I’m reminded of way back when the marketing department for Chex was somehow allowed to dress up a kid-friendly Doom mod for a packaged advertisement. And so, we got Chex Quest.

Actually tried this game and here are some observations -

1. It runs fine on Steamdeck without any tweaking. The Steamdeck Compatibility rating didn't make this clear, so it is worth noting here.

2. It isn't a horrible RPG. If you are a grizzled veteran of more complex JRPG mechanics and elements, you're going not going to be blown away or anything. But it is playable.

3. The dialogue and puns are cheesy if self-aware.

4. It's free, and there are coupon rewards for beating each section. This requires the Wendy's mobile app, which I don't use or care about. I eat traditional fast food maybe once per year. But it might be a upside for someone.

5. I have to think the title "WendyQuest" is a nod to the historically significant PC game promo ChexQuest.

The rewards aren’t entirely free — to actually redeem them, you’ll have to make a "separate qualifying purchase."

Okay, so they're coupons. You advertise to yourself for hours on end to get a few measley, regular-ass coupons.

Sounds like the normal Canadian couponing system to me, just with extra steps.

FREE *

• (with purchase, cannot be combined with any other offers, one coupon per client only, expires 5 days ago, cannot be transfered, purchase must be at least $10 before taxes).

My guess is it will go something like this:

In order to redeem your coupon for a free Frosty ^with^ ^purchase^ ^of^ ^regular^ ^meal^ please enter your information below.

Full Name Email
Phone number
Date of Birth
Address
SSN
Mother's maiden name
Credit Card Number ^for^ ^age^ ^verification^

✅ Sign up to receive marketing emails ^REQUIRED^

So they can spend however much money to develop this but can't staff their stores, and need an AI bot to manage their drive thru. Sure, Wendy's, whatever.

Honestly I prefer this style of advertising over all others. A lot of real effort has to go into making these games (assuming no ai was used).

No thanks, brand.

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Things like this start out as a joke, but many cartoons are already just marketing for toys, and video games are getting stuffed with more and more product placement. I fear that the success of things like this and the ikea skyrim mod are the first steps into a disgusting era of nothing but branded media.

Doubt.

Wendy's doesn't make real food.

ooh. so many free with purchase rewards. I can't contain myself.

I sorta thought mmo's would have product placement. The extreme sword of mountain dew.

Reminded me of that pinball thing BK did a few months ago. It was difficult to play but you still were offered the same shit that you are offered whenever they sent you those sheets of coupons in the mail.