Punch Punk Studio's This is the Zodiac Speaking, a game centered on the Zodiac murders and based in fact, is an interesting concept. Unfortunately, it fumbles in its execution, resulting in disappointment from a gameplay, narrative, and technical standpoint that undermines any potential the concept had.
The game's narrative puts players in the role of a journalist named Robert as he tries to save the souls of the Zodiac's victims through rituals that involve recreating the murders in a sort of dream realm. Robert keeps mannequins modeled after the victims in his attic, which are sent to him by his therapist, who helps Robert with the rituals and his past trauma. Periodically, players must decide if they want to "murder" the mannequins, or help the victim's soul pass on with an object that has meaning to it.
It's practically incoherent, and it comes coupled with clunky voice acting. At times, players can clearly tell when lines were cut together, creating a disjointed delivery. Occasionally, there will be random long pauses in the middle of a sentence without any clear reason. Plus, the dialogue itself simply isn't well-written – far from it, in fact. The therapist will pose questions to the player from time to time, which will give three separate responses, but the responses are usually only described as one word and often border on the absurd, even with context.
This is the Zodiac Speaking presents players with a mountain of other issues outside the narrative problems - so many that's it's difficult to think of anything that it successfully accomplishes. The most immediately apparent problem is the controls. They're hypersensitive by default and there's no way to lower them in-game, so players have to back all the way out to the main menu to make adjustments. That's bad enough on its own, but the game doesn't account for the thumbstick's dead zone, either, so players will regularly find themselves sliding around without intentionally moving, similar to what one would feel with Joy-Con drift.
Gameplay has players stumble around an area looking for objects that reveal the events surrounding the murder that took place there. There are no clear objective markers and objects can be easy to miss, leading to some frustrating scenarios where players simply wander in circles until bumping into the object they needed. The levels aren't particularly interesting and certainly aren't aided by the game's uninteresting visual presentation.
There's a heavy fog that coats everything, but it isn't clear if it's intentional or not. When first loading in, the fog won't be there, only popping in once players are given control of the character. If they get caught by the Zodiac, who roams around trying to murder the player, the fog will sometimes disappear. When the fog is gone, the level shows far more detail in the skybox and looks better all-around, which makes it a confusing addition.
The Zodiac's AI and detection are terribly inconsistent. Essentially, the serial killer wanders aimlessly around the level, seemingly trying to be something like Alien: Isolation's Xenomorph. Players have to sneak around him while looking for clues, but it's impossible to tell if the Zodiac will be thwarted by sidestepping him and crouching – which worked multiple times in our playthrough – or if he'll activate x-ray vision and spot the player while crouched on the opposite side of a car.
Being detected results in the Zodiac chasing the player down and killing them instantly. The instant kills aren't that much of a problem, as no progress is lost when caught, making it more of a slight setback than anything. However, the animations are pretty janky and the Zodiac has the worst voice in the game.
This is the Zodiac Speaking takes itself very seriously, attempting to tell a heavy story with a dark aesthetic and soundtrack. The soundtrack mostly consists of the same song repeated endlessly, which gets old in the first 20 minutes or so. The other heavy elements accomplish the exact opposite of what they set out to do because of the issues. For instance, the game tries to establish Robert as an award-winning journalist, but to do this it simply puts a trophy on his shelf that literally says "An Award."
There are also consistent frame rate drops, even playing on an Xbox One X. These weren't particularly brutal, at least not compared to the game's other issues, though it is baffling that the game manages to run so poorly, despite its simplicity.
This is the Zodiac Speaking desperately wants to be a game like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, but it doesn't invest in its dialogue, gameplay, or environments enough to achieve that goal. It boasts three separate endings, but it's barely compelling enough to see just one. There are too many problems to count, from horrendous screen-tearing when looking around to text that is too small to read, and next to no redeeming qualities to make up for it.
Luckily, the game is mercifully short. Players will likely spend as much time on the hunt for an easy-to-miss object as they will making any real progress in the narrative, but even then it'll only take most players a few hours to finish it. The multiple endings lend it some semblance of replayability, but that hinges entirely on wanting to replay it.
Whether players are looking for mystery or a new horror game, there are better options out there. It's truly disappointing that such a unique concept produced such a lackluster end result, but This is the Zodiac Speaking falls apart on every level. Its awkward pacing, lackluster gameplay, and laughable dialogue only scratch the surface of its problems.
This is the Zodiac Speaking releases October 15, 2020, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Game Rant was provided an Xbox One code for this review.