MORTAL DEFICIT GARDEN
A solarpunk-psionic fever dream about identity, embodiment, and synthetic death.
Overview
Mortal Deficit Garden (MDG) is a 3D narrative exploration game created in Unreal Engine 5. You play as a drifting consciousness tethered to a decaying vessel, navigating a coastal solarpunk ruin corrupted by psionic anomalies. Through traversal, possession, and fragmentary dialogue, you piece together the story of yourself, Flora, and a world unwilling to forget.
Studio & Vision
Developed entirely by Psychobabble Studios, MDG is the brainchild of Jesse Wilson, serving as narrative designer, creative director, and lead programmer. The game features original writing, custom-built mechanics, and a hauntingly personal soundtrack composed in-house. Wilson’s focus as a designer is on narrative interactivity, atmospheric storytelling, and alternative systems for memory and identity simulation.
Origins
MDG began as a tactical RPG titled The Last Spell, where players guided a team of four mages protecting a sacred corpse across cursed terrain. The payload mechanic survived the shift—but the focus changed. MDG keeps the emotional core and traversal logic of the original while evolving into a surreal, story-forward journey about metaphysical endurance. The game is also a narrative adaptation of a short science fiction story written by Jesse Wilson 5–6 years ago, now translated into interactive form through gameplay and environmental storytelling.
Core Features
- Possession-based traversal and identity swapping
- Aural Essence management as both a survival tool and narrative timer
- Corpse/payload protection through hostile zones
- Procedural memory events and unreliable dialogue systems
- DVS (Dynamic Variable Scripting)—a custom narrative system for modular storytelling and interlinked reactions
Release
Early Access: Fall 2025
The early build will include the first two narrative zones, early traversal mechanics, and experimental shard collection gameplay.
Future Projects
In addition to continuing development on MDG, Psychobabble Studios is actively prototyping a new FPS-exploration game in a similar style and collaborating on narrative design for a separate external project. All upcoming titles will continue using and expanding the DVS framework to support emotionally rich, reactive storytelling in interactive environments.