Despite 2020 being off to a tumultuous start, our team has silently and steadily been working on bringing Epsilon closer to our first release. Today, on Epsilon’s birthday no less, we’d like to share with you a bunch of new content to display just what we have in store for you in the future!

In previous updates, we’ve shown how our map editor works for making our 3D maps, as well as progress shots from our mappers Chase, Frog, and SleepLate. For this update, we’re excited to show you how they’ll actually look in-game! Give a listen to their respective tracks by our composer LJ, as well as the two new tracks: a Route theme and the Mountain area theme!

As a bonus, here’s a test clip of SleepLate’s autumn map from our last update!

We hope these give you a good feel for how our first release will look, and that you’re as excited as we are to be able to explore the various areas of Vesryn!

A staple of Epsilon is Vesryn’s unique Origin Pokémon! In our special 12 Days of Epsilon series of updates from a December past, we unveiled the Pokémon who will be accompanying you on your journey: Origin Chikorita, Origin Cyndaquil, and Origin Totodile. We’d like to show you their evolutions in this update, with concept art by Elle, sprites by Egg, lore by Yesh and Cyra, and each Pokémon’s stats and abilities:

Origin Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium: Ice/Dragon

Abilities: Drakenguard, Snow Warning (Hidden Ability)

Origin Chikorita’s line acquires the unique ability Drakenguard, which reduces damage from moves super-effective against Dragon-type by 50%!

Origin Chikorita

Origin Bayleef

Origin Meganium

Origin Meganium (Ice/Dragon): The Ice Flower Pokémon

Vesryn’s ice age signaled the arrival of a new Pokémon. Meganium search for colder climates, and some studies suggest that the ice flower on their neck has an effect on the weather. In order to hunt for submerged wildlife, they freeze lakes with their breath, then make holes with their powerful bodies to snatch the frozen creatures trapped below.

They are very strong and travel in packs. Their horns are a sign of power, and the one with the biggest horns will always be the leader of the group. In the sunlight, the ice crystal flower on their necks create beautiful patterns of colored light. The growth of these flowers is strongly aided by the nutrients found within the bodies of their primary prey, Azumarill.

Their tails are deceptively strong. They concentrate muscle power as they slam their tail into the ground, sometimes causing fissures and earthquakes to scare away enemies. It is possible that the end of the ice age was caused by a pack of Meganium that set off a dormant volcano, an unforeseen effect of a poorly aimed fissure. This caused warmer weather and stronger sunlight, forcing Meganium to adapt their bodies to photosynthesis.

Origin Cyndaquil, Quilava, and Typhlosion: Psychic/Flying

Abilities: Paradigm Shift, Trace (Hidden Ability)

Origin Cyndaquil’s line acquires the unique ability Paradigm Shift, which allows any attacking moves it uses to become special type!

Origin Cyndaquil

Origin Quilava

Origin Typhlosion

Origin Typhlosion (Psychic/Flying), The Clairvoyant Eagle Pokémon

Young Cyndaquil can only rise a few feet above the ground through telekinesis until their wings develop. As they grow, their ability to use Future Sight becomes stronger.

A fully evolved Typhlosion is capable of flying very high and often spend most of their time hunting from mountaintops. They hang around inactive volcanoes, as they can use their clairvoyance to warn other Pokémon if one is about to erupt. They love to hunt Feraligatr who fly too high up.

It is thought that when Mt. Press erupted - an unintentional effect of a pack of Meganium causing a fissure in the ground - the smoke and ash that lingered in the air blocked Typhlosion’s psychic abilities. It forced them to take to land, so by the time the skies cleared they had learned to live without wings, shedding the useless extra weight. Perhaps they still retain a trace of their psychic abilities, the reason they can learn Extrasensory through breeding? This would be worth studying further. As a final note, it’s interesting to note that currently the rivalry between Typhlosion and Feraligatr has swapped sides…

Origin Totodile, Croconaw, and Feraligatr: Bug/Fighting

Abilities: Drain Touch, Guts (Hidden Ability)

Origin Totodile’s line acquires the unique ability Drain Touch, which makes any physical attack steal HP equal to 30% of the damage dealt!

Origin Totodile

Origin Croconaw

Origin Feraligatr

Origin Feraligatr (Bug/Fighting): The Proud Fighter Pokémon

Despite their predatorial appearance, Feraligatr and its pre-evolutions are quite a friendly species. They are, however, proud, and if not respected will lash out. Their wings are strong, allowing them to float in the air and cross rivers and lakes. They don’t fly too high up in the air, however, as Typhlosion have been known to hunt them.

They love honey and nectar, and can often be seen sparring with Beartic as a form of winning the honey in a fight. If given freely, they will take it as an insult and attack. During winters especially, when Beartic are hibernating and their nectar is sparse, Feraligatr will eat berries growing on the ground and sap from tree bark.

Presumably, when the ice age arrived, they began changing. Trees and berries died in the cold, and Beartic began hibernating for years at a time. As a result, Feraligatr took to rivers and lakes, hunting fish and looking for a warmer habitat.

Now that you’re familiar with the Pokémon that’ll accompany you on your journey, we’d like to show you a new origin Pokémon, the pure Rock-type Origin Rhyhorn, Rhydon, and Rhyperior, with sprites by Egg, and concept art by Elle!

Dex Entry: Rhyhorn are covered in pure white crystals. Their diet mainly comprises of the crystals found in Crystal Cave, though they usually only have preferences for a certain color.

Because of its crystalline diet, Rhydon’s crystals begin to take on the color of the crystals it consumes. When not looking for food, this Pokemon will nap for over 12 hours a day.

The vibrance and length of Rhyperior’s crystals are indicators of its health and general fitness. It uses its powerful mace-like tail to knock crystals from the cave ceiling, occasionally causing small cave-ins as a result.

You can find Origin Rhyhorn in the Crystal Caves featured in the screenshots above, and more details about this crystalline colossus will be revealed in future updates!

As we stated in previous updates, we recently moved towards reducing the frequency of our updates. Hopefully you’ll find that this one was worth the wait! We’re moving closer and closer to having a first release, so stay tuned on our subreddit and Twitter accounts!

Thanks for joining us on this Epsilon birthday post, and please let us know your thoughts and questions!

All reside, confined evermore, until stirred.