Skrillex Quest
Open the game- Brand
- Skrillex
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Jason Oda
Objective
Skrillex needed a way to hold a listener's attention on his tracks — especially the single 'Summit' — for longer than a typical stream, and a playable release let him do that while generating its own press cycle as a novelty for an EDM artist. Framing it as a standalone game rather than a music video gave outlets like DJ Mag and PC Gamer a fresh angle to cover, turning the promo into free editorial reach across music and gaming press.
Solution
Players load the game straight in the browser at its own site, no download or sign-up required, and guide a blocky 8-bit hero through dungeons modeled on classic Zelda castles and caverns using just the arrow keys and space bar. Skrillex's tracks score the action directly: sword swings and dungeon events trigger sound cues lifted from his songs, led by 'Summit,' so combat lands on the beat. Each dungeon runs against a clock, and the player races to collect keys, scroll pieces, and treasures styled after the artist's own look (glasses, piercings) while slashing away glitches that are corrupting the cartridge and freeing a ghostly princess. The session ends in a boss fight against a glitched-out Skrillex; beating him cuts to the real Skrillex blowing on the cartridge, and the broken world repairs itself.
Results
On YaksGames, a third-party mirror of the game rather than its original skrillexquest.com, it has logged 11,350 plays with an 84% approval rating — the only engagement numbers on record, since the original 2012 release reported no sales, traffic, or conversion figures.
- 1
The player opens the game in-browser with no signup or tutorial; controls are limited to arrow keys and a space bar. An intro explains the premise: a speck of dust has corrupted the cartridge and the world is infected with glitches.
- 2
The player steers a blocky, Link-like hero through 8-bit dungeons modeled on classic Zelda settings, starting with a castle in the style of A Link to the Past. The screen constantly ripples and breaks into glitch artifacts while a looped Skrillex track plays underneath.
- 3
Pressing space swings the hero's sword, and each strike triggers a Skrillex audio sample so combat doubles as part of the music. Enemies are shaking pixel-cube "glitches" that fall in one or two hits and occasionally misbehave, knocking backward or reappearing elsewhere on screen.
- 4
Each level runs on a timer that doesn't cause death but caps how much can be explored before moving on, pushing players to replay levels and learn the layout.
- 5
Players gather keys to unlock dungeon doors, working toward the goal of freeing a Ghost Princess.
- 6
Levels also hide collectible treasures that riff on the artist's persona and look, such as his signature Sabre Glasses, alongside secret rooms reached by manipulating the environment — like sliding a stone slab on the first level to reveal a bonus item referencing the track "Bangarang."
- 7
Scattered across the levels are seven scroll fragments; bringing a complete set to a hut rewards the player with a Master Sword that kills any glitch enemy in a single hit.
- 8
The setting and soundtrack shift together as the player advances, moving from the castle to a dungeon inspired by the original Zelda and then a wasteland modeled on Ocarina of Time's Haunted Wasteland, each paired with a different Skrillex track.
- 9
The game ends in a boss fight against a corrupted, block-headed version of Skrillex himself, staged as an encounter with an Armos Knight-style enemy.
- 10
After the boss falls, the Ghost Princess plays an ocarina and the camera pulls back to show the real Skrillex blowing dust off a cartridge as the screen declares "A world is saved!"; a closing screen then tallies what was collected and found, with a full playthrough running about 15 minutes.
