Enc0unter

"enc0unter" refers to the name given to the thing that lurks on the outskirts of reality. The code was found in the track Surplus to Requirement as Morse code in the background, after some PAINFUL denoising.

## In-Game

Putting enc0unter as your name when the game starts, all lowercase with a the number zero instead of an O, you will be greeted with the following text:

"I’m impressed you knew how to find me. But, I suppose this isn’t much of a stretch, now is it? We’re ALL prisoners in our own way, after all, aren’t we? …What’s that? You don’t think so? I envy you. That means you can’t see the bars. But, if you could… Well, then perhaps you’d see what’s beyond those bars. You’d realize that those bars were not put there to contain you, but to protect you. Do you understand? … …What’s that? You can’t SEE me? Of course you can’t. I’m nothing. But, even nothing isn’t the same as darkness. Darkness shields and protects all those who bask in it. It contains, obscures. When that darkness is lifted away, well- The next time you think there’s nothing around you, thank the darkness. For without it, who knows what you’d see."

The game immediately crashes after. Interestingly, this interaction is more akin to a cutscene, rather than a playable scene. The enc0unter only speaks directly to the player, who is unable to say anything in return, although enc0unter stops and pauses for moments, as if listening to a response and replying directly to it.

It is theorized that Phonegingi themselves was the one to witness this, as hinted at in Chapter 2/day 2 of Randy's route. There was a new interaction between him and Hobo that only unlocked after playing through enc0unter's scene. When Hobo discusses the creation of the universe with the right dialogue choices he can mention something called "The Nothing" a being outside of reailty which is eerily similar to what Enc0unter seems to be. If you've entered your name as Enc0unter before doing this scene, Phonegingi can say "Ohhh! I think I've seen it, actually! [Void-gazer]." Otherwise the dialogue choice will just not be there.

Norm is also tied to enc0unter, and has likely seen it himself. When he was in the wormhole, he was in an area of reality that wasn't quite stable. This is nodded to with the "MANY EYES ALWAYS WATCHING" painted onto the roof of his shack. (Although, Dog has stated Norm "wouldn't be able to tell you anything useful" about it.)

From the maw of the Dog himself, he has stated "there's clues IN dt [dialtown] that time itself is unstable/the world may be unraveling like yarn" as well as "Any instance in-game where time seems to be falling apart, there’s common visual signs that reality itself is tearing apart at the seams, hell, even outside of the main endings." Some backing for this tying back to enc0unter specifically is in Dietown, where the same texture of red eyes is visible at Jerry's ticket booth: another place in the timeline(s) where reality is stretched thin and collapsing.

## Trivia

* The Morse code was first mistranslated was "camc0rder", which led to many fruitless attempts to click on Oliver's camcorder during his route in an unsuccessful attempt to uncover something.
* A red herring within the track is the whispering heard, which when sped up, is a reading of "The Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe.
* Hobo offhandedly mentions someone falling out of the fabric of reality "again", which may be where the distorted human face comes from in the textures.

## Gallery

Distorted human male face. WowThe bars the "player" is stuck behind.A cutout of a smiley face, which overlays the eyes and teeth when shown in-game.Behold! The horrors.The same horrors in Dietown.