So, version 1.3.0 is out, and it's kind of a big one. Actually, scratch that — it's the biggest update since the game launched back in December 2024.
A new voice
This is probably the change you'll notice first: the game now has a consistent narrative voice. The top window (the scene description) acts as a narrator — neutral, descriptive, setting the stage. But the text area where you interact? That's now firmly from the perspective of your character, a British private investigator who's seen a few things and has opinions about most of them.
Previously the texts were a bit all over the place — sometimes "you", sometimes "I", sometimes just neutral descriptions. Now it's consistent throughout, and it makes a surprising difference. Item descriptions went from utilitarian ("a roll of tape") to something with a bit more personality. Error messages went from generic ("I can't do that") to the PI actually reacting ("Steady on. I'm no thief.", "Seriously?", "That's way too heavy"). The whole thing feels grittier, more personal — like you're actually inhabiting the character rather than just directing him around.
Actually useful documentation
The in-game manual got completely reorganized. Before, it was a bit of a dump of information in no particular order. Now it's structured the way you actually need it: the basic commands come first (the stuff you need to start playing), then the advanced shortcuts (for when you're comfortable), and finally the hints, tricks, and good-to-know stuff. New players should have a much easier time getting started, and experienced players can skip straight to the bits they care about.
A smoother game engine
Quite a few quality-of-life improvements under the hood. You can now COMBINE two items directly instead of having to TAKE something and then pick a container from the menu — both ways still work, but COMBINE is often faster. When you do use the menu to combine, the first selected item is now highlighted so you don't lose track of what you're doing. And if one of the items you combined was in your inventory, the result stays in your inventory instead of dropping to the ground — no more picking things up right after crafting them. Using the rope or ladder? "USE ROPE" and "USE LADDER" now work to climb up and down, in addition to the UP/DOWN commands — one less thing to guess. Taking or dropping most items no longer reloads the entire scene, which used to slow things down noticeably. Only the handful of items that are actually visible in the scene trigger a full refresh now. Some of the critical engine code has also been streamlined and optimized to keep things running smoothly despite all the new content.
A more polished game
The game logic got a thorough pass across the board. Every single item now has a proper description when inspected — no more "nothing special" for anything. Puzzle interactions have been tightened up so things flow more naturally and you're less likely to hit dead ends or confusing responses. A few long-standing little bugs have been squashed along the way too. Nothing game-breaking, but the kind of rough edges that add up — and you'll notice their absence.
Norwegian!
Yes, Encounter HD now speaks Norwegian. All the text, all the images (newspaper, tombstone, recipes...), everything. This is a first beta though, so if you spot anything off — weird phrasing, missing translations, typos — feedback is very welcome. One thing to be aware of: since the Oric keyboard is a pure QWERTY layout without any special keys, you'll need to type A and O instead of Å and Ø when these characters appear in commands.
Full disclosure: translation tools were used to help with the localization. This is a one-man project for a niche retro platform — it's never going to pay back the cost of development, and without these tools a third language simply wouldn't have happened. That said, I do understand Norwegian, so I've been able to review and adjust everything to make sure it actually makes sense in context.
If people are fine with this approach, I'd consider adding Spanish as well — except I don't speak Spanish at all, so I can't guarantee the quality would be anywhere near the same. If anyone out there feels like helping with that, get in touch!
Jasmin support!
For the three people out there with an actual Oric and a Jasmin disk controller (you know who you are): it works now! Massive thanks to Chema, Iss, and Mininaller who spent weeks debugging timing issues, cable noise problems, and FDC command differences. Turns out writing 0 instead of 1 to a register makes all the difference sometimes.
If you already played through Encounter HD before, it's worth another look — the whole experience is noticeably smoother.