GRiZ Debuts New Online Game to Promote Upcoming Release

Sidequest Vol. 1 sees GRiZ offer his fans a novel way to unlock the 12 songs appearing on the upcoming EP of its namesake.

The triumphant return of GRiZ has come with no shortage of fanfare, what with his brand-new festival announcement and recently launched zine. The Michigan native is keeping the hype train rolling with Sidequest Vol. 1, a classic game-inspired promotion through which fans can hear snippets of the songs appearing on his upcoming release of the same name.

From its pixelated graphics to its story-driven intro, the interactive website takes clear inspiration from classic roleplaying games like Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy. As the saga unfolds, the player is confronted with an 8-bit-inspired depiction of a fierce dragon, at which time they’re given a choice between fighting, running, or hiding from it in various ways.

Once they choose their course of action, its efficacy is left up to chance. A digital die rolls, and if it lands on a high enough number, the player gets to hear a snippet from one of the 12 songs appearing on Sidequest Vol. 1. They can play again as many times as they need in order to hear all of the snippets, and each one is saved in a playlist easily accessible from the main menu.

GRiZ (real name Grant Kwiecinski) teased the promotion in Re:connect, the newsprint zine he quietly distributed throughout Chicago and the Bay Area last month. “If you cut out the eyes on the back of the paper and folded the paper in half, it would reveal the word ‘sidequest’ in the negative space,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “If you then added that word to our website URL it revealed a pic of a 20 sided dice with the letters – s i d e q u e s t – that I wrote in it. And a timer. That is all leading to this.”

Play Sidequest Vol. 1 on the official website dedicated to the online game, and look out for the release of its namesake on Tuesday, June 17!

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