Bundled together with the 1983 revamped D&D Expert Rules Set, the X1 module also got a visual reworking, not only by making the cover fit with the new company identity of TSR, but also with new interior illustrations and layout.

In terms of the content of the module itself, it also gets tightened up, with a better lore and wilderness section and rebalancing. It’s essentially the same adventure, but some of the problems which were present in the 1981 version were fixed. This version fleshes out the island natives into real personalities with social structure, individual characters and alternate paths to victory which do not involve the wholesale genocide of a native population… which is a good thing. Now you get experience by setting up trade routes to the island, for example.

All in all a much improved module, particularly visually and shows a cultural sensibility that was missing from TSR just a couple of years earlier (although these kinds of problems will keep plaguing D&D up until today), it fits much better with the more polished image of D&D that these new sets are establishing.