Encounter: A 8-Bit Noir Adventure...

It should be said that, where gaming history is concerned, a lot of the most unusual entries out there tend to come and go without hardly any notice from the general gaming communities at large, be they mobile gaming levels of casual on one side or the most dedicated video game enthusiasts that actively work to archiving these very types of games on the other end of the scale. I say this in large part knowing that this is as big of a problem in the current day gaming scene as it was back in the 80s where, instead of having to navigate through Steam and delve into niche groups dedicated to a particular genre/style of game or doing your own research, one would have to make frequent visits to more 'nooks and crannies' types of store to see if any of these obscure games on various lesser-known platforms of the time (Casio PV-100, Tatung Einstein, VTech Creativision, Telenova Compis etc) that would have proven quite interesting in the times right around the video game crash of 1983 for those outside of America. But what if I told you that Encounter not only fits that bill to a tee, being one of these games developed on a rather unusual home computer called the 'Oric Atmos', but is also not a Oric Atmos game product? The paradox here will no doubt be quite confusing when simply stated like this, however it is one I am keen to explore alongside this rather fascinating little gem of a game from the 80s that, although small in scale and short in length, has quite the unique experience to offer given that it is something of a 'time capsule' in its own right. Starting off with what it is you actually do in this game, you take the role of a private investigator who has been following the case of a kidnapped teenager and located her rough whereabouts in this small English village in order to find and rescue her. To achieve this, one has to make use of the resources at hand as well as the wits to avoid the dangers that await for any would-be intruder by interacting with the environment and the world itself via text prompts, whether to use an item for its intended purpose or looking/searching at a particularly interesting object for further examination or even to combine two items together into a brand new one for more complex or cunning uses. Whilst the idea of going back to text adventure games may sound daunting here, thankfully Encounter is improved by featuring more modern gameplay design aspects that make it stand out from the crowd, one of these including the simple yet effective action of pressing the space bar to bring up all of the relevant commands for the player to use and navigating through them via directional buttons from there. Alongside this are in-game achievements tracked via a list that is available when booting up the game and the ability to pause the game when needing a break as well as other neat little cameos and gameplay features that one may have not expected for such an old title here! Though I did mention pausing there which, whilst it may sound unnecessary at first, is quite essential given that there is an active timer that starts from the moment you first take control of the investigator in the village's market square. This timer ticks down from two hours in real-time and advanced so many seconds or minutes depending on which actions you take, as looking at an item or moving from one room to the next may only take a dozen or so seconds whilst using/crafting items for particularly laborious tasks may take considerably longer and use upwards of a minute. This is something to bear in mind as running out of time is but one of several ways to fail the game as the iconic (and personally beloved) trait of 'deaths' is seen here too, though some are certainly far more lethal and fatal than others! On the note of how much there is to the game itself, Encounter is not what I would describe as a particularly long game, given that it is meant to be beaten within the two hour real-life time limit and, arguably, even shorter given the many time-costing actions you will need to take to achieve that victory. However, despite the short length alongside the small world and smaller selection of items to utilize, I would argue that this creates something of an ideal environment for those new to the genre or not necessarily as intuitive when it comes to figuring puzzles like these out as I often struggle with the solutions for games seen in the vast library of Sierra's adventure titles and others like it without referring to a guide, yet Encounter avoids this problem by virtue of being more grounded in reality coupled with not plaguing the world with many junk items as well as offering subtle hints to bring that solution to you through guidance of your own thinking and deduction. Before I conclude the review, it must be stated that one of this game's best strengths lays in its artstyle, as it's what brought me over to giving this obscure game a shot in the first place. Note that I make a clear distinction between the 8-bit graphics which, seeing as the Oric Atmos computer came out in 1984, naturally won't be impressing anyone who favours realistic-looking visuals in their library of games here in 2025 whilst the artstyle, something that is more difficult to put into words given that it's less about how great the visual fidelity is and more the direction chosen with portraying the world with the limitations of software at the time, is simply superb seeing as Encounter went with a charming presentation of what I believe to be inspired by many vintage comic strips from back in the 40s/50s with various thought bubbles describing the investigator's thoughts in each room alongside the occasional stylized sound effect whose font reminds me of the various pop art effects that were used in said comics, 'WHAM!' and all! Coupled with the limited colour palette and the choice to go with a monochrome look to the world is obvious, seeing as the game is exceptionally polished for what was a game that was seemingly made back in 1983 (as it displays in the bottom when booting up the game) coupled with enhancements added later on to further refine this obscure title that deserves a second chance here on Steam! Now remembering what I said earlier about Encounter both being a game for the Oric Atmos system as well as not technically being one? Well based on extensive research done on my part to see more about the history of this intriguing title, I couldn't find anything dating back to or anything suggesting that it may have had a physical release back in the mid-80s. Therefore I can only conclude that this was, in fact, a very late addition to the archaic console decades after the fact. However what may appear as a complaint is, in fact, a rather special kind of praise as I honestly believed that Encounter was a direct port of an original release that nobody had heard of due to just how authentic its presentation and gameplay feels for the time period that it was made in. This is especially impressive when you consider that this game was actually made on real Oric Atmos software via an emulation program, Oricutron, since it truly feels like a product of its time and that Encounter was so good at replicating a real physically-released Oric game that it had me fooled for a while! In short, although this game isn't long at all nor is it complex or visually pleasing to the eyes of most modern gamers, I truly feel that Encounter is a special type of game for retro fans that want to go back and experience that type of gameplay in a sealed 'time capsule' of sorts, enjoying how games were presented back then but with subtle improvements that don't break the immersion of it being an old-school game that quite possibly would be one that your parents or even grandparents would have likely played for themselves on their ancient micro-computers and the likes and it is one I can easily recommend to those also looking to get a gentle start into proper adventure titles.

This is such a great achievement on that lovely but very quirky Oric Atmos, very well done! Must have for Oric Atmos lovers.

I wrote that game, and I think it's a pretty decent game all things considered! If you played the game and liked it, please leave a review, thank you!

Got this free to help with testing. Probably wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't already played it, as the idea of a text based game wouldn't have appealed to me. After having played it to test it, I found it super enjoyable and definitely well worth the price. Unlike some modern games which literally spoon feed you everything this game actually requires a little thought, but nothing is too obscure that I got frustated and would have wanted a walk through. After completing it a few times I ended up seeing how few insturction inputs I could complete it in which added a new challenge. It's completable in about 159 inputs, but that's once you know what you're doing... and refine the route :D. I genuinely think this is a brilliant game and incredibly enjoyable, even for people (like myself) who aren't inherently a fan of text based games.

I've been closely following the development of this game for years, and am really excited that it is finally released, since I have the original Oric Atmos hardware and - as an Oric owner since 1983 - the release of such a wonderful title on that humble hardware is a pure delight! This game has been lovingly crafted by one of Orics' best developers, and it shows in the attention to details, aesthetics, and playability that has been refined over months and months of careful coding and testing. While I bought this on Steam, I'm running it on my real Oric Atmos - it runs very smoothly, and is a joy to behold! The game is tricky - there are some sly diversions - but very entertaining, and as I have made a little bit of progress, I'm always entertained by the details encountered along the way - the use of sound effects, the interesting graphics cues, and an intriguing storyline. If you need a break from the pixel-pushing insanity of modern day AAA titles, a few hours in the land of Encounter will take you into an alternative universe of imagination and intrigue. Humble as the Oric Atmos' hardware limitations are, Dbug has nevertheless delivered an immersive adventure full of curious intrigue and drama. An excellent game, worth every penny, and I hope many more folks will enjoy this release so that we may indeed, some day, see more titles just like this - from Dbug, and all the other folks who are keeping the Oric Atmos platform alive today.

Difficile de faire plus retro que [b]Encounter: une aventure 8 bits[/b]. Cette petite aventure se joue directement via l'émulateur Oric, et nous voilà à l'ancienne à taper des mots clés pour progresser dans l'aventure : [i]prendre sceau, combiner viande et somnifere, jeter pierre[/i] tout en se dirigeant avec les flèches pour passer d'un écran à l'autre. Si je n'ai pas eu d'Oric à l'époque, ça m'a rappelé le temps de l'Amstrad CPC. Le jeu n'est pas particulièrement compliqué, mais le Game Over viendra tout de même de temps en temps rappeler à l'ordre les aventuriers imprudents. Très sympathique !

Clearly a game made with love, fantastic vibes, good music, great theming and I can't wait to play through to the end.

Great game! Nice graphics and an interesting story that requires you to think, something I'm not very good at personally. I wish I had this game in the 80s, but unfortunately it didn't exist then. Apparently this game can run on the original hardware from 1980 something? That's pretty crazy!

En tant que testeur officiel du jeu et possesseur d'Oric Atmos dans ma jeunesse mon avis sera peut-être un peu biaisé mais je vais essayer d'être aussi objectif que possible! - Si on considère ce jeu sous l'angle d'un fan de retrocomputing familier avec les specs des micros de l'époque, il faut reconnaître que ce jeu est l'un des meilleurs jeux d'aventure "homebrew" récents pour Oric. Il exploit vraiment le système aux limites de ses capacités, grâce à l'utilisation du lecteur de disquettes (virtuel ici) et le codage en assembleur qui permettent d'exploiter la totalité des 64 Ko de RAM de la machine (seulement 48 Ko disponibles en BASIC) et de stocker l'énorme (pour l'époque...) quantité de données du jeu, plus de 700 Ko compressés sur les 360 Ko de la disquette. - Maintenant, d'un point de vue purement "gamer": Il faut tout d'abord passer outre les limitations techniques d'un système de plus de 40 ans d'âge, comme la très faible résolution graphique (240x224 pixels) et les capacités basiques de la puce sonore (3 canaux de son + 1 canal de bruit) qui rendent très difficile la création d'effets sonores réalistes, et comprendre aussi que le jeu s'exécute sur un émulateur (qu'on peut mettre en plein écran, mais qui est plus stable en mode fenêtré). Une fois qu'on fait abstraction de tout ça,on peut honnêtement reconnaître que le jeu est aussi bien fait que possible, avec l'affichage de logos animés au lancement, suivi d'écrans de présentation expliquant le fonctionnement du jeu et même une petite séquence animée où la trame de l'enquête apparaît tapée ligne à ligne à la machine à écrire. L'écran de jeu en lui-même montre une représentation graphique monochrome mais très travaillée de chaque lieu, souvent avec quelques petites animations, bulles de texte ou bruitages. Ce qui est appréciable pour un jeu d'aventure est la possibilité d'utiliser les touches fléchées pour se déplacer plutôt que de taper les classiques directions cardinales (N, S, E, O). Pour le reste, les instructions sont tapées au clavier sous la forme verbe + objet. Ce qui est appréciable également est que la liste complète des verbes utilisables peut être affichée à tout moment via la touche Escape ou la commande "AIDE", et que la liste des "objets" utilisables correspond tout simplement à ceux présents dans l'inventaire ou affichés à l'écran, qui peuvent être surlignés en appuyant sur Shift. Aucun casse-tête donc pour deviner le nom d'un objet ou chercher le nom d'un verbe, c'est très appréciable. Par ailleurs, pour la plupart des actions tentées par le joueur, le jeu donne un feedback approprié sous forme d'un message texte affiché en gros à l'écran. Les transitions entre écrans sont rapides et embellies par un effet de fondu écran, et certaines actions clé du jeu sont illustrées par des séquences graphiques supplémentaires très bien réalisées. Une autre qualité de ce jeu, très rare dans le genre, est qu'il existe plusieurs manières différentes de surmonter certains obstacles, et que le score attribué dépend justement du type d'action entreprise (violente, ou plus "pacifique"). Par exemple, à un moment vous allez tomber sur un chien méchant dans le jeu, et il existe au moins 4 manières différentes de s'occuper de son cas... Concernant le niveau de difficulté du jeu, je l'évalue entre facile et moyen, selon que vous êtes habitués ou non à ce type de jeu d'aventure. Pour moi il y a un peu trop d'indices donnés au joueur qui rendent la progression un peu trop facile, mais au moins le joueur ne risque pas de se retrouver coincé trop longtemps et de buter sur un problème, car à chaque obstacle correspond une solution logique et relativement facile à trouver. On peut estimer que le jeu offrira quelques heures (2 à 5 suivant le niveau de chacun) avant d'arriver à la fin du jeu, une partie prenant jusqu'à environ 30 ou 40 minutes selon la progression réalisée. Sachez qu'il faut tout de même enchaîner un peu plus de 200 instructions au minimum dans une partie pour arriver à terminer le jeu... Enfin, une autre particularité appréciable du jeu est qu'il tire parti de la fonctionnalité des "Succès" de Steam: il existe presque une cinquantaine de badges à collecter au total pour les actions (bonnes ou mauvaises...) que vous pourrez réaliser au cours de vos différentes parties, et vous aurez évidemment envie d'essayer de les collecter tous. Comme ce type de jeu fait uniquement appel à des capacités d'observation et de réflexion, il est susceptible de plaire à une large audience, y-compris des enfants assez jeunes et aussi évidemment des "seniors" comme moi qui ont connu l'avènement des premiers micro-ordinateurs de l'époque et les premiers jeux d'aventure textuels! En conclusion, si vous êtes fan de retrogaming vous apprécierez forcément ce jeu, et dans le cas contraire vous l'apprécierez sans doute aussi si vous aimez les jeux d'aventure et d'enquête policière et n'êtes pas trop gêné par l'aspect simpliste des graphismes et des sons d'époque... Pour ma part j'ai vraiment beaucoup apprécié ce jeu, l'intrigue est bien ficelée et la progression dans le jeu jusqu'au dénouement est agréable, même si évidemment la durée de vie reste très courte. Un dernier conseil: le lanceur du jeu vous permet d'exécuter le jeu soit en mode fenêtré soit en plein écran. En fonction de votre matériel, il se peut que vous ayez des problèmes en mode plein écran. Si jamais vous vous retrouvez "coincé" avec un écran noir, ou une image bruitée à l'écran, sachez que vous pouvez facilement basculer en mode fenêtré pour régler le problème, en appuyant successivement sur F1, puis V et F (plusieurs frappes sur F pouvant être nécessaires), et enfin sur la touche Escape pour revenir au jeu. De mon point de vue même si l'écran de jeu en mode fenêtré est assez petit, il reste plus agréable de jouer dans ce mode même si c'est moins immersif.

Finally solved the case! I had been following the creation of this game for a few years, since the Oric was the first computer I own (at 4!) and seeing what this was set to achieve on such a humble machine was enough for me to buy the game. Still, I expected not to like it: I had never heard of the original game (a bad omen) and well, this would just be an early text adventure game, just with added graphics. But I was wrong, the game is good and it is fun! Not goofy fun like Monkey Island but fun because of the game design - and that I'm not sure was the same in the original game. The fact a game is capped at 2 hours is actually genius. You know you will probably not play more than 2 hours so you can plan for it, and when you see the time running out you are forced to think quicker and try out things out of despair. The achievements - which I normally hate - are somewhat meaningful here since they do add some replay value (I'm still missing some so I'm not done with the game) and when you fail (cause you will) but realize you've collect some new ones, it feels like a proper reward. The score is also a nice thing to have, and it's complete with an old-school high score screen (I guess we say "leader board" nowadays). It's a good enough reason to keep searching for things to unlock even when you feel it might not relate to the intrigue. Which is another nice thing about the game, even though the scenes are limited, there are extra and at times useless interactions that actually bring a bit of life to the environment, and all this has a written or illustrated response - a luxury given the system. So yeah, if you had an Oric, go for it, if you like text adventure games, go for it, if you have a thing for point & click adventure - which the game is not - I'd suggest you go for it anyway because you may enjoy this different brand of adventure more than you think.