Chex Quest, That Awesome FPS Found in Cereal Boxes, Getting HD Remake

Games created for promotional purposes are often terrible--Xbox 360 game Yaris, released for free in 2007 to advertise Toyota's car of the same name, is among the worst titles on the platform. The same can't be said for 1996's excellent Chex Quest, which is now getting an HD remake thanks to one of its original developers.

Chex Quest is a first-person shooter based on the Doom engine that was included with boxes of Chex cereal back in the '90s. (It came on a CD with 50 free hours of AOL, to help you remember what time period we're talking about.) It plays just like Doom, only with a new set of levels, enemies, and weapons (like a spinning spoon that replaces the chainsaw). It was a shockingly enjoyable game, and many like myself have fond memories of playing it.

The game turns 20 this year, so Zam spoke with its lead artist, Charles Jacobi, about its creation. This led to an explanation of how he got involved with working on Chex Quest 3 (yes, the game spawned two sequels) in the mid-2000s, which then prompted him to reveal what he's working on now.

"I recently announced--because it all started happening again with this year being the 20th anniversary--so [fans are] all like, you know, 'Are you going to make another, Chex Quest 4 or whatever?' I'm like, 'Well, I'm definitely not interested in that,'" he said.

"But I've always kind of wondered about like, 'Well, what would it be like if I just did a remake of the first one, but with a modern game engine?' And at my professional job, I use the new Unreal [Engine], Unreal 4, and I love it. It's a really powerful tool set, especially for content people...I don't necessarily need to be a programmer and I can build lots of functionality with it. So I've started building, basically, a high-def remake of the first one."

He didn't offer a timetable for when we might see this version of the game--it's possible we might never get our hands on it, given that it's a side project for him.

"[J]ust like Chex Quest 3 it's really just a hobby thing that I do on the side," he said. "So, you know, progress is slow. I think I've got maybe half the monsters made, half the weapons made, and maybe two levels."

If you're a fan of the original game, the full interview is well worth a read. Jacobi describes his inspiration for the main character and talks about the Chex people's insistence on having the brand name everywhere.