Epsilon Update No. 8: Bloom
The next monthly update about Epsilon — a solo adventure game about exploring a dark and corrupting forest. The corrupting force of the EZ.
As the launch of Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon approaches, I’ll be posting regular updates with a behind-the-scenes look at the design decisions going into the game:
Epsilon Update 01: Epsilon overview and launch dates
Epsilon Update 02: Plant features
Epsilon Update 03: Plant morphology
Epsilon Update 04: Exclusion Zone map
Epsilon Update 05: Character creation
Epsilon Update 06: Playtesting
Epsilon Update 07: SHX system
Note that everything here is in development and subject to change. These updates are a snapshot of how things looked when they were written.
Follow the Kickstarter pre-launch page to be notified when it goes live!
The inevitable transformation
I recently wrote about the zonecore genre, using The Colour Out of Space, Roadside Picnic, Stalker, and Annihilation as touchstones. Using those as guides, I was able to identify five key elements that are usually present. The first, of course, was an anomalous zone — the EZ in the case of Exclusion Zone Botanist. Others include a non-hero stalker, inexplicable phenomena, and institutional fatalism.
The one that I find most compelling, however, is the inevitable transformation:
Direct or indirect, physical or mental, the anomalous zone permanently changes those who enter it. There is no protection from it or way to ward it off. At best, its inevitable effects can be reduced, slowed, or postponed.
This change is based on proximity to the zone, subtly (or not so subtly) transforming those who enter. It’s the ruined crops, poisoned soil, and a “slightly luminous” Mrs. Gardner walking on all fours in The Colour Out of Space. It’s the stalker’s child in Roadside Picnic — both in appearance and abilities.
Corruption in the EZ
There is no way to protect yourself and there is no cure. In the EZ, time is your enemy.
That inevitable transformation is what I wanted to capture in the original Exclusion Zone Botanist. Which is why the six-step “Corruption Progression List” only ever goes one direction. You begin to itch. Small lumps form. Tiny sprouts erupt. Reversing these effects is not part of the game.
The corruption steps in EZB were, to me, one of the most compelling parts of the game. Mechanically, knowing there are only six steps to the fatal end makes the corruption dice rolls more powerful.1
Bloom
Even the most careful agent can feel it when they enter the EZ. Subtle at first — a dry patch of skin on your hand or the faint rustle of leaves that won’t go away. They call it Bloom.
I always felt that “corruption” was a descriptive but clunky word for the transformation in EZB. It certainly gets the point across, but it never felt like that’s what agents in the EZ would call it. In my bitter, jaded, sarcastic, bureaucratic vision of the game’s world, the agents would call it something darkly amusing. Something that sounds not so bad, when in fact it is very bad indeed.
Bloom is what corruption will be called in Epsilon.2 It’s a cute, fun word that describes horrible, irreversible changes. Perfect.
Next, I wanted the progression to be less deterministic. The same steps happen in the same order in EZB, which works really well for a short game. In Epsilon, Bloom now has branching paths and multiple terminal points.
It’s like a skill tree, but cursed!3
Bloom progression tiers
It’s how the EZ marks you and eventually claims you as its own. Starts small and mostly harmless, but each hour you spend inside the zone changes you more.
Where EZB had six, linear steps for corruption, Epsilon has seven non-linear tiers.
The moment you enter the EZ, you are at Tier 1. Simply entering the zone causes a change, albeit a small one: an earthy smell, annoying gnats, birds that are louder than you’d expect. That’s where it begins — nominal, barely noticeable. After that, the effects become more pronounced:
Tier 1: Barely noticeable
Tier 2: First signs
Tier 3: Benign physical changes
Tier 4: Significant changes
Tier 5: Major transformation
Tier 6: Loss of control
Tier 7: Terminal (game ends)
As Bloom increases throughout the game, it is tracked on your Bloom die as part of the SHX system. The die starts the game at 1, meaning Tier 1. Each tier has six possible options, but you don’t just roll for each one. After rolling for your starting Tier 1 effect, subsequent ones are based on a twisting path through the progression.
You might start with an itch, but then it might progress to small nodules on your skin or it might lead to a tuft of your hair falling out. If your hair falls it, your fingernails are next. Each step along the Bloom progression impacts the future ones.
If your Bloom die is at 6 and you need to increase it, you reach the Tier 7: Terminal stage. There are six different game endings where you become part of the forest.
Bloom expands the corruption system into something deeper and more unpredictable.
I think you’re really going to enjoy it.4
Follow the Epsilon project
I am posting an Epsilon update on the third Friday of every month through development, launch, and fulfillment. You can read previous updates in the Exeunt Omnes archive.
What do you think? Do you like that corruption is now called Bloom? How do you feel about branching progression paths? Let me know in the comments.
- E.P. 💀
P.S. If you love tabletop games, you should check out Tumulus. It’s a print-only, quarterly zine packed with Skeleton Code Machine game design content.
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Written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Exeunt Omnes is Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press. For comments, questions, reports from the EZ, or pro tips: games@exeunt.press
In EZB the 6th step is fatal. In Epsilon you start at 1st step so the 7th step is fatal.
I did consider trying to come up with a backronym for Bloom. Biogenic Latent something something something. Ultimately, I decided against that.
Check out the Arc Raiders skill tree if you can find a screenshot of it. I’m still working on the final presentation format for Bloom, but the way the Arc Raiders skills are arranged is inspiring.
I mean “enjoy” in the sense of if you enjoy your body turning into a nest of insects or becoming a lump of moss. It’s a very specific kind of enjoyment.