea of the sport. You’re going to witness some critically bizarre stuff alongside the best way. A few of it’s comparatively harmless, whereas different encounters are downright disturbing. However right here’s the place issues get fascinating. Relying on Tom’s actions, you may stop sure occasions from taking place or, in some circumstances, make them even worse.
Often, you’ll have the choice to open a bundle as a substitute of delivering it. One instance was the very first bundle I made a decision to open. The immediate appeared, curiosity obtained the higher of me, and out popped a really rambunctious, “excited” pig. The little man instantly ran over to a statue of one other pig and began… nicely, doing what animals do after they need to mate. It was crude, ridiculous, and actually kinda humorous.
Since I used to be already there, I made a decision to peek by means of the store home windows to see what else was happening. That’s once I found loads of proof suggesting that delivering this specific pig would have meant handing him over to his reasonably unlucky demise.
With out giving anything away, I hope you perceive simply how weird some elements of this recreation are. It’s positively not one you’ll need to play with the youngsters. The graphics and artwork fashion are easy with a restricted coloration palette that makes crimson the focus. The hand-drawn environments have simply sufficient element to make exploring worthwhile, and Tom can rise up near lots of the stuff you’re meant to note. There are many sights to find, and also you’ll need to hold your eyes open since you by no means know what you may discover.
In fact, the gameplay itself is fairly easy. You’ll spend most of your time strolling round, delivering packages, peeking by means of home windows, and interacting with the unusual stuff you come throughout. There’s no scarcity of weird discoveries, however don’t anticipate a very deep or difficult gameplay expertise. The true draw is seeing what sort of tousled state of affairs you’ll stumble throughout subsequent.
And that’s the factor; as disturbing as I’ve made this recreation sound, curiosity will get the very best of most of us. That’s why true crime exhibits are so common, I suppose. It’s morbidly fascinating, and as apprehensive as I used to be, I wished to see each messed-up factor Tom the Postgirl needed to supply.
The sport takes roughly 2-3 hours to finish, with just a few optionally available facet quests thrown in. There are a number of endings and different outcomes to find, so there’s some incentive to play by means of it once more. Nonetheless, the core gameplay doesn’t change a lot between playthroughs, and the dearth of handbook saves means you may’t merely undo a choice and check out one thing completely different. You’ll want to start out one other run if you wish to see how completely different decisions play out. Whether or not that’s value your time actually will depend on how nosy, I imply, curious, you’re.
You’ll additionally begin noticing issues about Tom that you simply may not have picked up on at first, whether or not by means of her little actions or her reactions to sure conditions. She’s an odd one, for certain.
Total, Tom the Postgirl is a fairly distinctive and morbidly intriguing recreation. Its easy gameplay and brief runtime may not enchantment to everybody, however its creepy-cute artwork fashion, weird encounters, and darkish humorousness make it stand out from the group. It’s positively one of many extra fascinating video games I’ve performed not too long ago on the Nintendo Swap. When you’re on the lookout for one thing slightly completely different and don’t thoughts a brief journey, this may be proper up your alley.
