Mailstrom is making me reconsider my career choices

In my 34 years of life, I can safely say that I’ve never harbored any ambitions of being a postman. It’s just never been on my list of jobs that I could see myself doing, but a few playthroughs of the Mailstrom demo, and I’m beginning to question whether I may have made some wrong turns in terms of my career choices. 

Mailstromis an upcoming indie game by developer Advanced Faffery, and it throws you into the world of intergalactic mail delivery and pickup. Of course, things are never quite as simple as they first appear, so here’s everything you need to know about this surprising little indie gem. 

Millennial skills are suddenly useful again

The demo of Mailstrom takes you through a select few mail delivery missions, giving just a taste of what the full game is hoped to be. It’s a multiplayer game at heart, although I’ve had a great time playing by myself as well, and you and up to three friends are tasked with making sure that packages make it to their designated locations. 

In each level, you’re in charge of a few parcels, given multiple opportunities to grab your trusty scanner, and away you go. Except you aren’t provided with a map, instead trusted to look at the signage and figure out where you’re meant to be going. The streets you deliver to are tightly knit, like all the best suburban neighborhoods tend to be, and if you grew up in the age of accessible GPS, then you’re going to struggle. 

On the other hand, if you grew up in the age of MapQuest and buying folding maps at the gas station, you’re suddenly going to find those long-unused skills surprisingly helpful again. Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s good to be old. 

We deliver, no matter the cost

The tutorial mission definitely leans into the whole ‘false sense of security’ vibe, but then I guess all good tutorials do. There’s nothing to distract you except the interesting world around you, and there are signposts quite literally pointing you in the right direction. You take your packages, you drop them off, scan them, and then you leave. Simple.

The second mission, however, is where the fun really begins, and things get a little dangerous. Not only are there suddenly bright blue pools of liquid around that will cause a very quick and mortifying death, but there are also aliens. And zombies. And some aliens who could possibly also be zombies. 

The first screeches are completely unexpected and almost enough to make you slap the pause button and change your pants. I’m not sure where the sound effect comes from, but it is undeniably creepy, especially when you’re not warned that it’s going to happen. Then, as if that’s bad enough, you turn around and see this incredibly derpy and yet somehow equally terrifying thing running towards you at breakneck speeds.

And without any real weapons in your arsenal, you’re reduced to slapping them to death while they attack in the hopes that they succumb to death before you do. 

Gross invasions of privacy

I have to admit that the idea of the Amazon delivery driver peeling open my boxes and peering at what I’ve ordered leaves me feeling icky. I never order anything that I’d be embarrassed for anyone to see, but there’s an expected level of privacy, and I’d rather be the first person to see my items after the person who packed them. 

Despite this, I can’t help but use the option provided in Mailstrom to open up the packages and see what the people are ordering. 

I know, I know, I’m a massive hypocrite, and I should be highly ashamed of myself. But there’s something so funny about knowing the gruff and angry man behind door 1009 has ordered a cute little teddy bear plush, or the person in 216 has ordered a single Pineapple. 

I do it with every parcel. It’s almost a compulsion at this point, and I’d be horrified if my Amazon driver did the same thing. He already greets me like an old friend because of how many orders he delivers to my house, and I feel like he’s getting a bit too friendly. I don’t need him knowing that I order cat food in bulk or I’m signed up for monthly deliveries of shampoo. 

Hilarious solo, better together

While delivering alone has its perks, especially if you have a hidden control freak side, Mailstrom does tend to give you a hard time if you choose to do so. Higher difficulty levels, in particular, charge you with a huge stack of parcels to deliver, an annoyingly low encumbrance, and a very tight time limit. For that reason, it’s a good idea to divide and conquer. 

You can do it solo, but you will need to be smart about it. With additional streets thrown into the mix, and some apartment buildings that even a rabbit would find hard to navigate, you’ll need to be quick and accurate to make sure everything is delivered in the time limit, and the ship doesn’t leave without you. 

Dragging friends along means that you can allocate a street to each player, divide the pile of boxes, and then spend a confused few minutes in front of the map figuring out directions before you set off. Focusing on a street each makes better use of the time, and gives you a chance to appreciate what’s inside those boxes, if you’re as nosy as I am. 

There is no set release date for the full version of Mailstrom just yet, though it is set to release at some point during 2025. However, the “Demo Day” demo is packed with fun and can be replayed as many times as you like, with each attempt being slightly different to the last. It’s available on Steam right now.