Here you will find some of the coverage of Encounter in various medias

This issue of the Spanish magazine CAAD dives deep into Encounter, first with an interview/analysis from page 26 to 33 that unveils the game's origins and how it was built, then with a detailed review spanning pages 110 to 113.

This one page article (in English) in the printed magazine BrewOtaku reviews Encounter HD, a December 2024 release by Defence-Force for the Oric Atmos, remaking Severn Software’s 1983 text adventure. Enhanced with improved graphics, sound, and gameplay, it modernizes the classic for the 1 MHz 6502 processor and 64 KB RAM system, offering a streamlined experience akin to The Hobbit or Zork.


Players must rescue a kidnapped girl within two in-game hours, blending exploration, strategy, and time management. Praised for its polished presentation and nostalgic charm, it earns an 85% score. Available on itch.io.

In this interview (in English), Mickael Pointier discusses Encounter HD, a graphical remake of the 1983 text adventure Encounter for the Oric Atmos, released on Steam. Pointier’s journey with the Oric began in 1983, inspired by a Boy Scouts leader and his early BASIC programming experiences, leading him to choose the Atmos for its value. He shares his development process, using tools like Paint Shop Pro 9, Visual Code, and the Oric SDK, which he updated for this project.


The remake, inspired by his struggles with the original English-only game as a French speaker in the '80s, adds graphics, animations, sound effects, and music, transforming it into a modernized adventure akin to point-and-click classics like Maniac Mansion. Facing memory and disk space challenges, the game now includes 125 images, 20 sound effects, and six music tracks, making it one of the largest Oric games at 751 KB of compressed data.


A limited physical release is planned for the Oric community, with 20 copies gifted to contributors and contest winners, while digital versions are available. After Encounter HD, Pointier plans a 2025 sabbatical after nearly 30 years in the gaming industry, with future projects like a Dungeon Master prototype and a futuristic racing game for the Oric.

The Nerdy Type's review of *Encounter* explores our 2025 remake of the 1983 text-based adventure, highlighting its transformation with pixel art that vividly illustrates each location.

The reviewer praises the game's engaging detective story, where players rescue a kidnapped teenager through multiple paths - lethal or pacifist - under a tight time limit, noting the demo’s availability on Steam and how the visuals make the challenging genre more accessible and immersive.

This news article on the blog of "Old School Gamer Magazine" presents the 1.2.3 version of Encounter, the new longer demo, but also present what the Oric computer is for their mostly north-american audience.


The article also goes through a summary of what Encounter is and where the game can be found.

This article is also available on this page.

This news page from "Vintage Is The New Old" announces the existance of the game, and provides a few links.

This article (in Norwegian) from the blog "Spill Historie" (games history) discusses the Oric Atmos, a lesser-known British microcomputer from 1983, powered by a 1 MHz MOS 6502A processor with 16 KB memory and 240×200 resolution graphics. Despite its lack of commercial success, it has seen a revival among hobbyists.


A new adventure game, Encounter, is now available on Steam, featuring a modernized text/graphic style, a focus on story and player choices, and a private investigator rescuing a kidnapped girl. The game uses nearly full-screen graphics and runs via emulator, requiring a 64 KB upgraded Oric Atmos for physical hardware play.

This article (in French) from the MO5.com association highlights a retro gaming project by Mickaël Pointier, a developer with a background at Adeline Software and Eden Studios, now at Funcom in Norway, and founder of the Oric microcomputer portal Defence Force. His latest work is a remake of the 1983 text adventure game Encounter, originally a poorly documented BASIC game by Severn Software.


The remake enhances the original with graphics, animations, sound effects, and music by Per Almered. Released on Steam and itch.io, it includes 49 achievements and open-source code on GitHub. Physical editions are planned but limited to a few selected deserving individuals.

This article (in English) announces Encounter HD, a modernized remake of the 1983 text adventure game Encounter by Severn Software, set for release in December on Steam and itch.io. Developed by Defence Force, it targets the Oric Atmos, a 1984 microcomputer with a 1 MHz 6502 processor and 64 KB RAM.


Unlike classic text adventures like The Hobbit or Zork, this version adds enhanced graphics and features to appeal to modern audiences, while respecting the platform’s technical constraints, such as limited resolution, colors, and storage on a 360 KB 3" floppy disk.

This article (in French) discusses a modern remake of the 1983 text adventure game Encounter by Severn Software for the Oric computer, originally written in BASIC with minimal sound effects.


The author, inspired by Eric Safar's Athanor for Oric, has enhanced Encounter with graphics, animations, sounds, and music. This updated version is set for commercial release on Steam and itch.io on December 20, 2024, with further details available on the game's page.

This Canadian podcast, Pining for Pixels, mentioned Encounter in episode #124 before discussing the September 2025 Nintendo Direct event.

Sonneveld bought Encounter on itch.io, and when I decided to thank him, I found out he was an Australian Twitch streamer and he was actually going to play the game that morning!

So I stayed during the stream and gave a few comments here and there, was a lot of fun for me!

The Encounter trailer is shown for about one minute at the start of the Retro Show video in the "Old News" section.

Just a brief mention in the video on the topic of how emulators now make it easier for creators to share their retro creation outside the normal retro sphere.

Samuele is an Italian musician, interpreter and retro fan who played one of the early versions of Encounter a couple days after the release. Following this video a number of improvements were made to help the player so they don't endlessly roam around the house without finding the entrance. Thanks Samuele!

This one and a half hour long interview video (in French) covers the Encounter project from a technical point of view: Hardware specs, languages and tools used to develop the game, audio and scripting, etc...

This five hours long interview video (in French) covers mostly Mickael's career in videogames, but also covers the Oric and Atari hobbies (games and demos) during the last hour.

If you know of some articles, blogs, videos, etc... not present on this page, feel free to contact us!

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