Chex Quest

Overview

Chex Quest is a sci-fi first-person shooter and advergame developed by Digital Café and released by Ralston Foods for MS-DOS and Windows PCs as a cereal box prize in specially-marked Chex breakfast cereal boxes in 1996.

Released to promote the Chex brand of cereals, Chex Quest puts players in the role of the Chex Warrior, an officer from the Intergalactic Federation of Cereals who wears an armor identical to a piece of Chex cereal, as he is sent to the planet Bazoik to fight off an invasion by slimy, green creatures known as "Flemoids". Because conventional weapons are ineffective against Flemoids, the Chex Warrior must use various teleportation devices called "Zorchers" to transport them back to their home dimension. However, the Flemoids are not eager to cooperate, and will attempt to cover the Chex Warrior in their slime (if the Health meter reaches zero, the Chex Warrior is too "slimed" and unable to move, resulting in a game over).

The game is known for being a non-violent commercial "total conversion" mod for the 1993 explicitly-violent game Doom, replacing the original game's levels, graphics, sounds, and music while keeping the original game's functionality (such as weapon, item, and enemy stats) intact. The game can, unintentionally, be used in a limited capacity for playing user-generated Doom content.

The game later received an official freeware sequel in 1997, known as Chex Quest 2, that was released online via the Chex Quest homepage. Some former members of Digital Café later developed an unofficial third entry in 2008, known as Chex Quest 3, using the ZDoom source port. Chex Quest 3, which also includes the first two entries as "episodes", was later re-released by General Mills in 2019 along with a mini-documentary. The original game later received a high-definition remake, known as Chex Quest HD, on May 18, 2020.